The Fallacy of Branding

Thanks Joe for getting me riled up about branding.  Your Monday blog did the trick.  I’ve read it several times and watched both of Union Bank’s new touchy/feely branding spots more than once.

What a waste of time, effort, and money.

I can’t stop thinking about it.

I suspect that more money has been wasted on branding efforts and campaigns than on any other marketing effort undertaken by banks and credit unions.

But let’s give credit where credit is due – the nation’s general media agencies are masters at convincing bankers of the necessity of expensive branding campaigns.

Wonder what it cost Union Bank to persuade Maya Angelou to appear in one of the spots?  I doubt it was charity work.

It’s my opinion that brands and branding are probably the most misunderstood concepts in marketing – including bank and credit union marketing.

Here’s a task for you – go online and do a keyword search on the words “definition of branding.”  Google informed me that there are 11,100,000 results.  I never got beyond the first page.  It’s amazing the variations as to what constitutes branding and brand strategy.

My definition of your brand is very simple:  It’s the sum of everything your bank does every day that impacts customers and non-customers.  This is everything from the location and look and feel of your branches, the people you hire, the name of your bank, the size of the parking lot, the signs in the windows, what goes on inside the branches, your website, your newspaper ads, radio spots, your billboards, the look of your statements, your online banking experience, emails to customers, and on and on.