Chase offers a lot of financial products and services, and typically its marketing has focused on spotlighting one or the other. Now, in a new marketing campaign launching today, Chase is taking a more holistic approach by casting itself as a financial problem-solving brand for its customers across the many needs and challenges of life.

"So You Can" is the tag line for the campaign, which is a creative refresh that Chase will use for its existing ad-buy schedule. It's the first comprehensive effort launched by Claire Huang, a bank-industry veteran who recently became JP Morgan Chase's first CMO.

"It's really about giving customers options, telling the story around what we're delivering in a more integrated fashion," Huang told brandchannel. "We have many different products. This has a focus on everyday life, everyday moments. It's a holistic way to show how Chase is delivering for our customers because of what they need.Continue reading...

Bitcoin, the virtual currency anonymously exchanged through an online peer-to-peer network, has hit the mainstream radar as ironically, a technical glitch caused a “flash crash” this week, sending Bitcoin on a 23 percent tumble and into financial headlines.

Created by Satoshi Nakamoto, “Bitcoin is not controlled by any government or central bank,” explains Business Insider. “And two, it’s private. In the world of conventional finance, governments can see every time you use your credit card, withdraw cash at an ATM, or make a wire transfer. Yet with Bitcoin, they don’t have this ability. And this is a key reason why Bitcoin has become so popular, especially in places like Argentina where people are getting squashed by their government.”Continue reading...

Banks are always crowing about how they aren’t going to have fees for this or that, but somehow, over time, the monthly bank statement comes and there are a load of fees on there. And most of them are worded in such a way that the consumer has absolutely no idea what they are for.

Australian Josh Reich has certainly felt the bewilderment. “Banks make money by keeping customers confused,” Reich told the New York Times. “There’s no incentives to make the experience better.”

So what did Reich do? He partnered with a pal, Shamir Karkal, and started an online bank, Simple, a “worry-free alternative to traditional banking” that doesn't charge any fees.

Formerly known as BankSimple, the Portland, Ore.-based startup which has now processed more than $200 million in transactions, offers its 20,000 customers data-rich analysis of expenditures as well.Continue reading...

The flurry of mobile banking ads lately is no accident. Just like every other business, banks have figured out that consumers are on the go — and connected — all the time. Banks are already scrambling to get their piece of the mobile payments market, and now mobile banking apps are the latest new thing.

A slew of campaigns are featuring the ease of mobile banking, with banks such as Barclays expanding mobile. Bank of America says, "Life is mobile. So is your bank." Chase calls mobile banking, "The power of Chase in the palm of your hand."

But Capital One, instead of pitching the mobile app itself, is focusing on the convenience factor for the consumer.Continue reading...

Banking has become more consumer-friendly, particularly through sophisticated ATMs and mobile banking applications, but banks are still hampered by the stereotype that they are largely impersonal. TD Bank's new branding campaign, "Bank Human Again," makes the most of that deficiency.

New TV and web spots, supported by newspaper and digital media including a microsite, show a variety of consumers in what appears to be a cold, gray unwelcoming bank. Each consumer attempts a simple action only to be thwarted by a robotic-sounding voice that spouts bank policy.

In one spot, for example, a customer finds that the chain on the bank's pen is too short for him to write. When he asks about it, a disembodie voice says, "Here's the thing, Martin, banks can't have people taking their pens." TD Bank's answer: plenty of pens with no chains. Not to mention no rope lines, free coin-counting, and a focus on the little things that add up to the big things in customer service.

While a chained pen may seem insignificant, it's a remnant of banks' traditional (inflexible, impersonal) way of doing business. "The new marketing campaign viscerally communicates TD's attributes of unparalleled service and convenience, and our customer-first culture," stated the bank's Chief Marketing Officer Vinoo Vijay.Continue reading...

Citibank continues its long slog back from the financial crisis with a new CEO, but soon without 11,000 of its workers. The leading bank brand said today that it would save an estimated $1 billion a year by reducing global workforce by around 4 percent, mostly in technology and support jobs.

Most of Citi's problems haven't been in the back offices, however, but in the executive suite. It has lagged its peers in recovering from the crisis, and its CEO during the worst period, Vikram Pandit, was pushed out by directors recently in favor of Michael Corbat, the new CEO.

Corbat's first steps to reorganize the company involve cutting most of the related jobs in Citi's consumer-banking unit, where the bank expects to sell or scale back operations in Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania and Uruguay. It plans to focus instead on 150 higher-growth markets.Continue reading...

Market research shows that e-tailing in India is growing faster than any other Asia Pacific market, which sets the stage for Citi's new campaign in the market: promoting web-based transactions and online shopping to consumers.

Citibank India will host its first ever 24-hour deep discount online promotion — billed as the OMG! Sale, short for Online Mega Sale — on Wednesday (Dec. 5), offering cardholders deals across categories from 17 e-tailers including indiatimes.com, ebay.in, snapdeal.com, indiaplaza.com, zoomin.com, yebhi.com, zovi.com, excluzen.com, highstreetlabels.com, goibibo.com, babyoye.com, firstcry.com, hoopos.com, indiangiftsportal.com, goodlife.com, pepperfry.com and myntra.com. 

The single-day online sale event offers discounts averaging around 30% and extending up to 60% on certain products and services.Continue reading...

In June 2011, the Dutch financial services giant ING Group agreed to sell ING DIRECT USA to Capital One as part of a restructuring agreement with the European Commission. As part of the deal, ING Group permitted the use of "ING DIRECT" only until February, 2013, so the companies adopted Capital One 360 as its new brand name.

As a result, the distinctive ING Direct orange ball is rolling into the archives, to be replaced by Capital One's red-and-blue logo with the addition of a red ball enclosing the number “360” with a sideways chevron. But not all current ING Direct US "Savers," as they like to call their Facebook followers, are convinced. Some fans just can't let go of the ball.

ING Direct customer David Mejias started a “save the orange ball” petition on Change.org, while another brand loyalist, Maria Elena Villegas, posted on Facebook: “So, Capital One bought the rights to the orange ball only to destroy any brand recognition and customer loyalty amongst ING customers? If anything, they should have rolled everything over to look and feel and work as ING Direct works. This is an absolute waste of branding, customer loyalty, and potential goodwill or at least neutrality from current ING customers by Capital One.”Continue reading...