John Ryan | Blog

In preparation for Independence Day celebrations in the U.S., we offer links to some marketing-related finds on the Web. Enjoy!

Apple Insider: Apple developing “active packaging” for iPods and iPhones
“…Apple Inc. is now apparently working on an in-the-box concept that could provide power to iPods, iPhones and other electronics devices still inside their retail packaging, allowing them to display demo videos and receive firmware updates while hanging unopened on a shelf in a retail store.”

Hmm…could smart, networked iPod-like devices be the future of digital signage player?

Gizmodo: Tokyo’s E-Paper Disaster Signs Help You Escape Earthquakes, Godzillas
“The multi-part displays, measuring at 1m x 3.2m and supporting a 240×768 resolution have been placed alongside a few main thoroughfares in the city, and are intended to give pedestrians disaster response instructions. E-paper is perfect for application like this…” How long before marketers will be able to cover store interiors in relatively cheap, low-power E-paper?

Harvard Business Blogs: Four Customer Experience Lessons from Target’s ClearRx
“…Introduced 4 years ago, (Target’s ClearRx pharmacy system” provided a radical departure from the standard design of pill bottles, setting Target apart from their competition. ClearRx sports an excellent design, with clear typography, smart color coding, and flat surfaces for easier reading.”

McKinsey Quarterly: The consumer decision journey
“Consumers are moving outside the purchasing funnel—changing the way they research and buy your products. If your marketing hasn’t changed in response, it should.”

Be sure to check out the interactive audio piece that accompanies the article.

Honda: “Dream the Impossible” video series
“Honda is a company founded by a dreamer. And we are a company that believes in the Power of Dreams. In this spirit, we have created a series of short documentary films celebrating those who have the courage to turn failure into success, and to forge dreams into a better future.”

Watch:

• “Failure, the Secret to Success”
• “Dreams vs. Nightmares”
• “Kick Out the Ladder”
• “Mobility 2088″

Fireworks photo credit: mr.bmonroe

Yesterday, we hosted the webinar, “Digital Signage in Retail Financial Services: What John Ryan’s European Survey Means for Your Bank.” Hosted by Bob Steele, John Ryan’s Vice Chariman, the webinar featured retail luminary Paco Underhill and Mike Hiatt, the former director of WalMart’s “smart” digital signage network.

So, all in all, we had some serious firepower in the house, which drew attendees from across Europe, North America and South America.

Bob kicked off the event with a 15-minute recap of John Ryan’s survey of European and South African banks on their plans and aspirations for digital signage. Bob, Mike and Paco then each offered their thoughts on the implications of the survey and how bank marketers should approach the task of planning for and implementing a digital signage network.

The remainder of the event was a panel discussion, in which our “gurus” fielded questions from the audience, including:

• What lessons did Wal-Mart learn from setting up their digital signage network?
• How will digital signage integrate with mobile?
• Who’s doing digital signage well?
• How did Wal-Mart measure the success of their “Smart Network?”
• What are your thoughts on cameras, eye-tracking and other viewership measurement technology?
• How do you get employees on the floor engaged in supporting digital signage?
• Is digital signage cheaper in the long run over paper-based signage?

The questions kicked off a rich conversation and provided attendees with great information and advice — informed by decades of international experience in retail and financial services. In our internal post-webinar debrief, Bob Steele quipped, “That had to be one of the most sophisticated conversations about digital signage I have ever heard.”

Of course, we couldn’t get to every question. So, we’ll be following up with Paco, Mike and Bob to get answers to the outstanding questions, which we’ll make available here.

A document with highlights from the webinar will be available in the next day or two. If you were registered for the webinar (even if you couldn’t attend), we’ll send you a link to download the report. If you’d like to be notified when the report become available, please let us know and we’ll be happy to do so.

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their schedules to attend. Apologies to those who told who were victims of time-zone confusion. Next time, we’ll be sure to communicate the start time more clearly!

A big thanks to Paco Underhill and Mike Hiatt for letting us tap their high-caliber expertise.

And finally a special thanks to sandsss for livetweeting the event.

Remember when credit cards were paper? Or when Carl Malden was the spokesman for American Express? Then you might enjoy “Plastic Flashback: A visual history of the credit card” on Slate’s Big Money blog.

Do you have any old credit cards? It turns out they are highly collectible. A first-generation, paper American Express card can fetch upwards of $1,200. Not bad for a piece of paper. And maybe enough to help you put a dent in your current credit card debt!

Photo credit: Creditcollectibles.com

It seems that the Internet is constantly abuzz with tales of coporate woe and shame. Take Dominos Pizza, which was recently blindsided by a handful of employees who recorded themselves as they violated practically all known health codes — and then posted the videos to YouTube. Dominos’ hamfisted response to the social media storm that followed only worsened matters.

You might be tempted to think: “Hey, I work for a bank, not a a fast food chain, so what’s the worst that could happen?”

Then consider the case of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based Metro Bank, whose recent name change (from Commerce Bank) sparked a chain reaction of failures and public complaints. The mishaps allegedly included mistaken overdrafts, ATM cards canceled without notice, a Web site that crashed due to high traffic and call-center wait times in excess of 45 minutes.

The incident prompted the blogger floor9.com to post a scathing rant about his experience. In the days that followed dozens of disgruntled customers posted comments.

The highlight, however, is the comment posted by “Shannon,” who claimed to be a Metro Bank employee. After offering a tepid defense of the bank, which drew angry replies from other commenters, Shannon lost her cool:

“Everyone ”F” off!!! I am sure they still have all of their GOOD customers!!!”

The popular Consumerist blog soon picked up on the story, which, as PR professionals know, virtually guarantees that the story will persist and be amplified by other blogs and larger media outlets.

As of this writing, the Consumerist story shows up in the #7 slot on a Google search for “Metro Bank.” A search of “Metro Bank”+Harrisburg fares worse, with the floor9.com blog posting coming up in the #1 position.

If it is indeed true, the comment left by an anonymous poster on the floor9 blog is probably the most enlightening, as it describes an organization that is in the throes of chaos:

“Well everyone, I am another one of those Metro Bank employees. I will tell (you) right now. We have no clue what is going on with our own bank.

I can’t even explain how much it hurts going into work. We all want to leave. I know..you dont want to hear this from an employee..but seriously back office has no damn clue.

Don’t worry…if you cant see your balance…neither can I. I have no idea how much money I have…as well as all the other employees of the bank. …neither does one of the Regional Presidents of the bank it turns out.

the poor tellers..I cant even feel their pain. they are getting literally yelled at by everyone…and they make NOTHING!..literally, I hired many.”

While we can’t verify any of the above information, it should serve as an object lesson for bankers who are contemplating transitions of any kind, whether it’s a brand-name change or the switchover of a back-end system.

In the end, it’s impossible for any bank to avoid the kinds of errors or system glitches that might cause the website or other back-end systems to fail. Mistakes happen. But what can be avoided is the kind of total information blackout that appears to have consumed Metro Bank employees as they tried to help customers cope with a difficult situation.

Employee communications has always been the linchpin of successful retail marketing. The best marketers work very hard to make sure that employees are aware of, understand and enthusiastically carry out campaigns at the local level.

Clearly, employee communications are also critical as a means of averting or at least mitigating disaster. What if Metro Bank’s tellers and customer-service reps had known ahead of time about the coming transitions and system changes? Or, what if Metro Bank had a communications channel that ensured the fast dissemination of accurate information to employees as the problems unfolded?

To be fair, even well-informed employees might not have been able to solve Metro Bank’s underlying problems any more quickly. But with good information — including plans for how to handle transition issues — they might have been able to help customers cope better and keep customers like floor9 from creating a PR nightmare.

Update:
Here is a list of top customer service/consumer advocacy blogs. Note that the Consumerist ranks at the top. Definitely not a site where you want to discover an expose about your brand!

If you’re a blogger on digital signage, financial services or marketing topics, or if you’re an avid Twitter user with an interest in those subjects, please consider livetweeting or blogging our upcoming webinar, “Digital Signage in Retail Financial Services: What John Ryan’s European Survey Means for Your Bank.”

As as a token of thanks for helping us “broadast” the webinar, we’ll send you a copy of Paco Underhill’s book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping.” We’ll also be sure to point our readers and followers to about your coverage.

If you plan on covering the event, please:

• Let us know.
• Let your readers/followers know beforehand. Some might want to attend and also follow your comments.
• Use the hashtag #DSFORBANKS, so we can follow you as well.

Thanks in advance for your help. If you have any questions or ideas, please let us know via email, comments to this post or Twitter!

As the economy shrinks and consumerism (momentarily?) wanes, many communities — particularly in the U.S. — are left wondering: What ever to do with those tired old malls and empty big box retail stores?

Rob Walker, in his recent Consumed column in the New York Times Magazine takes on this question. (In fact, the entire issue, titled “Infrastructure!” is worth makes for a great read especially if you’re an armchair sociologist or civic planner.)

Quoting from a recent book, Retrofitting Suburbia, Walker points out that the U.S. is saddled with a shocking quantity of retail square footage, compared to other countries. Behold the numbers:

Retail square footage per person

According to the theory of evolution, when there is an overabundance of a resource, some organisms will adapt in order to take advantage of that resource. Will we see this happen in the suburbs of the U.S. and Canada? Or is there just too much square footage to go around?

Author Julia Christensen documents various attempts to recycle big-box retail locations into schools, libraries, fitness centers, churches, etc. at her web site and in her book Big Box Reuse.

In an interview with the Infrastructurist blog, Christensen comments on the local, even idiosyncratic nature of many of these rebuilds.

Q: Part of the book’s innate appeal seems to come from this flip of sensibilities–a symbol of formulaic sprawl being transformed into something unique and local.
A: Well, I think it comes back to the pragmatic. There are so many hundreds communities that are looking at at least one big empty big box and wondering how to deal with the problem. That practicality is, in part, what is appealing about the book.

If indeed America’s retail landscape shifts toward a more localized focus (and who would argue that a change in the nature and use of big-box retail locations doesn’t amount to a major shift?), then retail marketers best take notice. Might this contribute to the hyperlocalism trend we wrote about earlier?

To be sure, these big-box rebuilds are anything but pretty. They’re practical, as most structures in suburban and rural U.S. are. Hormel’s Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota — a former K-Mart — may be the most eye-pleasing project to date.

Photo credit: Clav

A number of bloggers and tweeters gave high marks for Paco Underhill’s keynote address at the 2009 Digital Signage Expo on Feb. 26. He also gave DSE an exclusive interview on the subject of retail marketing and the role of digital signage. Below are some highlights:

“Part of what is interesting for us is recognizing that in 2009 almost all purchasing decisions can be influenced if not made at the point of sale.”

“…our visual language is evolving faster than our spoken or written word, meaning that the way we process visually has gone through a revolution thanks to the Internet and television. On the other hand, our eyes have never been more tired, and never been more bombarded.”

“And this is what the poignancy of digital signage is, which is that correctly applied, it is a remarkable medium. But if somebody hasn’t approached it with a plan, then it doesn’t work.”

“…it isn’t the hardware, it’s often the software that’s absolutely critical.”

Upcoming webinar featuring Paco Underhill

Paco Underhill will be one of the guest panelists (along with former Wal-Mart digital media director Mike Hiatt) at the upcoming webinar: “Digital Signage in Retail Financial Services: What John Ryan’s European Survey Means for Your Bank.”

Monday, June 29, 2009
10 a.m. to 11 a.m. (EST)

• Find out more
• Registration

Update: Bill Yackey at Digital Signage Today posted a great recap of Paco’s keynote address.

Photo credit: The Retail Marketing Society

Monday, June 29
10 to 11 a.m. (EST)

Register now

How quickly are banks adopting digital signage? What obstacles are they encountering? What can we learn from banks who have already pioneered this emerging medium?

Join us for “Digital Signage in Retail Financial Services: What John Ryan’s European Survey Means for Your Bank,” a free webinar that explores these questions and more. Hosted by Bob Steele, Vice Chairman of John Ryan, the webinar will review the results of John Ryan’s survey of European and South African bank marketing Envirosell, Wal-Mart, WalMart, Mike Hiatt, Bob Steele executives.

Bob Steele, Vice Chairman of John Ryan

Paco Underhill, Envirosell founder and CEO, and best-selling author of "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping"

Mike Hiatt, former Wal-Mart digital media director

The webinar also features two guest panelists, who will discuss their thoughts on the implications of the John Ryan survey:

Attendees can expect to learn about:

• The state of Digital Signage in banking
• The three Cs of Digital Signage success
• Ideas on how to use Digital Signage to optimize branch marketing

Reservations can be made at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/318457499

This month the McKinsey Quarterly provides a comprehensive look at Rebuilding Corporate Reputations. Today, public perceptions are molded by the swift far reaching strokes of a vast array of media, bloggers, NGOs, and other influencers, and as a result, “now more than ever, it will be action—not spin—that builds strong reputations.”  It is no surprise that in the current economic climate, companies need to employ strategies that go beyond fleeting PR campaigns.  Articles such as this one in yesterday’s NYT seem to further validate that the public is not only interested in the evolution of the banking industry, but also their marketing efforts.  As brands evolve, McKinsey calls for marketers to step up their efforts at transparency and creating a two way dialogue as a way of building trust.  Ultimately, the companies to achieve success in the wake of today’s challenges will be those who work with a rapid sense of urgency to listen, respond through genuine action, and ultimately build trust.  This emphasis on what brands do, not just what they say, reminded me of Gareth Kay’s stirring look at The Future of Marketing. 

 There is no question the tools to manage one’s reputation exist in abundance. New media provides methods to gain insight from a diverse array of segments, and to respond with rapid speed.  In store interactive allows us to capture information about the customer experience as it occurs in branch AND gather opinions from all segments rather than just those who are tech savvy information sharers.  To become truly resilient, brands will need to reaffirm what they say through shaping the customer experience.  Today, it seems the public is as hopeful as it is cynical.  Rather than saying “let’s move on,” let’s ask, “how can we continually do better?”

Will the U.S. have fewer or more bank branches in the future? The great debate over the future of branches is far from over. As Katie Kuehner-Hebert points out in the American Banker article “More or Less: Branches’ Role After the Meltdown” (reg. req’d):

The predictions vary widely — from roughly 10,000 closings to more than 1,000 additions over the next five years — but everyone agrees on one thing: no matter what happens, the size, nature and location of the branches will change greatly.

The article goes on to cite TowerGroup’s Tom Brogan, who predicts that banks will simultaneously increase in number and shrink in size. We’ll have more branches, but they’ll be smaller. Even if you don’t buy his predictions for 1,200 net-new branches by 2013, his description of the meaner and leaner branch is compelling:

• Smaller footprint: 3,000 sq. ft., down from current average of 3,500
• Fewer tellers (replaced by ATMs, presumably)
• More use of technology, such as video phones for customer meetings with experts

Brogan doesn’t touch on it, but one has to wonder if the increase in branches and the heightened competition will lead some banks to go “hyperlocal” in their marketing efforts? Might some banks see their increased presence in towns, suburbs and city neighborhoods as an opportunity to be even more locally relevant than they were before?

Hyperlocalism is a term that describes the increasingly local nature of information. Thanks to breakthroughs in both Internet and geolocation technology (e.g., Google Maps mashups, GPS, geotagging of photos, videos and other user-generated content), we are awash in information that can be tied to very specific locations on the map. That information includes:

• News
• Weather
• Real estate data
• Crime data
• Local business data
• Classifieds
• Job openings
• Social networking
• Events
• Photos
• Videos
• Traffic
• Store pricing
• Customer reviews
• Directions

Hyperlocalism could also be used to describe what happens when marketers use very local data to increase the relevancy of their marketing in the branch.

Perhaps the easiest way to go hyperlocal is simply to tap into the stream of information that is available from the many (and growing) free sources on the Internet and then offer that information to customers who visit the branch. Our client, Caja Mediterráneo, currently does this in Spain, where they use their digital signage network to display very local real-estate and job listings as a public service.

Many banks already show regional weather information. But what about the weather for the local ZIP code, or even a four-block radius? Or current traffic on the local stretch of the expressway?

The data is already out there, just waiting to be harnessed. And new marketing tools, such as John Ryan’s Messaging Manager platform, will allow marketers to automate the process of pulling in and processing data, giving it a high-quality graphical treatment and then distributing it to thousands of localities.

An enterprising marketing department might take this idea even further, with the goal of making each branch far more locally relevant than their cookie-cutter competitors down and across the street. Some tactics that could be worth trying:

• Partner with local government to disseminate public notices and news
• Publish news from nearby schools and neighborhood associations
• Sponsor hyperlocal news (example | NYT article)
• Sponsor locally focused bloggers (example)
• Run live coverage or highlights of local high school games and concerts
• Display free ads by local small businesses (submitted via a centralized Web site)
• Host meetups of local professionals, consultants and small business owners (who can be found or gathered via LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, etc.)

What’s your vision for the future of the branch? What ideas do you have for making bank branches more locally relevant? Please leave us your thoughts in a comment!

Photo credit: Dawn Endico