Mozo pitches at penny-pinchers
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
After months in development mozo.com.au has launched to the Australian public, hoping to capitalise on the financial crisis and appeal to consumers looking to get a better deal.
Mozo competitor Ratecity scores banking products with Cannex star ratings. Mozo will instead rely on consumer feedback, and partnered with Roy Morgan to generate 3,000 initial consumer reviews and ratings of individual banks for the site.
Banks were rated on five categories: trust, customer service, convenience, product features, and rates and fees. Based on the initial batch of reviews Australia’s favourite banks are Bendigo Bank, Members Equity, Bank of Queensland, Suncorp and BankWest. All regionals, and all at risk of, or already being swallowed up by larger competitors.
Probably the most unique feature of the site is the “Health check” tool that enables users to compare their existing bank products with those of competitors and work out whether they would benefit from switching.
Users can shortlist the products they are interested in and come back at a later stage when they are ready to purchase. Mozo will generate revenue from leads sent to financial institutions, and display advertising.
Mozo has also secured an Australian Financial Services Licence, making it easier for the group to compare and discuss deposit products – a definite advantage given the current strong industry competition for retail deposits.
The only obvious exclusion from the site is a discussion forum, something the journos behind fatcat.com.au have managed to pull off with moneyconfessions.com.au.
The combination of qualitative and quantitative data is a must in the current climate where consumers are seeking advice and perhaps a shoulder to cry on.
We’ll be watching the social networks closely to see if Mozo pops up.
Tags: bank advertising, bank marketing, Comparison Sites, Mozo, Ratecity
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Is bank TV advertising a waste of time?
Thursday, June 12th, 2008
“Why is any bank these days spending millions of dollars on creating TV ads?” columnist Simon van Wyk controversially asks in tomorrow’s edition of Online Banking Review.
This is something the panelists on last night’s episode of The Gruen Transfer touched on when they analysed the latest set of bank advertisements. You can download the transcript here.
DDB creative director Matt Eastwood agreed advertising a bank is a challenge and that “The problem with a lot of them is that they try to make you love them and it’s never going to happen”.
Van Wyk argues banks should be taking a leaf from the books of the new crop of agile, web-based financial services companies like Wesabe, Mint, Prosper and Zopa – all of which make it easy for people to deal with them, and provide a valuable experience.
He says it’s time bank marketers concentrated on creating value by launching innovative products and services that can be spread via networks, rather than just delivering advertising messages.
Both van Wyk and the Gruen Transfer panelists use the Commonwealth Bank’s most recent “Determined to be Different” campaign as an example.
The question is: Did the campaign work?
CBA marketing director Mark Buckman certainly thinks it did, telling The Australian the campaign had contributed to the bank’s recent 0.34 per cent increase in market share in deposits.”We’ve had month after month of positive market share (growth) in all our key product lines that we haven’t had in years.”
What do you think?
Could the bank have achieved the same growth by launching an innovative new deposit product and releasing it on Facebook?
Should banks be redirecting the millions of dollars they spend on TV advertising to services that provide real value to customers?
Tags: bank advertising, Commonwealth Bank, social media
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Social media shouldn’t only be about bank bashing
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
What do beer ads, rejuvenating face cream and bank managers all have in common?
They’re all the subject of some entertaining spoof ads, created by users of the ABC’s website for new TV program the Gruen Transfer.
It’s another case of social media related to banking that is more about bank bashing than anything else.
Some of the titles of the many videos put together by consumers on the site include:
“We don’t care about anyone”, “Bad bank” and “Bullsh*t is our business.”
The site is getting some strong traffic with viewings of the spoof ads also high for user-generated content.
One contribution titled “A bank that tells it like it is” reflects the overall theme of the videos with lines including “At Gruen bank our queues are short because most of our customers have given up trying.”
“Take out one of our low interest high risk loans today. You’ll be paying it off until you die. And then it will be your children’s problem.”
“Gruen Bank – Bleeding you dry for 25 years.”
The site is an interesting research vehicle for bank marketers.
Instead of believing that consumers care about the latest product feature or promotional offer perhaps financial services marketers should be working out better ways to connect with customers, to generate a laugh, or alter perceptions that the bank only cares about the bank/shareholders and not its customers.
Good examples of institutions doing this include Raboplus, Community First Credit Union, and Savings & Loans.
Isn’t it time a major bank started using social media to connect with customers?
Tags: bank advertising, social media
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Scrolling advertisements – do consumers want them?
Friday, April 18th, 2008
When ANZ launched its new look website last month we couldn’t help but notice the prominent rotating home page advertisements including a numbered interface.
Bank marketers often butt heads over real estate on the home page and which current promotion deserves prominence.
This is one way of making the peace, ensuring more campaigns get a run in a highly visible position on the website.
The Commonwealth Bank has also adopted this approach on its website, albeit in a less prominent position.
Even Google seems to have embraced it, launching scrolling advertisements for Adsense publishers earlier this year.
But are marketers guilty of being inward looking with this approach? Will consumers be more or less likely to click on display advertisements when they have more than one to choose from?
I’d like to see the metrics for site visitors actually clicking on the scrolling arrows to find out if this is about increasing relevance for consumers or just gambling on a slightly higher click-through rate.
Then again, when the outdoor advertisers launched scrolling bus stop ads in 2002 some said they would cause traffic accidents and result in death. Six years on we’re all used to rotating outdoor advertisements, so perhaps the scrolling online ad could be here to stay.
Tags: ANZ, bank advertising, Commonwealth Bank
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