I found myself walking into the closest branch of my bank the other day to take care of a transaction.  The people at my bank are super nice.  They always go the extra mile.  They always offer me coffee, which I always decline.  Really, they have the customer service thing down.  But for all my fond feelings towards them, I mostly just resented having to drive all the way to my bank to take care of a transaction that I would rather have handled remotely on my own.  The reason—I didn’t want or need their advice—I simply needed their logistics.

Apparently, I’m typical.  For years we’ve worked to entice our banking customers into our branches with the quality of our customer service—wooing them with friendly faces and a hot drink so that they’ll want to entrust us with their financial future.  But by the time they’re easing themselves into our comfy chairs, they’ve already made their financial decisions—they’re simply there because they have to be to finish the transaction. Read More »

When I was about seven, my dad designed and built an awesome kids playset.  It was a towering wooden structure that took up half the side yard and had everything from swings to a sandbox to a fireman’s pole.  (A fireman’s pole! )

This was what I now recognize to be The Best Parenting Strategy Ever.  Not only did it keep us active and entertained—and outside!—but it meant that all the kids in the neighborhood came to us.  It meant that my parents always knew where we were and who we were hanging out with and could keep a close eye on us with minimal effort.

I am reminded of what I will now dub The Playset Strategy when I look at what some of our most progressive financial institutions are doing with social media. They are making sure that they are building out their websites with the information and interactivity their customers want and need in order to make good financial decisions.  This may involve discussion boards, or customer ratings, or product reviews.  The most progressive companies leave these venues largely unmediated, which may involve actually hosting with their own technology comments that could be critical of their organization.  Why on earth would they do this?   It’s the Playset Strategy.  They’re making sure their customers stay home and invite their friends over instead of wandering off elsewhere for their needs.

This highlights a drastic shift in how we’re thinking about our customers.  When it comes to sales and customer service, the prevailing view in banking has been that our customers want to walk into a branch and have a conversation with a real person while they sip on our complimentary coffee.  All that’s left is to prove to the world that we are the only bank that REALLY offers good customer service (good luck with that—if you think that you are strong in this area, check out our work on brand differentiation and most companies’ chronic lack thereof).

The only catch—your customers are pretty much just using you for the free beverage.  One of our sister councils—the Council on Financial Competition—just completed a survey of customers across seven countries.  They found that one in three customers is making financial decisions based on information they’ve found through social media sources (aka, not your branch).  More and more of them are what the CFC has coined as “informational millionaires”—they’re coming into our branches having already made up their minds and are simply using our facility as a really nice checkout counter.

So we can either let them fish around online and through their own networks of friend and family recommendations, or we can put ourselves at the center of their information gathering universe by making ourselves useful in their quest.  Read More »

As I kept an eye on the nonstop coverage of the tense situation in Egypt, there was a moment where I suddenly felt like things just might be OK.  It was the footage of Egyptian Gen. Hassan Ruwaini—older and balding and looking highly breakable—wading  his way through crowds of protesters.  But his manner was very un-general-like.  He might have been President Obama shaking hands and kissing the occasional baby as he worked his way through the throngs.

Reporters on the scene witnessed the larger story behind the footage.  For a great account, check out LA Times coverage: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/06/world/la-fg-egypt-army-scene-20110205

When Gen. Ruwaini first faced the clamoring crowds of Tahrir Square, he had the presence to wait out the onslaught of verbal attacks for a chance to address the younger protesters who had started the revolution.  He first applauded them for their courage and expressed his affection for them as youth of Egypt, assuring them that he had no intention of turning military force against them.  He then called them out for certain hooligan behaviors, and warned them to be careful not to become pawns of the political parties.  Next came perhaps his most glorious moment—he sat on the roof of his car and simply listened while the crowd passed around his microphone and protesters vented all their anger and frustration.  When they’d finally simmered down a bit, he and his soldiers pressed their way past the protester-constructed barriers around Tahrir Square and entered the crowd to continue his listening campaign and establish the military presence as a peacekeeping force rather than a threat.

Whether Gen. Ruwaini had been reading the CEC web page or not, I can’t verify.  But his actions are a great example of best practice for communicating with stakeholders in a time of uncertainty or crisis. Read More »

Mattel's Interactive Annual Report

When was the last time your shareholders erupted into applause at your annual meeting after you unveiled … (wait for it)… the legal preamble to your Annual Report!!!

If your response is, “All the time,” we need to talk.

But if you’re as impressed as I am by the possibility of such an anomaly, take a minute and check out the beginning of Mattel’s Interactive Annual Report.

You’ll note the super-savvy use of two little kids in lisps and pearls emoting their way through the Forward Looking Statement.  And yes, the crowd did go wild, and clap, and want more.  Why is this so great?  I’m going to pretend I have to explain it to you:

1)  It’s funny. Which means I’m paying attention.  And because it’s fun and different, I’ll probably share it with someone else (you, for example) because- as CEC research has proven- people tend to share things that make them look cool, smart, or helpful.

2)  It’s brilliant from a branding perspective. Mattel’s new vision is “Creating the Future of Play,” with the goal of infusing playfulness into all they do.  And though nothing screams “play” quite like a mandatory legal disclaimer read by lawyers, Mattel’s alternate use of kids stamps their brand all over the Annual Report right from the start. Read More »