third-largest retail bank, Chase, aims to reposition its brand as a
more customer friendly organisation and features a new tag line
‘Chase What Matters’. According to the bank, the campaign focuses
on ways in which it can help its clients in their everyday lives,
writes Douglas Blakey.
Chase, the retail banking division of JPMorgan Chase, has
launched a nationwide advertising campaign in the US, featuring the
tag line ‘Chase What Matters’, in an attempt to highlight the
bank’s customer service credentials.
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In a statement, the bank said: “Chase What Matters is more than
just an advertising campaign. It repositions the Chase
brand.”
The new campaign is the first time Chase has applied the same
marketing strategy for all of its retail banking businesses: credit
card, branch banking, commercial banking, home lending, business
banking, auto finance and student lending.
A bank spokeswoman told RBI that the bank will spend more
than $70 million on the campaign in the first quarter of the year.
(According to media consultancy Nielsen, JPMorgan Chase’s
advertising spend in 2006 was $337 million and $265 million in the
period from January to October 2007.)
“Our customers’ everyday financial lives are changing. Our new
brand focus reiterates our commitment to keep pace with our
customers and deliver benefits that can make both an immediate and
long-term impact on their lives,” said Ryan McInerney, head of
marketing for Chase’s Consumer Bank, in a statement.
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By GlobalDataFive themes
According to the bank, the new ads, developed by the bank’s US
media agency mcgarrybowen, were created following research to
understand how consumers view Chase and what they wanted from a
financial institution.
Chase said that it has five ‘themes’ that it will seek to get
across to customers during the campaign:
• Access – making it easy for customers to manage their financial
lives, however and wherever they choose, using branches, ATMs,
credit and debit cards, mobile and telephone banking and online
banking.
• Protection – using industry-leading tools to protect customers
against fraud and identity theft and keep their finances safe,
secure and on track.
• Advocacy – helping customers avoid financial problems and fees by
providing a “heads up” before customers make a mistake and giving
advice to help save time and money.
• Recognition – rewarding customers’ business with points and cash,
discounts and special offers.
• Value – providing competitive products and services with great
service and innovative features.
All of the advertising creative features black and white images
accented by Chase’s corporate blue.
According to spokeswoman Eileen Serra: “This is new space in
banking. Our focus clearly differentiates Chase from our
competitors and will allow us to deepen our relationships with
customers because we are keeping up with them and their changing
expectations.”
Print adverts began running on 13 January, with ad slots scheduled
for the March issues of O and the Oprah Magazine,
while the first of a series of TV ads debuted the following
day.
Ads will run during a number of high-profile slots, including
American football’s Super Bowl preview, Oprah Winfrey’s pre-Academy
Awards interview special and prime-time programmes including
Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, Prison Break and Boston
Legal.
One notable feature of the advertising creative is the
promotion of Chase’s mobile banking offering, with one of the TV
spots portraying a man shopping for a new television who uses Chase
Mobile to check his account balance via a text message, to
determine how much he can afford to spend, scored to a track of
I Want It All by 1980s rock band Queen.
An extensive outdoor campaign has also been initiated, including
subway, transit stations, taxis and billboard advertising.
Online ad activity is focused on high volume websites such as
Yahoo.com and MSN.com.
Chase’s introduction of a new advertising tagline mirrors similar
moves during 2007 by its two main retail banking rivals. Bank of
America, the country’s largest retail bank introduced the tagline
‘Bank of Opportunity’ while Citi ran with a new slogan ‘Let’s Get
it Done’.
Cautious outlook
“We remain extremely cautious as we enter 2008,” JPMorgan Chase
chief executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement on 16 January,
following release of the bank’s fourth quarter results. Commenting
on the bank’s full-year retail performance, Dimon said: “We
experienced organic growth across retail financial services, with
increases in deposits, checking accounts and mortgage
originations.”
Retail net income for the fourth quarter was $752 million, an
increase of 5 percent on the previous year, as improved mortgage
results were offset largely by declines in regional banking and
auto finance; the provision for credit losses of $1.05 billion was
up from $262 million in the prior year.
