Bank 2027


This site has been bothering me .. .. .. in a good way. It makes me reflect on what a Bank might look like in 20 years time. Moneysupermarket.com Maybe what we need to do is consider what that future Bank might look like, and then we can work back from there. This is what I am thinking about now …. what does Bank_2027 look like? More to come ….. and input welcome. Perhaps together we can sort out some concepts. Continue reading Bank 2027

iPhone | The power of “word of mouth”


During the lead up to launch since the announcement earlier this year, the advertising for Apple iPhone has been relatively minimal. This is a strong case for new style marketing handled well. Marketing departments need not apply. Awareness of the product is high, and curiousity about it very high. Yet according to Piper Jaffray, sales of the device are approximately 500K over the weekend. Perhaps this is the best example yet of new marketing. – product quality – brand consistentcy – nurture the market conversation – let the advocates talk it up – deliver on expectations This photo of Patrick … Continue reading iPhone | The power of “word of mouth”

Moneysupermarket.com portends a new front in the provision of banking services


Moneysupermarket.com is planning an IPO, which apparently values the company at $2 Bn. Banknet360 This from the moneysupermarket site. The contents of the Share Offer Pages, which have been prepared and are the sole responsibility of the Company, have been approved by Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited (“Credit Suisse”), One Cabot Square, London E14 4QJ, solely for purposes of section 21(2)(b) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Credit Suisse, which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for the Company and no-one else in connection with the initial public offering … Continue reading Moneysupermarket.com portends a new front in the provision of banking services

Unparalleled onslaught against online banking taking place


In what is described as an unparalleled onslaught against online banking, criminals are attacking Italian web sites, in an effort to steal online banking identities. Trojan attacks are not new, but experts say the scale of the latest onslaught is unparalleled, as is its focus on established websites to steal banking identities. “This is a paradigm shift. We can expect to see this kind of thing being replicated now for the next five or six months,” said David Perry, a director of another west coast web security firm, Trend Micro. Source: Guardian The attacks involve downloading a keylogger onto customers … Continue reading Unparalleled onslaught against online banking taking place

“Wii” type phones introduced in Japan


With all the hype around iPhone, I thought why not be perverse, and reflect on the fact that North American phones still lag the rest of the world. This is the latest offering on the NTTDocomo network in Japan – just released in June 2007. This is the FOMA D904i. “D” means its a Mitsubishi phone. FOMA D904i For other examples of the new functionality go here. Here is the English translated version, courtesy of Google translate. FOMA is the 3G network in Japan provided by NTT. The functionality is based on shaking the phone sideways, up and down, back … Continue reading “Wii” type phones introduced in Japan

US adult opinions about advertising methods


This from eMarketer is great. Quick takeaways, and I use the net promoter basis [positive minus negative].  Word of mouth is the clear winner, but there remains some life in traditional methods. The really bad category is to be avoided. word of mouth is most persuasive by far [57] newspaper ads beat TV [28] TV ads feature surprisingly strongly [25] collaborative filtering is lower than I’d expect (Amazon) [13] really bad advertising banner ads [-10] email spam [-38] telemarketing [-55] pop up ads [-60] Source:  eMarketer Continue reading US adult opinions about advertising methods

Why Banks are vulnerable in the long run, to social networking


Forrester Forum: some final thoughts following the interesting panel that I was fortunate to be part of. Host was Benjamin Ensor from Forrester in London. Participants were Ed Terpening from Wells, and Jason Knight from Wesabe. Some key points that I took away that I will spend more time on, going forward: – social finance as a lever to provide scale: personal advice cannot be provided, one on one to the masses. By providing a forum for customers to help each other, with some employee participation, advice and guidance can be provided to everyone – why do Banks trust word … Continue reading Why Banks are vulnerable in the long run, to social networking

Brand matters |Sapient


Gaston Legorburu, Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, Sapient, gave a refreshingly simple and interesting talk on the importance of brands. his blog is at cmorants.com Notes: – 96% of sales will occur without the search keyword purchase – Direct Mail: has been the engine that runs the business; customers are sorting mail into bills, and junk. We can measure ROI, and forgot how to create demand – brand happens everywhere; but where is everywhere? “My Reality” = Physical, Virtual and Dream worlds …. – deep rooted marketing processes for a world that no longer exists – marketing prices … Continue reading Brand matters |Sapient

Benchmark globally, diferentiate locally


Forrester Forum: Cliff Condon did a great piece on the lessons from Europe that US Banks could learn. Increasingly there is a sense, that I would support, that North American Banks are involved in a “me too” environment, and no levering and learning from the online channel. Within that view, there is also an apparent learning to be had from the Canadian Banks. I am less sure about that, but Cliff’s piece on European Banks really set a whole new level to consider. Hence his tagline, “Benchmark globally, differentiate locally”. Some stats – % of customers using online banking: Sweden … Continue reading Benchmark globally, diferentiate locally