Bank slogan gets acid test

A staple of bank marketing is the slogan “We care” and its many variations. Small banks use it to drive home
their community ties; big banks use it to make themselves seem approachable.

The theme is certainly being put to
the test, as IBJ reporter Peter Schnitzler writes in this weeks’ IBJ. Banks, which are sinking into their own credit
crisis, aren’t pumping out the loans like they used to. See the story here.

But just what does it mean when a bank says it
cares? Should banks even be saying it anymore?

John McCaig, who owns Quinlan Marketing Communications,
the agency of record for Salin Bank, thinks the theme is due for an overhaul.

McCaig thinks banks have backed themselves
into a corner by drumming the message home over the years. At a time when many banks are fearful or unable to lend, they run
the risk of speaking out of both sides of their mouths; creditworthy customers might not get loans even as banks say they
care.

The slogan has been around as long as community banks, and institutions keep using it because they fear they’ll
lose their ability to differentiate themselves, McCaig says. But because they keep recycling the same message, they actually
aren’t differentiating themselves at all.

”I don’t think they know any different,” he says.
“This is what banks believe their customers want to hear. Whether it carries much stock anymore…is somewhat suspect.”

What do you think? Do banks care? Should they change their slogans?