Bank of the West, the
US-based retail subsidiary of BNP Paribas, topped the 2010 JD Power
survey for customer satisfaction in California. CMO Andrew Rosen
tells Charles Davis an account-switching drive and a review of the
bank’s marketing and advertising strategy can keep it ahead of its
US-headquartered rivals.
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When Andrew Rosen, chief
marketing officer of San Francisco-based Bank of the West, looks
out of his corporate office window, he can see a JP Morgan Chase
branch and a Union Bank sign towering over the road.
It is a not-so-subtle
reminder that Rosen faces a growing phalanx of retail banking
competitors in the crowded California marketplace. It is also a
reminder that Bank of the West – which keeps winning JD Power top
accolades for customer service – has to out-think its
deeper-pocketed rivals.
“We aren’t going to outspend
them on advertising, so we have to build strong brand equity and
tell our story efficiently and with a new creative message,” Rosen
said.
“We are being outspent,
literally 100-to-1 by some of the big competitors in our footprint,
and yet we still can rely on our core values of service and
stability in ways that really stand out.”
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By GlobalData
Fresh look and
strategy
Rosen joined Bank of the West
a little more than a year ago after leaving Washington Mutual, and
immediately began a systemic review of the bank’s marketing and
advertising, as well as a study of the competitive
environment.
“The research showed us that
the banking industry has transformed itself,” he said. “The big
banks are so much bigger, regulatory actions are costing us all a
lot of time and effort, and we have a lot of new competitors. We
needed a fresh look and a new strategy.”
So Rosen began a three-month
review of the bank’s advertising, culminating in the selection of
Heat, a fast-rising San Francisco creative shop, as its advertising
agency of record.
“We looked at 10 agencies,
most in California, and some elsewhere, but it came down to the
fact that Heat are Bank of the West small business banking
customers and they pitched us as loyal customers,” Rosen said.
“They know how we treat customers and they really believed in our
model and our values.”
Other review finalists were
Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and Eleven, both San
Francisco-based, and DeVito/Verdi of New York. An undisclosed
budget will support broadcast, out-of-home, mobile, online, print
and experiential advertising, plus sponsorships.
The agency’s first work,
focusing on customer service and Bank of the West’s free checking
product, is already on the market after Heat produced the first
stage of the campaign in just 14 days.
The print ad features Bank of
the West’s iconic bear logo and gets right to the point: “Open a
new, free checking account at Bank of the West, and get
$100.”
Another spot says: “Free
Checking So Free, It’s Worth Reading the Fine Print
Below.”
Rosen said the quick
turnaround is evidence that Heat “really gets what we are doing,”
adding that the agency will work on creative for business banking
and launch a corporate Facebook presence, as well as lead a
longer-term brand positioning project.
“Heat is able to put their
finger on the specific attributes of our brand that customers find
compelling and that we want to share more broadly,” he
said.
“We have a tremendously loyal
customer base, and a memorable bear logo that evokes the West. Now
we just need to market in a more effective, targeted
way.”
Heat president John Elder
said: “Bank of the West is a great bank with tremendous potential
to raise its brand awareness.”
“We have always got such
great service from them, but they have always been so quiet about
the great work they do. They are well positioned as a customer
service-oriented, non-money centre institution.”
Elder said one of Heat’s
tasks is to convince the disaffected customers of larger banks that
banking need not be so painful.
“A bank can be your friend,
and it can be pleasant even,” Elder said. “We want to use social
media to leverage the word-of-mouth and market the bank through
every means we can, right down to the deposit slips.”
Other Heat clients include EA
Sports, Riverbed, Yelp, AOL, Ooma, HBO and Adobe. Heat was named
2010 Small Agency of the Year, West Region, by Advertising
Age magazine. They are renowned for social networking-based
campaigns as well as online and e-mail marketing.
“We have dipped our toes in
the water of social media, but we don’t have a complete strategy,”
he said. “We are enthusiastic about the potential for the online
channel as a way to advertise more efficiently.”
Bank of the West has
customers in all 50 states and operates more than 700 branch
banking and commercial office locations in 19 Western and
Midwestern states.
Award-winning
style
Prudent credit underwriting,
a diversified loan portfolio, and careful risk management have
allowed Bank of the West to grow to more than $58bn in assets. It
is one of the nation’s largest banks, yet it preserves its local
feel and its award-winning style of relationship banking that
ensures superior customer service.
“We think we are one of the
best-kept secrets in the banking business in the US, and we have
quite a story to tell,” Rosen said.
In the 12 months to 31
December, Bank of the West grew its core deposits by 9.7% compared
to the previous year. Loans were down 4.4% year-on-year, but at the
end of the year the improved economy and an upswing in marketing
spending resulted in a pickup in consumer loans and corporate
loans.
Revenues were up 5.6%
compared to 2009 to €2.3bn ($3.14bn) but the cost-income ratio
edged up by 70 basis points to 54.7%.
For fiscal 2010, Bank of the West posted a pre-tax income
of €573m compared to a loss of €197m in 2009.
