ABA Banking Journal - November 2007 - (Page 48)

BANK MARKETING Gen Y’s splice of life So tweens, teens, and 20-somethings are into themselves, above all, as has always been the case. Yet this youth generation has enacted its relative self-absorption in striking ways. Meanwhile, elders are likewise responding differently. After all, the broadcast news and other outlets have bent over backwards to both “hipster up” and dumb down their content to make it more palatable for those younger than Gen X. Unless you’ve been so busy at the office that you hardly noticed, kids of today are TiVo-savvy, even more than consumers who preceded them. “It’s not like when you and I were kids,” Carter, a Gen X-age exec, jokes. Today, he points out, Echo Boomer kids “download only the two songs on a Justin Timberlake, White Stripes, or Killers record that they like.” This selective consumption shapes their appetite for consumption of all services. In fact, Yankelovich, Norwalk, Conn., is applying a scientific term—splicing,— in a marketing context to describe a cut- and-paste youth that will hound mass market firms for consistency of message and better offers by this snippet approach, notes Los Angeles-based partner Pete Rose. “It’s all about taking what you want and only what you want,” he explains. “The concept is related to mashups. Youth will increasingly demand the best parts of all retail offers,” he explains. “They will look at what is offered via all channels and call the provider out on any inconsistencies more ruthlessly.” Dead channel? So, should banks gird themselves for a demanding, consume-only-what’s-funor-most-advantageous public? Carter thinks so. For starters, banks don’t inspire much loyalty. On a brand continuum, financial services sit closer to brands despised (e.g., big tobacco and oil) or neutral (e.g., shampoo), he says, if they truly register at all. Compared to Apple, Dell, or Virgin, they barely make a dent. “Mostly, these are the companies that mom and dad deal with that have nothing to do with [the kids],” says Carter. In trying to bridge this chasm of indifference, he’s seen financial institution clients employ traditional schemes in new wrapping, sticking to the direct marketing channel like glue, for instance, because of tradition and habit. “The old-style direct marketing channel is dead, it’s totally irrelevant now,” Carter says. Banks will have to do more with their websites, follow developments in mobile banking and payments, and think about messaging very carefully, treading with a deft hand to instigate dialog. Rose isn’t sure any channel or approach is dead, but he agrees that banks have their work cut out for them in terms of generating offers and messages that are compelling in a marketplace awhirl in distracting elements. “Although there are pockets where this isn’t the case,” says Rose, “the census data we’ve recently reviewed confirmed that Echo Boomers aren’t getting married as young and aren’t buying Getting real with Gen Wired he difficulty of relating to Generation Y—those under 30, for our purposes—came home to Jeff Bargerhuff when his 19-year old son went off to college. Bargerhuff, the marketing director for Nevada State Bank, advised his son to open an account not with his own bank, but one each with Wells Fargo and Bank of America. As its name suggests, Vegas-based Nevada State operates only within the state of Nevada, while Bargerhuff’s son was off to San Francisco. “I have a Wells across the hallway so I can deposit money here and he can pull it out there without surcharges,” says Bargerhuff, a marketing advisor to ABA and chairman of its Marketing Network Council until his term ended in September. For obvious reasons, Bargerhuff thinks “bigger banks have an advantage” in capturing Gen Y customers. Since they’re forever on the move, it helps to have their bank travel with them. Yet, he says, “I don’t think any bank has done a good job with Gen Y yet.” Being part of “the Net generation,” as Gen Y can be thought of, Bargerhuff’s son might be high tech, but before he went off to college, “I had to explain to him By Orla O’Sullivan, freelance writer, who writes from NYC. T how to write a check,” Bargerhuff says. Comparison shoppers with chutzpah, and with no loyalty as they navigate nimbly online and off, Gen Ys “grew up in a generation where financial literacy wasn’t taught.” Bargerhuff had his son open two bank accounts, across multiple products, to build his credit history. Reflecting how competitive banks will have to be to keep Gen Y customers, the younger Bargerhuff’s BofA credit card is locked in his father’s safe to minimize temptation for a financial novice. Royal Bank of Canada hopes to facilitate candid discussions between youngsters about their first, faltering financial steps on a new website featuring bloggers based around the country. The target audience will vote in the bloggers they want from video submissions. (Chosen bloggers get paid up to $20 an hour, or $15,600, which beats most student jobs.) Meanwhile, Canada’s largest bank, with retail (Centura) and other units in the U.S., offers advice in catchily titled podcasts, such as “Love At First Swipe,” about, you guessed it, unrequited credit card debt. In addition to starting www.rbcp2p.com this academic term, the technically pioneering bank also put itself on the social networking site facebook.com. Not where one expects GETTING REAL continued on page 50 48 NOVEMBER 2007/ABA BANKING JOURNAL www.ababj.com/subscribe.html http://www.yankelovich.com http://www.nsbank.com http://www.royalbank.com http://www.rbcp2p.com http://www.facebook.com http://www.ababj.com/subscribe.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - November 2007

ABA Banking Journal - November 2007 Contents Editor’s Column Briefing: Good News for Mortgages Sleight of Mind N.Y. Hiring Bonanza May Be Bane Snapshot: A Look at Held-For-Investment Loan Growth ABA Resources ABA Chairman’s Position “The Moose Bank” Thrives on Manufactured Housing Loans Finding the Middle Way for Your Bank’s Retirement Program Pass the Aspirin Cover Story: Self-Service Steps Up DIY U.K. Style Marketing to Millennials Getting Real With “Gen Wired” Ethnic Marketing: Disinterested Banking Getting Good at Global Sourcing Case in Point Turn Compliance on It's Head Banker’s Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - November 2007

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