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John Tantillo's Brand Winner... And Loser: Professional Golf Association and Commercial Banks
Posted by The Marketing Doctor at 4/14/2010 6:40 AM 
Categories: Marketing, Branding
Tags: golf Augusta Masters regulation Woods professional golf association Billy Payne fees branding Wamu commercial banks Washington Mutual marketing PGA Tantillo Mickelson Tiger customers
Categories: Marketing, Branding
Tags: golf Augusta Masters regulation Woods professional golf association Billy Payne fees branding Wamu commercial banks Washington Mutual marketing PGA Tantillo Mickelson Tiger customers
| Brand Winner... | And Loser... |
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John Tantillo’s Winner and Loser of The Week:
Winner: Professional Golf Association
Loser: Commercial Banks
The Winner
This week, the marketing winner is professional golf, thanks to the Masters, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and the conduct of the people in charge of the game and the institution of golf.
Fact is that despite the old-timers who have lamented what they say is a loss of class in the game, golf has shown that it is stronger and more broad-based than ever.
Far from damaging golf’s image, the Tiger Woods’ scandal has underscored what a potent brand the PGA has become. Not only has golf managed to retain its elite and traditional image, but it has expanded to the blue collar set, making golf both clubby and universal at the same time. That is, the brand has successfully engineered a brand extension via Tiger Woods and the democratization of golf. This is borne out not only by the impressive ratings enjoyed by this weekend’s Masters but also by Augusta club chairman Billy Payne’s public dressing down of Woods with these words: "It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grandkids.”
Moreover, the fact that Mickelson went on to win the Masters in the face of the Tiger hype reminds everyone that at the end of the day, it is the game of golf that matters, and it is this great game and its long tradition that still powers the brand.
Fore!
The Loser
This past week’s Senate findings on Washington Mutual has only confirmed what we all know: after the last two years, commercial banks are still badly in need of a brandover.
The conclusion of the Wamu investigation? Greed and fraud led to the bank’s demise. No surprise there —the only surprise is that the banking industry hasn’t made a concerted effort to counter the toxic mess that continues to swirl around all commercial bank brands.
Over the last two years, I have argued that banks needed to get back to their fundamentals of thrift, prudence and loyalty to their customers. (Here’s the latest post with links to all the others.) This meant showing that the banks are there for their customers. Banks hold a special place in any economy and a special trust. Without banks, businesses can’t grow, and communities can’t prosper.
Wamu’s failure is the story of a main street bank striving to be a Wall Street bank and, in the process, betraying its customers and forgetting the mission of its brand.
Obviously, not all banks failed as spectacularly as Wamu, but all banks suffer from the same brand image problem as a result of the missteps and excesses of the last decade.
Bottom line: banks aren’t doing enough to change their image. I’m not talking about slick public relations and advertising. I’m talking about customer experience and facts —because at the end of the day, marketing is the reality of whether customers’ needs are being served or not.
For the most part, banks still aren’t serving their customers’ needs. We keep hearing about credit lines being restricted or cut completely and loans to small businesses being denied. Those areas where the banks seem to be improving (i.e., eliminating punitive bank fees) are the result of government regulation, not industry self-regulation.
Overall, this is rotten marketing. The big banks might have been saved on the balance sheet (thanks to a lot of taxpayer money), but the fundamental marketing problem remains: lack of trust.
To get this trust back, banks will have to risk where it counts. They will have to decentralize, forget about being Wall Street cash machines and focus on what their local customers need and want. They’ll need to focus on the small business owner and ways to help their customers save. (Why not initiate special savings programs?)
If the industry doesn’t take this kind of collective action, then I guarantee that those banks that decide to work on their brand image themselves will be the long-term winners.
And, remember, things are always easier when you keep marketing and branding in mind.
TODAY'S TANTILLO TAKEAWAY -
Brand image begins and ends with how your customers’ needs are actually met day after day, week after week, year after year.
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