When you think of a bank like U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the United States with a history dating back to 1863 (a division of U.S. Bancorp), you might not expect their digital marketing to feature kittens, puppies, and babies. But in fact, that’s exactly where U.S. Bank is going with their digital efforts.
Marketing has certainly changed over the last few years, and driving that change is the move to digital. “There’s been a shift in the social media/digital space from media efficiency to creative excellence,” said Kelly Colbert, vice president of social media at U.S. Bank.
During the first generation of the web, traditional channels drove marketing creative. Today, creative is built expressly for digital. “Digital used to mean just an additional touchpoint. Now it’s a unique experience displayed on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, etc.,” continues Colbert. “The digital story I’m seeing today involves the emotional hooks and visual storytelling that had been the exclusive domain of television and print.”
This shift to digital-at-the-center particularly impacts the key 25 – 34 year old demographic, known as the millennials. “We see millennials as the future of the business,” Colbert says. “And because of that, we’re trying to understand the belief systems of millennials.”
Creative Digital Targeting without Breaking the Bank
In fact, there are two important, overlapping digital trends at work here. First, millennials are more likely to use their smartphone as their primary mode of interaction, and second, digital technologies including marketing analytics, geotargeting, and the like have empowered marketers to target their messages far more precisely than in the broadcast television days.
As a result, the creative development process starts with the customers’ point of view. “We can now develop content and digital creative very specific to the target audience and deliver it to that audience,” according to Colbert. “We can creatively express in digital unlike five years ago.”
Read the rest of the article at http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbloomberg/2015/02/20/building-trust-with-digital-marketing-at-u-s-bank/.
Kelly Colbert will be discussing the BuzzFeed mortgage campaign at the Digital Strategy Innovation Summit in New York City on March 19 – 20.
Intellyx advises companies on their digital transformation initiatives and helps vendors communicate their agility stories. As of the time of writing, none of the organizations mentioned in this article are Intellyx customers. Image credit: Michelle Tribe.
