Transcript
Page 1: Category Work Report, Bank of America Repositioning, April 2013

REPOSITIONINGBANK OF AMERICA

APRIL 2013

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Whathas happened?

Over the weekend, and during the NCAA Final Four, one of the most heavily watched events in the U.S., Bank of America launched a new brand position that centers on the connections it makes for consumers and clients.

This reposition was launched through a multi-channel, integrated campaign. It comes on the heels of a significant investment made by the Bank of America to update its banking centers and digital banking capabilities.

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Whydid it happen?

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The reposition was not unexpected for two reasons:

Bank of America had become the symbol of everything that was wrong with big banks. Its employees suffered from low morale and lacked a clear understanding or belief in the direction of the company.

Through its acquisition of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, the Bank of America had become a much different organization. Defining a new, common purpose to reflect its expanded capabilities and culture was critical for the brands and the employees.

The Bank of America brand had been greatly tarnished over the last few years.

} Shouldered more blame than any other financial institution for contributing to the recession, largely due to its acquisition of Countrywide.

} Business changes like tightened lending standards and leading the industry in foreclosures made it no longer possible to claim being the provider of opportunities.

} Public intentions of charging a $5 fee to use a debit card, re-pricing checking accounts, and closing business and home-equity lines of credit, made it an easy target for already-angry customers.

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Whatis the new idea?

The new idea demonstrates that Bank of America is committed to better, one connection at a time.

What does it mean?

The idea of facilitating connections, coupled with a tone that openly admits that the Bank is not at the center of anyone’s life, is a significant departure from being the Bank of Opportunity. It is more humble and more true to what the organization is looking to deliver.

While helping connect people and clients to their money, financing, financial information and expertise is certainly true of its role, it is not at all unique to Bank of America within the financial industry.

The idea of human connections has merit in this category; however we question how it’s being brought to life. To date, the work lacks clarity around the end benefit and precision around how ‘connections’ works to help stakeholders achieve a better experience.

Finally, outside of finance, the idea of connecting is ripe territory for countless other industries too. It is more humble and more true to what the organization is looking to deliver.

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Tagline

TAGLINES

Consumer & Small Business Bank: Life’s better when we’re connected

Commercial, Investment Bank and Global Markets: The power of global connections

Notable creative language: “We know we’re not the center of your life, but we’ll do our best to help you connect to what is”

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Howit comes to life:

IN-STORE:

Bank of America spent the last year remodeling 2,000 of its 5,400 branches across the country. Like many retailers, Bank of America wants its physical locations to provide an experience, not just a transaction center.

Private rooms are available for meetings with financial specialists; about 100 branches have rooms with videoconferencing capabilities, too, for customers to be able to meet with specialists remotely if a branch doesn’t have someone on-site. The bank currently has 6,500 specialists — financial advisers, mortgage loan officers and small-business bankers — staffing its branches and phone lines, and hopes to have 7,800 available by the end of the year.

Face-to-face interactions are a key part of what Bank of America is trying to accomplish. After all the heat banks took during and after the financial crisis, part of Bank of America’s transformation is about regaining customer trust.

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Howit comes to life (cont.):

Masterbrand TV:

Anthem spot “Portraits” focuses on a family’s evolution and uses a married couple as a metaphor. This has the potential to demonstrate that the Bank understands what’s truly important to its customers. The execution is hard to follow, however, and lacks a clear role for the Bank — leaving viewers to figure that out.

Brand spots focus on the connection between Bank of America and communities across the United States. For example, in San Diego the spot demonstrates how researchers, entrepreneurs and bankers shared a vision to help foster the biofuel industry claiming that Bank of America ‘connected minds and technology to help fuel a nation’s future.’ These executions feel very familiar to a lot of work in the finance and B2B space.

ADVERTISING:

All TV spots share a device that takes the viewer back in time to the point at which Bank of America connected the parties in the story to something they needed in order to advance.

CLICK TO VISIT BANK OF AMERICA’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

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Howit comes to life (cont.):

ADVERTISING:

Business, Investment Banking and Global Markets TV:

Each execution highlights a business or organization that was helped by BAC/BACML banking or financing. This model has become the go-to strategy for nearly all Banks. While these executions communicate the Bank’s role, they fail to differentiate it from competitors.

CLICK TO VISIT BANK OF AMERICA’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Consumer Bank TV:

Two other Consumer spots also rotate into the mix. One focuses on the BankAmericard Credit Card and the other on BankAmeriDeals, a cash-back rewards program. Both were heavily marketed prior to the reposition and have been largely reworked with the new campaign device. In this case, telling the story backwards seems to detract from the Bank’s ability to clearly communicate what are already somewhat complex value propositions.

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AD CODE: BACB-11295 SOURCE: Washington Post-APR 8 13Page 1 of 2

AD CODE: BACB-11295 SOURCE: Washington Post-APR 8 13Page 2 of 2

Howit comes to life (cont.):

PRINT:

Brand print launched Monday, April 8th in publications like the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

Employees Video:

Highlights employees from all of the Bank of America companies, and lets them tell viewers — in their own words — about the way they do business. Liberal use of terms like “relationships,” “human,” and “trust” convey a nice tone for the Bank, and this kind of employee message has performed strongly in the past for rallying internal teams.

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Howit comes to life (cont.):

OUTDOOR:

Utilizing their Times Square billboard, Bank of America featured non-profit organizations they’re connected to.

PARTNERSHIPS:

A new partnership with online educational website Khan Academy offers to teach its customers about financial literacy. Khan Academy is a non-profit education website that provides free access to video lessons and exercises on everything from basic math, to art history, to organic chemistry.

Its new site, BetterMoneyHabits.com, will be open to everyone, not just Bank of America customers, and it will host a combination of Bank of America and Khan-produced content on topics such as understanding mortgages and steps toward getting out of debt.

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Howit comes to life (cont.):

DIGITAL:

‘Connections’ is a challenging position for Bank of America to take, unless backed up with a digital strategy that offers real, tangible, enhanced connection with consumers. The campaign did show an innovative use of the Bank of America’s Times Square outdoor property (keeping in mind the scale of Times Square is only so big). The Bank of America donated 30% of its Times Square ad space to its community partners whom they support, such as the Wounded Warrior Project, and the messages were designed to amplify Bank of America’s social buzz via Facebook and Twitter as both the organizations and followers of organizations tweeted and retweeted the billboards. The tweets about the Times Square ads were retweeted by Bank of America with a generic link to Bank of America’s YouTube channel to view its TV spots and employee testimonials. This presents a missed opportunity to truly engage with consumers who are talking about the Bank of America. The 300K+ Bank of America Twitter followers and their connections only converted to an average of 200 views per each of the seven spots. The YouTube channel was not branded with the look and feel of the campaign, which may have added to the drop-off. The Bank of America site was branded, but did little to improve connection with consumers beyond new graphics and embedded TV spots. Giving its premium Times Square real estate to its community partners is a good demonstration of facilitating connection, driving Twitter and social media involvement, and deeper engagement with the brand. Driving Twitter traffic to YouTube to watch TV spots, however, is not. We’ll continue to monitor the digital rollout of the campaign as we expect more work to launch.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

DIGITAL PAID MEDIA.BUSINESS AS USUAL.NEW BANNER ADS FOR GLOBAL AMBASSADOR–SUPPORTS WOMEN IN BUSINESS.NO PAID MEDIA TO SUPPORT NEW MESSAGING.

TIMES SQUARE PROPERTYGIVES MEDIA SPACE TO ALL PARTNERS TO SHAREAND FOLLOW ON TWITTER.

TWITTER BOOSTED BY SUPPORTERS OF CAUSES AND BOA RETWEETS. TWEETS ALL PUSH TO YOUTUBE AND SITE.

DISCONNECT - FEW VIEWS ON YOUTUBE. COMMUNITY SECTION SHUT OFF. NO COMMENTS ALLOWED ON POSTS. YOUTUBE DOESNT REFLECT NEW DESIGN.

FURTHER DISCONNECT - ‘VANITY’ URL EMPLOYEE POSTS. SIMPLY REWATCH WHAT YOU’VE JUST SEEN. NO COMMENTS.

SITE SHOWS NEW DESIGN. NOTHING USEFUL ADDED TO SITE EXCEPT VIDEO CONTENT.

PAID MEDIA

CONTENT SITE/APP

Sunday, April 7, 13

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SOCIAL MEDIA

DIGITAL PAID MEDIA.BUSINESS AS USUAL.NEW BANNER ADS FOR GLOBAL AMBASSADOR–SUPPORTS WOMEN IN BUSINESS.NO PAID MEDIA TO SUPPORT NEW MESSAGING.

TIMES SQUARE PROPERTYGIVES MEDIA SPACE TO ALL PARTNERS TO SHAREAND FOLLOW ON TWITTER.

TWITTER BOOSTED BY SUPPORTERS OF CAUSES AND BOA RETWEETS. TWEETS ALL PUSH TO YOUTUBE AND SITE.

DISCONNECT - FEW VIEWS ON YOUTUBE. COMMUNITY SECTION SHUT OFF. NO COMMENTS ALLOWED ON POSTS. YOUTUBE DOESNT REFLECT NEW DESIGN.

FURTHER DISCONNECT - ‘VANITY’ URL EMPLOYEE POSTS. SIMPLY REWATCH WHAT YOU’VE JUST SEEN. NO COMMENTS.

SITE SHOWS NEW DESIGN. NOTHING USEFUL ADDED TO SITE EXCEPT VIDEO CONTENT.

PAID MEDIA

CONTENT SITE/APP

Sunday, April 7, 13

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SOCIAL MEDIA

DIGITAL PAID MEDIA.BUSINESS AS USUAL.NEW BANNER ADS FOR GLOBAL AMBASSADOR–SUPPORTS WOMEN IN BUSINESS.NO PAID MEDIA TO SUPPORT NEW MESSAGING.

TIMES SQUARE PROPERTYGIVES MEDIA SPACE TO ALL PARTNERS TO SHAREAND FOLLOW ON TWITTER.

TWITTER BOOSTED BY SUPPORTERS OF CAUSES AND BOA RETWEETS. TWEETS ALL PUSH TO YOUTUBE AND SITE.

DISCONNECT - FEW VIEWS ON YOUTUBE. COMMUNITY SECTION SHUT OFF. NO COMMENTS ALLOWED ON POSTS. YOUTUBE DOESNT REFLECT NEW DESIGN.

FURTHER DISCONNECT - ‘VANITY’ URL EMPLOYEE POSTS. SIMPLY REWATCH WHAT YOU’VE JUST SEEN. NO COMMENTS.

SITE SHOWS NEW DESIGN. NOTHING USEFUL ADDED TO SITE EXCEPT VIDEO CONTENT.

PAID MEDIA

CONTENT SITE/APP

Sunday, April 7, 13

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SOCIAL MEDIA

DIGITAL PAID MEDIA.BUSINESS AS USUAL.NEW BANNER ADS FOR GLOBAL AMBASSADOR–SUPPORTS WOMEN IN BUSINESS.NO PAID MEDIA TO SUPPORT NEW MESSAGING.

TIMES SQUARE PROPERTYGIVES MEDIA SPACE TO ALL PARTNERS TO SHAREAND FOLLOW ON TWITTER.

TWITTER BOOSTED BY SUPPORTERS OF CAUSES AND BOA RETWEETS. TWEETS ALL PUSH TO YOUTUBE AND SITE.

DISCONNECT - FEW VIEWS ON YOUTUBE. COMMUNITY SECTION SHUT OFF. NO COMMENTS ALLOWED ON POSTS. YOUTUBE DOESNT REFLECT NEW DESIGN.

FURTHER DISCONNECT - ‘VANITY’ URL EMPLOYEE POSTS. SIMPLY REWATCH WHAT YOU’VE JUST SEEN. NO COMMENTS.

SITE SHOWS NEW DESIGN. NOTHING USEFUL ADDED TO SITE EXCEPT VIDEO CONTENT.

PAID MEDIA

CONTENT SITE/APP

Sunday, April 7, 13

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Howit comes to life (cont.):

DIGITAL:

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Initial Resultsvia Social Listening

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SUMMARY

Negligible change in sentiment after the Bank of America ad aired on Saturday, April 6th.

Very few posts mentioned the ad.

Social mentions remained focused on bigger BoA bank news and events.

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In the past day…1,598 mentions of Bank of America

Sentiment In the past day…

In the past week…13,879 mentions of Bank of America

Sentiment In the past week…

Volume and Sentimentaround “Bank of America” mentions online

Little to no difference in sentiment change after Saturday’s ad

485BLOGS

35BLOGS

5,797TWITTER

1,018TWITTER

463FORUMS

48FORUMS

7,134NEWS

497NEWS

3.3% 2%

41.8% 64%

3.3% 3%

51.4% 31%

Sentiment on Saturday was slightly less positive than sentiment on Sunday.

On 4/6, 57% of mentions were positive compared to 4/7, where 61% of mentions were positive.

36% 36%

3% 2%

61% 62%

NEGATIVE NEUTRAL POSITIVE NEGATIVE NEUTRAL POSITIVE

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In the past day…In the past week…

Bank of Americaword clouds

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The PostsOnly a handful of posts reacting to the new ad campaign. Most Bank of America mentions were surrounding big news or events for the bank.

Big Bank of America news dominated social posts

Relevant Twitter mentions

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The advertisement on 4/6 did not make enough of an impression to change sentiment or create attention on social media or blogs.

Sentiment around Bank of America is generally positive. Sentiment comparison analysis could be conducted on competitors to gain a better understanding of the industry standard.

Social Listeningconclusions

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Is itworthy of concern?

It remains to be seen how effective the campaign will be for Bank of America, because:

} It launched with a message that is heavier on point of view than on products during a time when customers and clients are primarily focused on what’s in it for them.

} The work fails to strongly communicate how the Bank’s network of connections is more extensive, more purposeful, and more helpful for customers and clients. This, coupled with low branding, could hurt the Bank’s effort to stand out.

} Some disconnect exists between “Portraits” and recent press about banking center updates and digital capabilities. The former leans local and ‘human,’ while the latter highlights new innovation and technology. While both are important, the lack of connection between them feels like a miss. For a company that prides itself on its digital innovation, it’s an interesting decision to launch with a message that is remarkably backward looking.

Bank of America had come to be seen as a profit-over-people organization. This new, human approach attempts to tackle that perception head-on. If this approach is successful and can truly pay off with a new banking experience, it could be very powerful — particularly given that it already has a foot in the door with every other household in America.

The cynics are unlikely to be moved, but then it’s unlikely any marketing would have accomplished that.