The NAB’s brilliantly coordinated and executed marketing, advertising and PR ‘ambush’ on its sister Australian banks a couple of weeks back rightly got a lot of favourable comment at the time.
As a campaign it was bold, brazen, well timed and very different for a bank. As an ‘attention-grabbing’ exercise it must have been seen and commented on by the majority of adult Australian consumers.
What impressed me most in the campaign which NAB is still proudly showing on its web site,was the integration of a whole range of communication tools – advertising, public relations, social media, billboards and stunts. So, it deserves a 9 or 10 out of 10 for execution.
But did I think it was a game breaker in the bank marketing war? No – definitely not.
Let’s put this NAB initiative in perspective. To use a war analogy this was only the pre-emptive first strike (albeit brilliantly created and executed) in what will be a long, bloody and protracted marketing and public relations war with the other banks (perhaps a parallel with Iraq).
Yes, NAB might have won the initial battle –and temporarily back-footed its competitors. However, many other battles will be fought and already we are seeing the other banks beginning to respond – also creatively and aggressively.
As a communicator what interests me, and I suspect other thinking PR and communication professionals, is whether what we saw in mid-February was just a one-off ‘big bang’ (albeit done very well) to create noise with the aim of addressing the obvious lack of penetration that previous announcements about reducing and eliminating fees achieved.
Or was it the start of a long-term advertising, marketing and PR campaign or program that is really different for the banking industry. One that strives to connect in meaningful ways with all NAB’s stakeholders to bring about change. One that has the layers and depth and sophistication that is really capable of being a game-breaker.
If NAB is really serious – and committed – to achieving a substantive change in attitudes and behaviour it needs to embrace communication theory. This says that to ultimately change behaviour target audiences need to be subjected to a staged and progressive communication program. And that such changes can only be achieved through campaigns and programs that often evolve over an extended period – sometimes years!
This would suggest that there are four phases NAB needs to work through.
1. Awareness – what do we want the target to see, hear or be exposed to that they weren’t before?
2. Comprehension – what do we want the target to understand or comprehend that they didn’t before?
3. Attitude – what do we want the target to believe and feel now that they didn’t before?
4. Behaviour – what do we want the target to actually do that is different to what they did previously?
NAB has clearly ‘nailed’ the awareness phase. So they are off to a great start. But there’s an awful lot more to be done.
As I’ve written previously there’s a big difference between image and reputation.
This initiative was focused at the image end of the telescope. If NAB really wants to win the banking wars most of the future work has to be done on building reputation. And that takes time (and hard work!).
I’ve written previously about my concerns about the banking industry’s approach to PR and communication. My perception is that too much seems to be so focused around short-term thinking. From a communications perspective it seems that most banks struggle to think or see beyond the next interest rate rise.
So congratulations to NAB for a brilliant diversion. Yes, it created a lot of noise. Yes we all noticed it. Yes, those of us in the marketing and pr community generally applauded it. Yes, it was one of the best examples there’s been in Australia of how to coordinate and integrate advertising, public relations, social media etc.
But will this 2-3 day burst change how Australians view their banks? Will it encourage many to run into the arms the NAB because it we see NAB as being so different to the other banks?
I doubt it. (And so do others )
But regardless of the ultimate success of the NAB’s campaign I bet there are some envious PR and Communications Managers out there.
I’m sure many PR professionals would like to be in the shoes of Andrew Hagger, NAB’s head of corporate affairs and marketing. I’m sure he’s still bathing in the reflected glory. I’m sure the hierarchy in the bank loved it. And what a great campaign to have on your CV!
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