While total US ad expenditure in the
financial services sector fell in the first half of 2009 by almost
a quarter compared to a year ago, early data for the second half
suggests marketing spending is picking up. A number of banks,
including HSBC and Bank of America, have rolled out major ad
campaigns. Douglas Blakey
reports
Two commissioned reports for RBI on the state of the financial
services advertising market in the US indicate that the key players
are increasing spend as the wider US economy improves.
Significantly, internet spending is generally taking a greater
slice of ad budgets than mainstream media, including TV and
print.
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Advertising by US financial services firms
sank by 24.3 percent to $3.75 billion in the first six months of
2009 as credit card issuers and loan providers slashed their
marketing campaigns, according to a commission by TNS Media
Intelligence.
The decline in first half ad spend was
particularly marked at Bank of America (BofA), the country’s
biggest retail bank by loans, plunging by almost half to
$182.6 million in the six months to 30 June, compared with $336.9
million in the year-ago period.
In the process, BofA slipped from first to
fourth place in a ranking of US financial services advertisers
behind online brokerages Scottrade, TD Ameritrade and E*Trade, all
of whom increased their ad investment in the first half – Scottrade
by 57 percent and TD Ameritrade by 79 percent.
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By GlobalDataVisa remained the biggest credit card
advertiser, although its total ad spend slipped by around 11
percent in the first half to $132.2 million of which TV advertising
accounted for $92.6 million, making it by far the biggest financial
services TV advertiser.
The bulk of BofA’s spending cuts in the first
half of the year were aimed at its online presence, down by 68
percent to $55.8 million, bucking a nationwide trend in which
online advertising was the only media to enjoy sector-wide
advertising growth, up by 6.5 percent.
Print media continued to suffer large cuts in
ad pages from key categories, according to the TNS figures, and
this resulted in aggregate spending declines of 24.2 percent and
20.9 percent for newspaper and magazine media, respectively, in the
first half.
Across all industries, TV ad spending fared
less disastrously, down by 5.5 percent and 3.6 percent on network
and cable TV respectively, with BofA marginally increasing its TV
ad spend.
In a separate report for RBI, consultancy
Nielsen calculated BofA’s US-based ad spend in the first half at
$110.7 million – around $70 million lower than TNS – compared with
$300 million for all of 2008.
Rival JPMorgan Chase remains the
second-biggest spending advertiser, according to Nielsen, at $78
million but Citigroup has leapfrogged Wells Fargo into third place.
In fact, Citi’s ad expenditure in the six months to 30 June
exceeded its total expenditure in 2008.
|
ADVERTISING |
|||
|
US – top 5 financial services |
|||
|
H109 |
H108 |
% change |
|
|
Scottrade |
364.0 |
232.4 |
56.6 |
|
TD Ameritrade |
257.0 |
143.7 |
78.8 |
|
E*Trade |
212.4 |
189.1 |
12.3 |
|
Bank of America |
182.6 |
336.9 |
-45.8 |
|
Visa |
132.3 |
149.0 |
11.3 |
|
Source: TNS Media Intelligence |
|||
A large number of new campaigns
The fourth quarter 2009 period –
which started on 1 October – heralded a large number of
high-profile US banking ad campaigns.
The US unit of HSBC spent an estimated $1
million sponsoring the 12 October issue of The New Yorker magazine,
featuring three different illustrated money-themed covers as part
of its ‘Values’ campaign which debuted last year.
In addition, HSBC flagged up its The New
Yorker deal by a video creative in 5,500 New York taxi cabs, while
a series of radio ads on New York classical radio station WQXR-FM
also promoted the partnership.
BofA launched a $20 million branding campaign
on 5 October promoting the Merrill Lynch wealth management brand
with the theme ‘help2’ (see page 2).
According to Meredith Verdone, BofA’s senior
vice-president for brand, advertising and research, the bank will
also release what she termed “a new multi-million dollar integrated
campaign later this month”. Verdone told RBI the campaign had been
held back from the spring, the bank waiting “for the right time to
air to make sure consumers were receptive to a message of
optimism”.
And at Chase, an integrated marketing campaign
was rolled out on 1 October to promote its card unit in general and
the launch of its Ink card in particular. The new card, aimed
principally at the small business sector, is being promoted in a
series of TV, magazine, newspaper, online and direct marketing
initiatives.
|
MARKETING |
||
|
Bank of America – US advertising |
||
|
H109 |
H108 |
|
|
Internet |
55.8 |
171.0 |
|
Television |
55.3 |
54.2 |
|
Newspaper |
44.9 |
76.4 |
|
Magazine |
16.2 |
13.0 |
|
Radio |
9.2 |
16.9 |
|
Outdoor |
1.2 |
5.4 |
|
Total |
182.6 |
336.9 |
|
Source: TNS Media Intelligence |
||
