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Live Chat in Online Banking Grabs Some Ink

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 6, 2006
Categories: Loans & Credit, Public Relations, Service

Although our readers won't find much new information in today's Wall Street Journal article, Online Banking Strives for the Human Touch, it's significant for two reasons:

Another example of a leading personal finance writer looking for "the next big thing" in online banking (see also NetBanker June 28); expect a wave of these stories through year-end
The article included a full-text screenshot of a banking chat session with SunTrust. You might circulate this among your reps so they understand that what they write in a chat session potentially becomes part of the "public record" (by the way, the SunTrust rep, and/or the marketing guru who scripted the canned responses, deserve a raise for their sales technique).

If you make it to the end, you'll find a couple interesting online lending factoids:

Bank of America claims an 8-fold increase in online-mortgage sales in Q1 2006 compared to the year earlier quarter, with live-chat part of the reason; it also said home-equity loan volume doubled
Citbank says 90% of its live-chat users complete a home-equity application, presumably at its <myhomeequity.com> site mentioned earlier in the story (see screenshot above); the bank also said it expects to originate $2 billion in home equity loans online in 2006, double that in 2005

—JB

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Yodlee’s New MoneyCenter Goes Live

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 5, 2006
Categories: Account Aggregation, Personal Financial Management, Yodlee

As the rest of the country watched fireworks, Yodlee <yodlee.com> which snagged two mentions in the Wall Street Journal during the last week of June (NB June 28), launched its biggest product improvement since the company went live with account aggregation in 2000 (see OBR 63, "Does Yodlee Make Quicken Obsolete?").

Yodlee's new MoneyCenter is a full-featured PFM operating on Yodlee's server. It allows banks to offer the key budgeting and reporting functions much loved by Quicken and Money users. Throw in real-time bill pay at card-accepting merchants, a suite of triggered alerts, a dose of account aggregation, and lifetime statement archives (the feature that inspired the Saturday June 24 WSJ column entitled, "A financial-data vault online) and you have a feature-set that deserves serious consideration in your 2007/2008 plans.

It's an important online banking development, and we'll take an in-depth look at it in the next issue of Online Banking Report (available in early August).

—JB

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Google Checkout: “iPodding” Ecommerce? Citibank’s Unusual Role

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 5, 2006
Categories: Citibank, Epayments, Google

Has Google found its iPod? Not the music player, but an end-to-end ecommerce system that is safe, convenient, and above all, drop-dead simple to use. Something that does for online commerce what Apple did for digital music. That's a tall order, but we believe the search giant may have just such a hit on its hands with Google Checkout.

For more than a year, there has been a great deal of speculation about Google’s entry into the payments arena. After months of quiet testing with carefully selected beta merchant partners such as Starbucks and Buy.com, Google Checkout was officially released June 29 <checkout.google.com>. Although the reaction in online blogs was mixed, we think it's a winner. The only question is whether it's a home run or a grand slam (or World Cup equivalents, one goal or four).

Google Checkout (previously known as Google Payments or Gbuy) is an online-payments tool integrated with the user's Google account. On the surface, it's similar to PayPal, but the true strength and potential threat is its close ties to Google’s already industry-dominant search function.

At this point, Checkout's functionality is more limited than PayPal's. There is no stored value, no subscription payments, no eBay integration, no non-credit card options, no integrated debit card, or money market account. For the end-user, it's closer to a virtual wallet than a PayPal substitute. However, it goes way beyond what the ewallets of the late 1990s offered, taking control of the entire checkout process, a potentially disruptive technology in online retailing.

How it works
Searches that match a Google Checkout advertiser include a shopping cart icon embedded within the AdWords text box (see Google search on "Starbucks store" above). Users can buy products from these merchants in a few clicks without having to enter any additional information (see Google Checkout icon in lower left of the Starbucks shopping cart shown at right). This eliminates the dreaded merchant-account set-up process that causes massive shopping card abandonment problems, especially at relatively unknown merchants where privacy fears are greater.

First-time users are prompted to enter their credit card, billing, and shipping information, which Google stores in its servers (see screenshot left). Subsequent purchases can be made with a simple Google username and password. Users can store additional payment and/or shipping options at any time. Complete purchase histories can then be monitored from their Google account.

Currently, just 100 merchants are participating (see places to buy), but given the potential merchant savings, expect that to change quickly. Twenty-four of the 100 Checkout users offer a $10 discount on purchases of $20 or more (see DayDeals screenshot below).

Like PayPal, Google shields the buyer’s credit card number and other personal information beyond what is necessary for shipping purposes. However, Google also provides the option of keeping the user's email address confidential, a spam-limiting function not available via PayPal.

When a user selects the confidential option (see screenshot below), Google forwards the seller's confirmation message to the end-user.

Sellers are paid directly through their own Google Checkout account. Google has significantly undercut PayPal on pricing, at least for smaller merchants. Google's fee is 2% of the sales amount plus a flat $0.20 transaction fee compared to PayPal’s typical 2.9% plus $0.30 (PayPal has a sliding scale with higher-volume, $100k/mo and above, merchants paying 1.9% plus $0.30).

In addition, Google advertisers earn credits against their processing fees. For every dollar spent on Adwords, sellers can process $10 worth of sales with no processing charges other than the $0.20 transaction fee. It amounts to a 20% discount on AdWords spending, provided there is sufficient Google Checkout volume (i.e., at least 10 times the amount spent in AdWords).

Finally, sellers can create their own Buy Now buttons at the Google site, then drag and drop the HTML code into their websites. This allows small business sellers who are not currently ecommerce-enabled to immediately begin accepting Google Checkout.

Google is expected to provide additional data as the service matures. Having a hand in the process from product search all the way through to the purchase will allow Google to keep tabs on which ads actually result in a sale. This could mean changes to Adwords pricing or structure.

Analysis
The pitch to consumers is appealing. In addition to the privacy shields, Google promises to mediate disputes, and gives users a central place to track purchases. But the biggest consumer benefit: a common user interface for checkout, something that previous ewallets never provided. As you can see in the screenshot below, after shopping the merchant site, the contents of the cart are transferred to Google. At that point, Google takes over, offering the end-user the following options:

Change shipping method with all costs itemized
Add a coupon code
Change credit card
Change shipping address
Shield email address from merchant
SIgn up for promotional messages from merchant
Links to the user's Google account
Concise summary of the billing info, including exactly how the charge will appear on the user's credit card statement
Concise summary of the merchant's return policy

Will consumers give up more personal information to the largest data repository on earth? Initial polls seem to suggest so. In addition, you can bet that merchants will create incentives to move credit card and/or PayPal volume to Google to save as much as 3% on card processing. For a retailer with a 10% margin, that's a potential 30% lift.

You might be thinking that free credit card processing is a short-term loss leader that will end as soon as a critical mass of merchants adopts Google's system. We don't think so. Put yourself in the shoes of a Google advertiser. You now know that you'll earn a 20% discount on your AdWords buy. Will you let that drop to the bottom line, or might you use some of that windfall to goose your bids on Google a bit? If it's an efficient market, eventually much, if not all, of the "free" card processing will flow back to Google in the form of higher bids. And since not all merchants will qualify for the 20% discount, Google might actually increase its total take due to the "discount." Brilliant.

Citibank's role
The program should have little impact on retail banks, since at this point Google Checkout must use a bank-issued credit or signature debit card to participate. However, Citibank is paying Google to be the "preferred card" on both the Google sign-in page (click on inset above for closeup) and the credit card registration page (click on inset right). The credit card giant is hoping the $5 (or 1000 Thank-you points), will entice users to enter their Citi card into the Google wallet. The $5 bonus offer ends Aug. 1.

Retail banks might want to consider supporting the payment service with a secure gateway to various online payment alternatives so users can manage their PayPal, Google, and other accounts directly from a secure online banking area.

If you are a credit card processor, however, this could eventually pose a threat to your market share and/or margins. Even without factoring in the AdWord's credit, Google's highly publicized 2% discount rate, along with a lack of monthly fees, is a bargain, especially for small businesses. However, given the reluctance of businesses to change banking relationships, it will be years before the impact is felt.

—JB

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Branded Wi-fi at the Airport

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 4, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion

Earlier this year we looked at how Chase was targeting business travelers with branded power outlets at the Indianapolis airport (NB Feb. 21). Later, we discussed the possibilities of free wi-fi at bank branches (NB April 8). How about marrying the two tactics?

While waiting for baggage at Sea-Tac airport today, I thought I'd check email from my laptop. Unfortunately, the wi-fi in the baggage area required an AT&T passcode (see inset). But the thought occurred to me, why not brand the wi-fi connection at the airport with a bank name AND provide free access for everyone, or perhaps just for bank customers?

How it could work
The logistics for providing free access for everyone are relatively simple. If there is already a provider of free access, contact them and see what it would cost to install your brand on the service. If access is provided through one or more paid programs, contact the airport and see if they'd like to add, or switch over, to the increasingly common free model. You may also be able to negotiate a significant presence on signage at the airport.

Providing free access ONLY for bank customers is more of a challenge, but has a bigger potential payback in terms of new accounts. It would be especially powerful in combination with an airport ATM presence.

The downside: fees to the airport and the logistics of limiting free access to bank customers (non-customers could be charged a typical Internet access fee). One way to handle that is to use your call center to provide the access code once customers type in an acceptable ATM card number. Or you could deliver the access code via standard ATM machines or special card-reading kiosks. Travelers will share access codes among themselves, but that's not a major concern. The main point is that bank customers get a tangible benefit.

—JB

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First Look at Google Checkout

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 30, 2006
Categories: Card Acquiring

Has Google found its iPod? Not the music player, but an end-to-end, ecommerce system that is safe, convenient, and above all, drop-dead simple to use? Something that does for online commerce what Apple did for digital music. That's a tall order, but we believe the search giant may have just such a hit on its hands with Google Checkout.

For more than a year, there has been a great deal of speculation about Google’s entry into the payments arena. After months of quiet testing with carefully selected beta merchant partners such as Starbucks and Buy.com, Google Checkout was officially released yesterday <checkout.google.com>. Although the reaction in online blogs was mixed, we think it's a winner. The only question is whether it's a home run or a grand slam (or World Cup equivalents, one goal or four).

At this point, Checkout's functionality is more limited than PayPal's. There is no stored value, no subscription payments, no eBay integration, no non-credit card options, no integrated debit card, or money-market account. For the end-user, it's closer to a virtual wallet than a PayPal substitute. However, it goes way beyond what the ewallets of the late 1990s offered, taking control of the entire checkout process, a potentially disruptive technology in online retailing.

How it works
Searches that match a Google Checkout advertiser include a shopping cart icon embedded within the AdWords' text box (see Google search on "Starbucks store" above). Users can buy products from these merchants in a few clicks without having to enter any additional information (see Google Checkout icon in lower left of the Starbucks shopping cart shown at right). This eliminates the dreaded merchant-account set-up process that causes massive shopping card abandonment problems, especially at relatively unknown merchants where privacy fears are greater.

First-time users are prompted to enter their credit-card, billing, and shipping information, which Google stores in its servers (see screenshot left). Subsequent purchases can be made with a simple Google username and password. Users can store additional payment and/or shipping options at any time. Complete purchase histories can then be monitored from their Google account.

Currently, just 100 merchants are participating (see places to buy), but given the potential merchant savings, expect that to change quickly. Of the 100 Checkout merchants, 24 offer a $10 discount off purchases of $20 or more (see DayDeals screenshot below).

Like PayPal, Google shields the buyer’s credit-card number and other personal information beyond what is necessary for shipping purposes. However, Google also provides the option of keeping the user's email address confidential, a spam-limiting function not available via PayPal.

When a user selects the confidential option (see screenshot below), Google forwards the seller's confirmation message to the end-user.

In addition, Google advertisers earn credits against their processing fees. For every dollar spent on Adwords, sellers can process $10 worth of sales with no processing charges other than the $0.20 transaction fee. It amounts to a 20% discount on AdWords' spending, provided there is sufficient Google Checkout volume (i.e., at least 10 times the amount spent in AdWords).

Change shipping method with all costs itemized
Add a coupon code
Change credit card
Change shipping address
Shield email address from merchant
SIgn up for promotional messages from merchant
Links to the user's Google account
Concise summary of the billing info, including exactly how the charge will appear on the user's credit card statement
Concise summary of the merchant's return policy

Will consumers give up more personal information to the largest data repository on earth? Initial polls seem to suggest so. In addition, you can bet that merchants will create incentives to move credit-card and/or PayPal volume to Google to save as much as 3% on card processing. For a retailer with a 10% margin, that's a potential 30% lift.

You might be thinking that free credit-card processing is a short-term loss leader that will end as soon as a critical mass of merchants adopts Google's system. We don't think so. Put yourself in the shoes of a Google advertiser. You now know that you'll earn a 20% discount on your AdWords' buy. Will you let that drop to the bottom line, or might you use some of that windfall to goose your bids on Google a bit? If it's an efficient market, eventually much, if not all, of the "free" card processing will flow back to Google in the form of higher bids. And since not all merchants will qualify for the 20% discount, Google might actually increase its total take due to the "discount." Brilliant.

Citibank's role
The program should have little impact on retail banks, since at this point Google Checkout must use a bank-issued credit or signature debit card to participate. However, Citibank is paying Google to be the "preferred card" on both the Google sign-in page (click on inset above for closeup) and the credit-card registration page (click on inset right). The credit-card giant is hoping the $5 (or 1000 Thank-you points), will entice users to enter their Citi card into the Google wallet. The $5 bonus offer ends Aug. 1.

If you are a credit card processor, however, this could eventually pose a threat to your market share and/or margins. Even without factoring in the AdWords' credit, Google's highly publicized 2% discount rate, along with a lack of monthly fees, is a bargain, especially for small businesses. However, given the reluctance of businesses to change banking relationships, it will be years before the impact is felt.

—JB

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Citibank cracks the “Wired 40”

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 30, 2006
Categories: Citibank, Strategies

We are huge fans of Wired magazine <wired.com>, having read just about every one of its 190 monthly issues. In fact, eight or nine years ago I used to tell friends that the goal of Online Banking Report was to translate the technology magazine into "banking terms."

I still recommend the magazine to anyone interested in the future of digital communications, marketing, or content (that ought to cover anyone reading this). So if you're not already on board, head to its website and plunk down US$10 for an annual subscription.

Wired 40
Every year Wired publishes its list of its top 40 companies, The Wired 40. Most are large companies selected for their strategic vision, global reach, killer technology, and hunger for new ideas. The latest ranking (July issue) has Google at #1, knocking Apple from the top. The biggest surprise, New Corp. hitting the chart at #9. The company, which wasn't even ranked last year, has become an Internet giant with its purchase of MySpace last year (see NB March 16).

Here's the top 10 with last year's rank in parenthesis:

Google (#2)
Apple (#1)
Samsung (#3)
Genentech (#7)
Yahoo (#5)
Amazon.com (#6)
Toyota (#8)
General Electric (#17)
News Corp. (NEW)
SAP (#11)

As you would expect, there's not much in the way of financial services in the list. However, Citibank holds on to the number 38, down two spots from last year. Not entirely coincidental, Citi is one of the few major financial services advertisers in Wired. This month, the bank has a huge buy, with a fold-out front-cover spread pitching its "Citi identity theft solutions."

GE (#8), Yahoo (#5), Microsoft (#36), and even Google (#1) have significant retail financial services, although they account for mere slivers of the giants' overall revenues.

Like Citibank, GE elected to make an ad buy this month, pitching its high-yield deposit products on the online version of the Wired 40 list (see inset).

Falling out of the top 40 this year was TD Ameritrade which the magazine said still "ruled etrading, but what once was a disruptive technology is now a commodity."

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Online Banking’s “Second Wave”

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 28, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, Citibank, Strategies, Yodlee

In today's Wall Street Journal, personal finance writer Jane Kim does a roundup of what she calls "the next wave of online banking." The impetus for the article was Yodlee's new MoneyCenter that will be available to consumers in early July. I was interviewed for the article and provided several of the examples along with the market size estimate.

In addition to Yodlee, the following developments were chronicled in the article:

Citibank's <citibank.com> 50-fold increase in online interbank transfer limits from around $2,000 to $100,000 this summer. In what may simply be a self-serving comment made to a reporter, the bank cites the demand for its new e-Savings account as an impetus for the change.
Commerce Bank's (NJ) Virtual Private Bank <virtualprivatebank.com> for customers with $1 million or more in investable assets.
Wells Fargo's My Spending Report, a simple integrated spending report we discussed last year. (NB Feb. 17, 2005)
Bank of America's <bankamerica.com> account aggregation and recently expanded account alerts.
Chase's <chase.com> next-day bill payment.

Analysis
Although most of these examples are relatively minor improvements, it's good to see the mainstream press recognizing online banking innovations. The last few years have been dominated by security concerns, and we believe it's a great sign that reporters are looking for "what's next." It would be wise to have an answer to that question when your local paper calls.

We believe the Virtual Private Bank (VPB) from Commerce and the Yodlee system deserve closer examination. We'll cover Yodlee's new product when it goes live next month. And, although we won't be able to drop a million into Commerce Bank, we'll take the VPB for a test drive later this week.

—JB

If you’d like to learn more about the future of online banking, check out the Online Banking & Bill Pay Forecast: Current, future and historical usage: 1994 to 2016 from our sister publication, The Online Banking Report.

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Chartway Federal Credit Union Referral Campaign Falls Short

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 27, 2006
Categories: Chartway, Customer Acquisition, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Website Usability & Design

Sometimes it helps to see how NOT to do something. Today's victim: Chartway Federal Credit Union <chartway.com> which has been running a clever, but poorly executed, 8.00% APY certificate-of-deposit special on its website for the past month (see screenshot below).

Analysis
The good news: It's a great offer. Any member making a successful referral gets to put up to $8,000 in an 8-month CD earning 8% (notice a theme there?). To qualify, the referral must bring in a new credit union member that opens a checking account along with the certificate OR initiates a $500-minimum direct-deposit relationship. The new member also gets to put up to $8,000 in an 8-month CD.

Members can make up to three referrals for a total deposit of $24,000. With the CU's normal 6-month rates at 3.4%, its more than double the normal rate of return, earning both the referrer and referee an extra $31 per thousand over the 8-month term or almost $250 extra per certificate (pre-tax). The eye-catching offer is featured front and center on its webpage.

The bad news: There is no hyperlink. Clicking on the logo, headline, or text does absolutely nothing! There aren't even any instructions on how to participate. Viewers are simply left hanging. The only extra info provided are the disclosures delivered via mouseover (see screenshot above).

It harks back to websites of the mid-90s that were put together by the "ATM guy." Unless you are trying to entice users to go on scavenger hunt through your website, this is a major mistake, and it's been that way for nearly a full month.

—JB

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Five Percent Savings Rate from Citibank

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 26, 2006
Categories: Citibank, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs

In yet another aggressive deposit-pricing move, Citibank raised its e-Savings rate to 5%, the first major high-yield player to surpass the magic 5% mark on a savings account with a low minimum balance. IndyMac (5%, $25k min) and Countrywide (5.25%, $50k min) hit 5% before Citi, but have higher minimums.

Keep in mind, Citi's account requires a checking account, a significant part of the strategy that has attracted more than $2 billion in new money in the past three months (NB June 1).

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Citibank’s e-Savings email

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 21, 2006
Categories: Citibank, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Email Marketing, Email Samples

Last night, Citibank sent selected checking-account customers an email solicitation for its 4.75% APR e-Savings account. I live outside its branch network, so Citi may have elected not to send the message to customers serviced by traditional branches.

The message was direct and to the point (click on screenshot left). Citibank even included the impressive 4.75% interest rate in the message subject. The only distracting portion of the message was a garbled first word in the second paragraph. It was probably caused by incompatibilities in software rendering of the apostrophe in the first word, "there's." To avoid this type of error, make sure you proof your message in multiple email clients.

The bank continues to engender trust in its marketing messages by including the "email security" box in the upper-right corner which includes the customer's full name and last four digits of their ATM card. The security information is prominently displayed, in a blue shaded box to make it more prominent, even if the user has images blocked (see screenshot below).

The bank also includes short text messages that appear where the images would have been displayed (alt-text tags) making the message relatively readable even for users that never download the images.

Surprisingly, the landing page for the offer was a generic product page. The campaign would be much more effective if the bank had reinforced the e-Savings benefits on the landing page like it does when it advertises online (see NB March 29). Click on the following link to see a screenshot of the landing page. —JB

Appendix

Landing page
(displayed when clicking on the "signup" button in the email).

Note: I tested the link on my laptop where I am not recognized as a customer and on my desktop that saves my username in a cookie. Both times I was served the same landing page (below).

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Banking on SMS

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 20, 2006
Categories: Bankinter, Clickatell, First National Bank, Mobile Banking, National Australia Bank, Security & Privacy

by Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell

In the fight against financial fraud, it's a simple technology that is proving one of the most effective deterrents, as well as being a cost-cutting tool that builds customer loyalty. Thanks to the incredible reach of SMS, its simplicity, and the fact that it is the most accessible messaging technology in the world, banks are introducing text messaging as an added layer of security for their customers to tackle the problem of identity theft.

Case studies
In South Africa, for example, First National Bank (FNB) <fnb.co.za> claims that its SMS service, called inContact, has not only reduced fraud by 43%, but also has brought about increases in Internet-banking security. Client retention has increased by 15%, and call center costs have been reduced. With 22 million messages sent every month to more than 1.1 million subscribers, FNB is the largest single sender of text messages in the country, responsible for 26% of all messages.

With the widespread adoption of mobile communications, it’s a fair assumption that most people with a bank account, credit and debit cards will have a mobile phone. “Contactability” is rarely an issue. With very few exceptions, a text message will reach its intended destination, and it will be read. It is a peculiarity of mobile communications that while many people will ignore a call, they will always look at a text message. It is also a private communication.

Like FNB, a growing number of banks are realizing the power of the text message, and SMS is being introduced as an added layer of security for their customers. By simply receiving a text every time a transaction takes place, money is transferred, or an account is accessed, customers have immediate visibility of their account and can alert their bank about any suspicious activity.

The “soft” benefits are enormous as well. Banks can’t operate without a high level of credibility. Customers have to trust banks to trust them with their cash, their money management and their credit. FNB’s efforts have gone a long way to building and maintaining this level of credibility and trust. In addition, SMS brings the bank closer to its customer: It shows that the bank is innovative and at the forefront of best banking practices, and it raises brand awareness. SMS is not just a technology for FNB; it’s another channel to the customer just like its branches, ATMs, the Internet and telephone banking.

This is not just a South African trend. Spanish bank Bankinter <bankinter.com> has launched an SMS-based service to inform people each time their bankcard is used. A system warns the user via SMS of each banking operation made with the card. If the customer has not initiated the transactions, the card can be canceled immediately.

An article in Australia’s Herald Sun Business Daily cites an internal report from the National Australia Bank (NAB) <national.com.au>. The bank is concerned that it is losing AUS$1 million (US$760,000) due to Internet banking fraud. As one of its initiatives to reverse this, the bank has launched an SMS system to provide PIN-protected access to Internet banking services. According to the report, executives at the bank predict that online fraud will be reduced by 90% once 90% of customers have signed up for the scheme.

SMS and consumer behavior
It is the very nature of SMS and mobile phone use that contributes to these success rates. People have their mobile phones with them, wherever they are, and typically welcome the SMS security initiative as it means that both the customer and the banks are responsible for account security. The proactive alert makes life far more difficult for the criminal. If the losses through fraud of the financial industry can be reduced, then ultimately the customer could benefit from lower charges.

Never intended to be a commercial product, SMS has taken the world by storm. Mass implementation by mobile operators happened in the early 1990s, and the spread of inter-network roaming agreements provided the momentum to drive SMS take-up and make it a true mass market messaging service. According to Portio Research, 761 billion SMSs were sent in 2004 – that’s more than 100 messages for every man, woman and child on the planet. Portio estimates that worldwide SMS traffic volumes will grow to 2,379 billion in 2010.

With the benefit of hindsight, the success of SMS is not surprising. It is simply an ideal form of peer-to-peer communication: cost-effective, with exceptionally high reach. As a marketing tool it demonstrates a very high response rate of up to 82% for branded campaigns and an average of 16% for other campaigns. It is immediate, reliable and personal. Messages can be customized to appeal to individual groups. Communicators can automate message sending and receive detailed reporting on activities. It is the accidental cash cow of the cellular industry, and the strength of its very simplicity is being leveraged by increasing numbers of businesses worldwide.

***

Pieter de Villiers is the CEO of Clickatell <clickatell.com>, a mobile messaging provider that allows businesses to connect people anywhere, with any message, across any device. Clickatell is headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif., with offices in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

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National Bank of Australia Helps Users Create Ads for its World Cup Soccer Team

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 19, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, National Australia Bank, Public Relations

Earlier in the year, we lamented the lack of creativity by banks in leveraging Super Bowl mania at their websites (see NetBanker Feb. 3). Not so with the other "football."

National Australia Bank promotes its World Cup entrant, the Socceroos, with a clever, make-your-own ad microsite (see screenshots below). A small graphic on its homepage (click on inset for closeup) leads users to the interactive ad-building site. Users create custom video shorts by dragging-and-dropping video clips into a storyboard. User then adds own text and chooses from several soundtracks to complete the creation. Ads are posted online and can be viewed either by looking at "the latest," "the most popular," or celebrity ads. There are 320 posted as of today.

Analysis
This is smart in so many ways:

The novelty of the website creates positive publicity in the media, on and off-line.
The bank creates a positive association with its brand by leveraging the national pride generated by a World Cup entrant.
The "cool factor" of interactive content positions the bank as "with it."
As users upload their ads to video-sharing services such as YouTube, the bank will get a viral marketing boost. The bank wisely plasters its name at the beginning and end of the content, positioning itself on an equal footing with the end-user author (see inset).

This is another clever example of user-generated content, something we'll see more of as mainstream businesses ride the wave of blogging's popularity: MySpace, YouTube, and 10,000 Web startups. (Click on the link below for additional screenshots). —JB