MarketingDoctor.tv
John Tantillo's Brand Winner... And Loser: President Obama and The Big Banks
Posted by The Marketing Doctor at 12/15/2009 4:28 PM 
Categories: Branding
Tags: Nobel Prize President brand Obama marketing concept Just War Big Banks Target Market Tantillo Candidate branding TARP marketing
Categories: Branding
Tags: Nobel Prize President brand Obama marketing concept Just War Big Banks Target Market Tantillo Candidate branding TARP marketing
Brand Winner… | And Loser | ||
 |  |
John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:
Winner: President Obama
Loser: The Big Banks
Folks, without further ado:
The Winner
I have argued that Barack Obama should have refused the Nobel Prize. He didn’t.
But he did do something that may prove even better: he gave an acceptance speech that announced the arrival of President Obama.
From a marketing perspective, President Obama has remained Candidate Obama for too long. But the Nobel Prize speech saw him asserting himself as a leader —not in a vague, people-of-the-world way, but as an American president sworn to protect and defend the Constitution and the people of our great land.
In fact, he made it clear (uncomfortably clear, for those who want a weak America) that there is such a thing as a “Just War” and that he would not hesitate to defend the interests of the United States.
Plain and simple, that was a president talking. The result was telling. Not too many people in the room applauded, but the people who count, Americans, even right-leaning Americans, praised this new side of the President.
If Barack Obama follows through on the promise of this speech, we may well look back and say this was the moment that the President took over the reins from the Candidate.
The Loser
The Big Banks.
In the last year and a half, I’ve written and spoken about the Big Banks more times than I can count (here, here, here, here, here and here). And each time, I’ve given them a drubbing from a marketing perspective.
Alas, this time is no different.
Frankly, I don’t have too much more to add to the hyperlinks above.
Bottom line: the Big Banks need to return to what they are supposed to be doing and embrace a stodgy, prudent spirit —a spirit that responds to their customers’ needs, not their Board members and their executives. Banks should be boring, dependable and supportive of real economic growth —their marketing should also be supportive of our economic recovery.
That’s why the Big Banks got another earful from Obama, even as his administration gave Citigroup the green light to pay back the government. How’s that for some significant Presidential cover? Call them “fat cats,” give them a lecture at the White House for the media to cover, but then grant them the freedom to ignore you by freeing them from the constraints of TARP. It looks like some good came out of this meeting, since a few of the banks admitted that their lobbyists have been working too hard to “gut” banking reform —talk about getting your marketing message all mixed up!
If another crisis rolls around, you can be sure of one thing: none of these Wall Street-affiliated behemoths will have enough brand equity or Target Market goodwill to save their skins.
Fact is, the Big Banks’ fate rests with them. If they don’t start rolling up their sleeves, lending their money to the small businesses and entrepreneurs who build America, then the local and regional banks will eventually eat their lunch.
Even if another crisis never does roll around, bad marketing and slipshod brand identity could doom the dinosaurs. No brand is ever “too big to fail.”
In addition to appearing old-fashioned and dependable, the big banks have to market products like small, flexible lines of credit, great savings options and checking without all the hidden fees. They need to clearly communicate that they aim to help their customers’ wealth grow in careful, long-term, time-tested ways. They have to convince us that they don’t exist to trade or leverage for their fat-cat paydays, that they exist to serve the little guy, the community and all of America.
My guess is that the Big Bank that repositions itself best in the traditional model for both individuals and small- to mid-sized businesses —by getting boring, assuring everyone of its dependability and, not least, overturning the old maxim “banks loan money to people who don’t need it” —is the Bank we will say surging ahead, after the debacle of the last few years.
The bank that gets back to the marketing concept, keeping the needs of the American people as its focal point, is the bank whose brand will once again gain the trust of the American people.
And, remember, the business of business and politics is always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.
TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -
No brand is ever “too big to fail.”
Comments