Pro golfers Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Louis Oosthuizen, and a few other of the world’s best will tee up at the Royal Brand of Canada Canadian Open this week as the sponsor continues its efforts to move from being into being a more international brand.

"They've got to be five-star events, which is why we've got to go over, put the charter on and make sure the players come," said Jim Little, RBC's chief brand and communications officer, according to the Vancouver Sun. Little was just at the recently completed British Open so he could shepherd such players onto a charter plane and be sure they showed up in Canada to get coverage by America’s CBS and Canada’s Global TV.

RBC, the official bank of the PGA, “aims to have a prominent charity component and a full range of participatory events to host some 3,000 clients” at the event, the Sun reports. All of this effort is because the RBC “has hung its hopes on golf” and its sponsorship of the Olympics to help it become a known brand across the globe, the Sun reports. The golf audience is "right in the wheelhouse of our marketing focus," Little points out to the paper.Continue reading...

Banks aren’t generally known for frisky, hilarious advertising — after all, they're taking care of commercial and consumer finances — but the National Australian Bank broke down all the walls earlier this year in an effort to draw extra attention to it. And it has apparently worked. 

NAB's 2010 research showed that 50% of Australians who responded had, at some point or another, broken up up on or near Valentine’s Day. Inspired, the bank duly hired 60 couples across the country to publicly break up on Valentine’s Day and post about it online as part of a social-media effort showcasing NAB’s “breakup” with other banks.Continue reading...

The Canadian dollar is worth more than the US dollar — if a bit softer this morning — and, now, it's flashier. The Bank of Canada yesterday unveiled the country's new currency, starting with the $100 and $50 notes, that will begin circulating in November. Just don't call the bills plastic — they're "polymer."

“These bank notes evoke the country’s spirit of innovation, and their designs celebrate Canada’s achievements at home, around the world and in space,” Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty stated at the unveiling. “Bank notes are cultural touchstones that reflect and celebrate our Canadian experience.”Continue reading...

Last week, Google launched a new service, Google Advisor, to help consumers make money decisions and compare financial products: credit cards, CDs, checking, and savings accounts.

Today, the search giant unveiled its own financial product, Google Wallet, at a press conference in New York, with partners Citi, MasterCard, First Data and Sprint, sharing the stage.

Can Google Banking be far behind?Continue reading...

"Sentiment analysis" is becoming increasingly important form of analysis, one that has been made possible by the vast increase in content and social chatter across the web, when customers are more than ready (see above) to air their grievances online — particularly when it comes to brands that have a hand in their wallets.

General Sentiment is one of the firms that scours and analyzes over 40 million sources of content, "listening" in real time to public opinions expressed regarding, among other things, brands. With bank brands such a hot topic of social chatter in these cash-strapped times, the social-media analyst just released its Retail Banking Report  for Q1 2011.Continue reading...

After a relatively rosy first couple of months of the year, US economic reports are more mixed in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the resulting disruption in manufacturing and supply networks, as well as with rising oil prices amid war in the Middle East.

While domestic auto sales appear to have continued their recovery in March, for instance, American consumer confidence has dipped again lately. New Conference Board data shows that consumer confidence dipped 8.6% in March, "pulled down by gloomy expectations about the economy and labor markets." 

Even so, with calamity and strife causing global jitters from Japan to Libya and everywhere in between, IHS Global Insight has been telling its clients worried about the US economy: "Relax."Continue reading...

Not surprisingly, trust in financial institutions has nose-dived since the recent worldwide financial meltdown. 

Research firm Mintel Comperemedia says less than one-third (only 28%) of respondents in a new study say they trust the financial services industry and the company suggests that "much of the trust that many brands enjoyed over decades has eroded and that will have to be re-earned." 

An added challenge for such institutions is the fact that there are simply too many investment choices; consumers "are afraid to make a bad decision and choose the wrong product."

What's a bank, investment firm or insurance company to do?Continue reading...

The rest of the world is abandoning the black magnetic strip on the back of credit cards, moving instead to embedded chips. While new U.S. passports and some state licenses use such technology, U.S. credit card companies have not made any significant advances beyond the use of the strip in recent years. But that's all about to change.

Next month Citibank will begin testing a new 2G credit card, which incorporates an embedded chip and a battery, along with two buttons and lights. The buttons let cardholders choose whether to pay for a purchase with credit or "thank you points" (rewards), according to the New York Times.

Citi plans to offer the new card to existing account holders of two rewards accounts.Continue reading...