Citi Reimagined

Greeted by one of the largest monthly luncheon audiences at an FCS event, Michelle Peluso took to the podium last Thursday (March 22) at the New York Yacht Club and gave a powerful presentation on the resurgence of global marketing at Citibank. As the Chief Marketing & Internet Officer for Citi’s Global Consumer division, Peluso addressed the crowd of nearly 180 FCS members and guests about the phoenix-like rise of Citi, since the crisis of 2008 that reshaped the competitive landscape of the financial industry.

Peluso spoke candidly about the emotional toll on employees as Citi was devastated by the crisis – as measured by its stock price, customer feedback, market share and financial stability. Yet, from a near zero marketing spend only three years ago, Citi has slowly regrouped, and patiently re-entered the marketplace to carefully repair and rebuild its reputation and its relationship with its customers around the world. Peluso explained how, from 2009 to 2011, Citi’s net-promoter scores have dramatically improved in three key categories: banking, mortgages, and credit cards.

Peluso’s presentation focused on several tenets that her global marketing team diligently pursues in order to achieve, what she called, “banking reimagined for the way you live today.” With the Citi’s reputation so badly damaged during the financial crisis, Peluso spoke about the need to “focus on being excellent in our clients’ eyes” in all that Citi does. This mantra of excellence is carried across the marketing disciplines within Citi’s Global Consumer division, from its branch banking services to its online offerings, from its branding and advertising to its social media presence.

Peluso declared that Citi’s return to a trustworthy relationship with its customers must be founded on “clear and distinguished value propositions.” To illustrate examples of such propositions and how they are being communicated, Peluso viewed three current TV commercials for the audience, highlighting two Citi credit cards, the Simplicity Card and the Thank You Card. She explained the importance of rewards as well as manageable interest rates in the offer of these consumer products. To view the commercials, click on these links:

• Citi: Accessories (Woman Mountain-Climber)
• Citi: Band Camp
• Citi: Make-Up Artist

One tenet that Peluso was especially passionate about was the desire to “lead by design.” Borrowing a page from Apple, perhaps, Citi’s retail efforts under Peluso are focusing on the value that design brings to the consumer experience. Peluso provided several examples: to achieve “Smart Banking,” Citi took a fresh look at its branch network and redesigned the physical facilities to better accommodate in-person customers by providing a place where they can be more comfortable, and not just pass through. The goal would be for a Citi branch to be as welcoming as a Starbucks or Barnes & Noble. The new branch design would pick up the “Blue Wave” motif unified by the revitalized advertising campaign in print, on-air and online.

A new overhaul to create a “Smart ATM” will reconfigure the customer interface of the traditional teller machine buttons to a new iPad-like experience. Likewise, Citi’s iPad app has been updated to offer a more intuitive user design, with the goal of providing a best in class experience. On its website, Citi attained “Smart Online Banking” by removing more than 140 links that it no longer believed enhanced customers’ time on its pages.

The technology-minded marketing that is driving Citi’s resurgence is also evident is Peluso’s tenets of providing “personalized digital marketing” through key partnerships with third party leaders such as LinkedIn, as well as “outpacing the competition in social media.” On the social media front, Peluso acknowledged that Citi monitors several hundred online conversations as part of its customer service and marketing efforts. At the forefront of this effort is Citi’s Twitter presence, @AskCiti. Peluso noted that the mandate for the social online experience is simply “Listen, Service, Engage.”

The results of Peluso’s successful marketing strategy and the bank’s well-conceived ramp up in marketing spend have been a measurable increase in both share of voice and brand momentum, two key factors in helping Citi regain a foothold with consumers’ trust, relationship-building, and financial partnership.

Michelle Peluso’s presentation to the FCS underscored Citi’s commitment to return to a cross-category leadership role in defining how financial marketers can best serve their customers.

CEO Exits… Enter Trouble

Since the financial crisis, the corner office of many financial institutions has become a highly visible revolving door, with consequences impacting more than just the careers of one-time CEOs. With this backdrop, the FCS today staged a Tuesday Breakfast Club presentation and panel discussion on “Communicating Critical Events: CEO Transitions and Risk to Enterprise Value.” FTI Consulting served as the presenting sponsor, with Bryan Armstrong, Managing Director of its Strategic Communications practice, introducing compelling research about the connections between CEOs and corporate financial performance.

Armstrong pointed out that “public company CEOs in North America face particularly strong pressure from Wall Street, which has resulted in higher than average CEO turnover.” FTI’s research shows that 43% of CEO transitions are unplanned, due to either resignations or special situations, which includes fraud, strategic transformation, death or health issues, bankruptcy/restructuring, and miscellaneous crisis (e.g., scandals). Noting that one of the main roles of a public company’s CEO is to communicate strategic objectives and performance results to the investor community, Armstrong explained that 32% of investment decisions are based on the perception of a CEO – underscoring the importance of that CEO’s reputation.

How to protect and promote a CEO's reputation became the topic of the panel discussion that followed the research presentation. Moderated by The Wall Street Journal’s Francesco Guerrera (currentaccount@wsj.com), editor of “Money & Investing,” the panel addressed the concerns of succession planning, employee and external communications, media exposure, and the role of the Board of Directors.

Here are some highlights of the panelists’ observations:

Elizabeth Saunders, Chairman, Strategic Communications, FTI Consulting:

• The Street [Wall Street buy-side analysts] wants more exposure to more executives, deeper in the organization, knowing that they represent potential successors. “But with more exposure, there’s more risk.”
• It’s the communications professional’s job “to know the new CEO’s background very deeply.”
• Another key function for the communication professional is “to assess the most dangerous audience” and prepare specifically for that stakeholder group.
• Dealing with an unplanned transition is “where internal communications professionals earn their stripes.”

Jeanne Branthover, Managing Director, Boyden Global Executive Search

• “Succession must be planned at every level of management, from bottom to top.”
• Communications about succession “must be early and always transparent.”
• “We’re seeing CEO run-off competition more and more.” The practice of pitting two or three internal candidates for the CEO job “can be very healthy and positive for the company.” The candidates want to do their best, so productivity improves. Plus “a run-off attracts news attention,” with everyone now watching for the better candidate to win.

Matt Hickerson, Managing Director, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing, Macquarie Group, Americas

• Two of the biggest challenges facing an internal communications team are timing and messaging: “they’re usually brought in very late” [when there’s been an unplanned CEO transition], and “there are often competing loyalties among the departing CEO, the new CEO or even several internal candidates.”

The panelists also handled questions from the audience, that touched on the consequences of other C-suite executive departures (e.g, CFOs, Division Chairmen), how Board Directors react when their own reputations are threatened during CEO transitions, and how best to orchestrate a communications plan across in-house and external professionals.

Guerrera cited several cases of recent CEO transitions at financial companies that were not handled well, resulting in damaged reputations for the firms, as well as the incoming and outgoing CEOs. Each panelist also offered real-life examples of CEO transitions that offered undeniable lessons for communications professionals, working for both internal corporate teams and PR agencies.

For more information on the research presented by FTI Consulting, please visit: http://www.ceotransitionstudy.com/.

Advertising is Never Child’s Play for E*TRADE and Nick Utton

Yesterday, more than 120 FCS Members and guests packed into our February luncheon at the New York Yacht Club to see a presentation about babies and the Super Bowl. Of course, the speaker could only be Nick Utton, Chief Marketing Officer of E*TRADE.

During his remarks, Utton explained the birth and maturing of the now legendary E*TRADE Baby commercials, but also provided a deeply insightful look behind the scenes at how “scientifically” E*TRADE tests, reviews, and executes its advertising.

With a presentation titled, “The Race for Marketing Optimization,” Utton reviewed for the audience the important tenets that drive the development for all E*TRADE campaigns. He began by stating that “marketing is the science of logic” and founded in the fundamental “4 Ps”: product, price, place, promotion. Referring to the classic AIDA model (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action), Utton emphasized how advertising must drive to Action – something that is often lost when a campaign uses humor to break through clutter and focuses on awareness/brand personality alone.

Utton warned that a major challenge in the voice and messaging of financial advertising lies in the proper balance of emotion and reason. He feels that too many ads in the category are “magnificently rational” yet “emotionally bankrupt.”

In a highly competitive category, where E*TRADE is outspent by four of its competitors, Utton pointed out that “brand differentiation is everything.” E*TRADE relies on its ad campaigns to underscore the company’s distinctiveness, and Utton’s mission is to maximize his media spend so that “every $1 spent works like $2 to $3.”

Over 8 years, Utton has moved E*TRADE’s marketing spend from 10% online to approximately 37%, a strategy designed to acquire prospects more effectively and efficiently. Despite that, Utton credited “word of mouth” as the most effective factor in influencing prospects to consider E*TRADE, followed by television. However, neither of those avenues can be measured with the precision of digital advertising, and measure is something E*TRADE likes to do. Utton provided several examples of how E*TRADE “does lots of testing” and measures everything from CPA (cost per acquisition) online, to site analytics for its various web pages, from the effectiveness of buttons vs. banners, to the value of different media categories, such as news and sports.

In reviewing the E*TRADE Baby ads, Utton explained that the next step is a series of television spots tied to life events, e.g., marriage, retirement, births. His very entertaining reel of past spots included the “Speed Dating” commercial that aired during this year’s Super Bowl (btw: Giants 21, Pats 17). Utton also discussed the tremendous publicity garnered for the company through a highly effective PR campaign that placed the E*TRADE Babies in high visibility media coverage, including NFL playoff games, entertainment news coverage, and both the mainstream and financial press.

Utton also explained the strategy behind upcoming campaigns that don’t feature the Babies, but focus on product demos to promote the company’s new 360, Pro, and Retirement services.

Taking questions from the audience, Utton noted that, to date, three babies have been used over the life of the television campaign, with each baby-actor having a “shelf life of about 18 months before growing too old.” He also commented on how price and service are the two main factors for competitive advantage among online brokerages, and how volatility in the stock market (VIX) can be an indicator for new account activity for E*TRADE.

As a past winner of the FCS Financial Marketer of the Year, Utton proved once again that he is a masterful CMO, successfully managing the significant brand value of a treasured advertising campaign through wildly competitive times.

BONUS:  Did you know that the E*TRADE babies make cameos in the 2010 and 2011 FCS Portfolio Awards Music Videos?  Click on the links in the right-hand column to check them out on YouTube.

Surge of Activities at the FCS

What do Super Bowl commercials, Baby Boomers, CEO firings, tuxedos, Chief Life Officers and the Internet have in common?
The FCS, of course.  Read on to find out why.

On Thursday, February 23, the FCS will welcome Nick Utton, CMO of E*TRADE, as the featured speaker at our monthly luncheon. Nick will be on hand to present a review of the legendary E*TRADE Baby commercials and to discuss how a super Super Bowl strategy has been a touchdown for E*TRADE year after year.

Our first Tuesday Breakfast Club event of 2012 will be held on February 28th. Join us at the New York Yacht Club for a very engaging presentation and discussion on “Communicating Critical Events: CEO Transitions and the Risk to Enterprise Value.” Research will be presented by FTI Consulting’s Bryan Armstrong, Managing Director & Head of Capital Markets Research, followed by a panel featuring his colleague Elizabeth Saunders, Americas Chairman of the FTI Strategic Communications Practice, as well as Matt Hickerson, Head of Corporate Communications & Marketing, Macquarie, and Jeanne Branthover, Head of Global Financial Services Practice, Boyden Global Executive Search. The panel will be moderated by Franceso Guerrera, Editor, “Money & Investing,” The Wall Street Journal.

On Thursday, March 22, Michelle Peluso will join our monthly luncheon to talk about Citi’s global marketing strategy for 2012 – the bicentennial year for the bank. As the bank’s Global Consumer Chief Marketing & Internet Officer, she’ll talk about how a digital strategy is a key component for Citi’s marketing approach.

In April, we have two main events. On the 11th, we’ll stage the FCS Executive Education Summit at 3 Times Square, home of our host, Thomson Reuters. The very compelling topic will be, “Baby Boomers… or Bust: How to Market to and Influence the 50+ Consumer.” The full-morning agenda will feature presentations by Joe Coughlin, who founded MIT’s AgeLab, and Brent Bouchez, co-founder of Five-0, an agency dedicated to marketing to baby boomers. We’ll have two panels, moderated by journalists from Ad Age and our presenting sponsor The Wall Street Journal. Panelists from leading financial companies will discuss how they’re overcoming the challenges of reaching the 50+ consumer, including the implementation of effective and perhaps surprising digital tactics.

Our monthly luncheon in April will take place on the 19th and feature Dave Wozniak of Lincoln Financial. Dave will report of Lincoln’s new “Chief Life Officer” campaign.

All of this activity is leading up to the “Egg McMuffin” of FCS’ events: the 18th Annual FCS Portfolio Awards. This year’s black tie gala dinner and awards presentation will be held on Wednesday, May 16th at Terminal 5 in NYC. But, at this point, the far-more-important date is Friday, March 16th. That’s the deadline to enter this year’s competition. Whether you’re a marketer, an agency pro or a media rep, you should be thinking about the great advertising, collateral and public relations work executed in 2011 and get your team – or your clients – to enter. Digital media (online ads and websites) continue to grow as one of the most competitive categories. And remember, we also give out trophies for Return on Investment. And, there’s a Best in Show award for Multicultural work. To download the Call for Entries form, just go to our web site and click on the Portfolio Awards tab.
As always, we invite you to get involved in the FCS. As the biggest event of the year, Portfolio has the biggest to-do list and needs the biggest committee. But you don’t have to take on the biggest task. There’s always a way to help, no matter how big (or how limited) your involvement can be.

And of course, we’re always looking for Programming ideas and support, from luncheons and breakfasts to cocktail receptions and special events.

Give me a call (212-413-6044) or drop me an email (kevin@fcsinteractive.com) to talk about how you can get more out of your FCS membership.

Liberty Mutual: 2011 FCS Financial Marketer of the Year

On January 26, we welcomed a sell-out crowd of more than 200 guests to our 6th Annual FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Award Gala luncheon at the New York Yacht Club. The recipient of the 2011 honor, first announced at this year’s FCS Race for Kids, was Liberty Mutual Insurance. The luncheon’s guest of honor, representing Liberty Mutual, was Paul Alexander, SVP, Communications. He was joined by his wife Evelyne and their college-age children David and Faye. The luncheon was sponsored by CNBC, and the opening reception was sponsored by The Wall Street Journal. The keynote speaker at the luncheon was CNBC’s Bill Griffeth, co-anchor of “Closing Bell.”
As noted by Chris Bacon, an FCS Board Director and one of the co-chairs of the Award Committee, “The Award recognizes a financial services firm whose marketing has driven outstanding business results over the prior year. Liberty Mutual Insurance was recognized for The Responsibility Project, its online content platform, which has more than 700 original videos, essays, and blogs, all exploring what it means to ‘do the right thing.’”

In accepting the Financial Marketer of the Year Award, Paul Alexander gave a 30 minute presentation detailing his firm’s strategy for improving its place in the highly competitive insurance landscape, which ultimately led to the creation of The Responsibility Project. Alexander revealed to the audience that a fundamental marketing truth in the insurance category was that higher unaided awareness leads to higher quote activity which in turn leads to higher business growth. So a fundamental goal would be to increase awareness. Yet, Alexander admitted that a great challenge in the category is that consumers generally don’t want to discuss insurance. At Liberty Mutual, the decision was made that “being invited in beats being locked out,” so the firm sought to leverage the equation of “the media we buy plus the media we create would equal the media we would earn.”

With an ad spend of only $86 million in 2010 – just a little more than one-tenth of GEICO’s $775 million spend – Liberty Mutual realized that the media they created would need to have an exponential impact in order to change its position in the marketplace.

Alexander explained the research undertaken by Liberty Mutual’s agency Hill Holliday. They reviewed the learnings from an examination of the insurance category: the commoditized industry was cluttered with competitors who all outspent Liberty Mutual in marketing dollars, but all failed to earn the trust of their customers. Hill Holliday analyzed the communications styles within the industry, which seemed to be either “adult to child” (condescending) or even “child to child” (think: cavemen and lizards) in nature. They saw this as the opportunity to create a marketing approach that was uniquely “adult to adult.”

The result was the development of Responsibility as the core of Liberty Mutual’s strategy. From its tagline: “Responsibility. What’s your policy?” to its major outreach initiative, The Responsibility Project, Liberty Mutual embraced the concept as its key differentiator in the marketplace. But as Alexander explained, it became more: “Responsibility is celebrating our customers’ responsibility and relentlessly proving our own.’

Alexander provided the FCS audience with clips of the firm’s TV commercials and various anecdotes of the campaign’s success. He also spoke in detail about the many activations of The Responsibility Project – from the web site and its social media components, to its involvement with the Emmy Award-winning documentary “Freedom Riders.” Alexander noted several key points about the Responsibility Project’s role in building business:
1.  It improves brand awareness by keeping Liberty Mutual top of mind when 67% of ‘out-of-market’ consumers don’t want to talk about insurance, and

2.  It strengthens brand engagement by creating an online presence where consumers choose to spend their time
Alexander noted that, as of January 17, the Responsibility Project’s web site had nearly 26 million site visits, with visitors spending more than 130 million minutes engaged with the Liberty Mutual brand.

Congratulations to Paul Alexander, his marketing team, their partners at Hill Holliday, and to Liberty Mutual for the success of its Responsibility Project and for winning the 2011 FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Award.

 

Luncheon Remarks on "Responsibility": Our Year, Our Philanthropy, Our Jobs, Our Anniversary

Here are excerpts from my opening remarks at the FCS Financial Marketer of the Year Gala Luncheon (Thursday, January 26th):
"Today is the biggest luncheon of the year and you already saw the slide show from this year’s Race for Kids,

but we’re busy throughout the year. Just look at everything we did in 2011. We skiied, we played golf, we bowled twice! We gave out books, we gave out awards. We focused on Education, whether through Job Shadow Day or our research presentations and panel discussion held over breakfast or cocktails.

And of course month after month, we welcome leading brands to the Yacht Club for our luncheons. Here are the brands take took to this podium in 2011.

It’s quite a list.

I like to show this wide range of events and activities to remind you all that there are many ways to get involved with the FCS and to make the most of your membership. One way to get involved is to simply get in touch with any of our Board Directors.
...
Most of you first come to know the FCS through our annual Portfolio Awards. You know, that big black tie party in May when we get all dressed up, have a couple of drinks with friends, dance like lunatics… and we actually give out awards too.
Of course, Portfolio is where we present the big check to our three charities. Not including this year’s Race for Kids, we’ve raised more than $1.5 million dollars for Hope & Heroes, Make A Wish, and Downey Side.
It’s wonderful to be able to help these organizations. Earlier this month, up at Stowe, we met three of the families who have been supported our charities, including a 12 year old cancer survivor. Just this week, this boy’s oncologist sent the FCS a very nice email. One line from the email reads: 'Please know that your gift will help children afflicted with cancer and will also help our physicians and scientists find the cure.'
This is why we get involved, right?
...
The FCS now has more than 770 members in our Linked In Group. This is a great online forum for making connections, discussing industry happenings, and sharing information, especially about jobs.
Now I’d like to make a comment about jobs.
We’re going to hear a lot today from Paul Alexander about Responsibility because of Liberty Mutual’s very successful Responsibility Project. Well, thinking about responsibility, I believe that it is the responsibility of the FCS, in focusing on our mission of Community, to help ensure that our members stay employed and make progressive strides in their careers. The Job Bank on our web site and job information on Linked In are just the beginning. To encourage this responsibility, we want to reward those who undertake it. I’d like to reiterate our policy on our Members in Transition. First of all, MITs get to attend all of our events at discounted prices. We’re not looking to make money off of them. We here to help. Furthermore, whenever an FCS member helps another member get a job within the industry, both are entitled to free membership and a free lunch. Yes, there can be a free lunch. The job market will be tight again this year, and nothing could make our organization prouder than to be able to say that we helped our community stay vibrant, well-informed, well-connected, and employed.
This is what the FCS does, and we’ve been doing it since 1967.
Which means of course, that 2012 is our 45th Anniversary year. To celebrate, we’ll do something special at each event this year. Plus we’re launching two special activities.
I’m delighted to announce the creation of the FCS Archives. This year we will be begin recording interviews with long-standing members to create an oral history. We’ll establish an online photo collection and we’ll look to build a library of material from past financial brands. If you’d like to help out and get involved, just give me a call.
We’ll also celebrate our anniversary with a gala event in the fall that will be a Casino Night and Charity Fundraiser. Look for details on that event in the very near future.
...
Thank you all for coming out to today's event, and thank you for getting involved.
This is your FCS, this is your organization, this is your year.

Fireside Forums Ablaze with Compelling Research from FT

One of the highlights of our annual Race for Kids ski weekend is the Fireside Forums, which we host over two days at the Stowe Mountain Lodge.  Bill Wreaks, CEO of The Gramercy Institute, moderates several panel discussions with top execs from leading financial marketers.  This year, Daniel Rothman, the Financial Times Director of Research, Americas, helped set the stage for the Forums by providing the audience with some new research findings.  I asked Daniel to provide a write-up for this blog.  Any questions on the below information can be directed to daniel.rothman@ft.com.


Traditional Media
There is no question there is tremendous buzz and excitement surrounding the explosion of mobile devices (in particular smart phones and tablets) and what it means for financial marketers going forward. However, it is essential that we not forget that traditional media is still vitally important to senior executives and other affluent targets that financial service firms are trying to reach and influence.

According to the World Trade Press report this year, newspapers still reach more people than the internet as a whole; on a typical day about 20% more. Despite the phenomenal growth and adaptability of digital media, in senior business circles, print is still seen as the most reliable source for business and international news.

It is important for marketers to consider the media adoption and level of engagement not just based on the target audience level of seniority, but also where they are located - as all geographies are not equal in their media adoption. The 2011 FT Bank Image Survey asks global investment banking decision makers which media they use to stay informed about development in their industry and about banking in general. The findings revealed that:

• Newspapers are far more important to Asia residents vs. other decision makers residing outside Asia
• Conferences are more important to decision makers residing in the Emerging Markets
• Business Television is more important to Asia residents
• News Websites via Mobile Devices are more important to residents of America and the Emerging Markets.

These examples demonstrate the unique positioning of each media within different markets, and the need to think regional as it relates to media consumption behavior.

Tablets and Mobile Usage
Accord to the IPSOS BE:USA 2011 (Business Elite) survey, 49% of business executives within large companies already own a tablet device. The 2011 FT Global Business Outlook Survey revealed many interesting findings as to how senior executives feel about tablets and their usage behavior. 53% access work email on their tablet; 38% say their tablet is replacing usage of PC/laptops; and 33% watch TV programs/video on their tablets. The FT global executives see their tablets as a work tool in addition to a leisure device.

When looking at global executive usage of mobile devices, 51% do not turn off their device while on holiday/vacation and 49% do not turn it off at night/weekends. This compares to 100% of FCS Race for Kids attendees that never “turn off” their devices via the informal survey of those in attendance at the 2012 Fireside Forum session.

Marketers need to recognize that not every message will resonate on every media platform. Given the dramatic adoption of mobile and tablets, the FT Global Business Outlook Survey asked executives globally to identify what they feel each media is best at communicating to clients, compared with traditional media. Executives told us that smart phones have very low effectiveness at all funnel stages in the communication process - whether at driving brand/company awareness, driving loyalty or prompting the user to take an action. (This could be a reflection of the relative early stage of smart phone advertising, or the level of B2C advertiser adoption vs. B2B). Alternatively, tablets are best at providing detailed information about a company/brand/product, and perform fairly well at influencing perceptions of whether a brand is of high quality/trusted brand, and prompting the user to take an action. The tablet perception is very similar to PC/laptops in its effectiveness by marketing funnel stage, however just not as pronounced in performance effectiveness.

-- Daniel Rothman, daniel.rothman@ft.com