Change is coming for the big banks – and their advertising
In the wake of the Royal Commission, how do the banks re-stage their communications and advertising messages to begin to re-build confidence and trust? According to 303 MullenLowe’s Nick Cleaver, giving up lofty promises is the first step.
The major banks are reeling from the revelations of the Hayne Royal Commission, which has ravaged their reputations by exposing illegal and unethical practises. From the Commonwealth Bank charging fees to dead people; Westpac admitting it paid bonuses to financial advisers it knew were churning clients into high-fee investments and NAB charging for advice it never provided. And so it’s gone on and on.
It’s been astonishing and shocking coming from an industry most thought was highly regulated, had high levels of governance and at the very least lived within the boundaries of the law. We may not have loved the banks, but there was a begrudging acknowledgment they were run efficiently, provided a reasonable service and as such there was a base level of trust.
The Hayne Interim report has painted a picture of an industry driven by greed, where profit has come before people and shareholder interests have trumped those of customers.
It’s an issue of trust. Trust that has eroded. And for some their trust would be not a sausage.
Then there’s the question of how real and enduring is the hit to trust? In today’s posting ‘Why the Big 4 will successfully weather the Royal Commission storm’, strategist Lorenzo Bresciani argues that we still trust the big banks not to fail, that switching banks isn’t easy and that, at the heart of it, did we really trust the bastards anyway? For my money, the smart thing for the Big 4 to do is drop the lofty promises forever, and focus entirely on delivering fresh useful utility. That way they distance themselves from other failing institutions’ pompous rhetoric, and play in the smaller, more agile banks’ space.
Expect a slew of “we’ve changed–for you” propositions. It’s the logical first rung on the ladder out of the shit
Very fashion forward Nick.
So pleased you noticed 🙂