Are you in the know?

Submitted by Greg McAweeney on 17/03/2009 16:30 | category: RaboDirect

After a few months of hectic activity today marks the launch of our new brand platform based on the concept of ‘join the people in The Know’.

The campaign will appear on SBS television, print, radio and across the web and demonstrates how RaboPlus can empower consumers to be in ‘The Know’. Take a look at our new ads. You’ll also notice that our website has had a bit of a nip and tuck too!

Thanks to the global recession there is a large body of consumers who question the ‘greed is good’, opportunistic model of the past and are now interested in finding smarter and surer ways to wealth. Many people have understandably lost trust in financial institutions. Let’s face it, in tough times when we’ve all seen our investments drop in value we need to stand back to take stock.

We’ve been working hard to create a bank that people can actually believe in. Our unique position as Australia’s safest privately owned bank, AAA credit rating and as a bank with no accountability to the stock market, means we can offer our customers the one thing the others seem to work hardest to avoid, honest banking that puts the customer first.

My previous post on transparent bank advertising (or the lack of it!) generated much comment.

Our new slogan is “Join the people in The Know”. Though that may seem like we’re referring to ourselves, what we’re actually talking about is all of our customers who have found a better way of saving and investing.

The people in The Know, know they can have high returns and high security. They know they can have transparency instead of obscurity and control instead of confusion. They know they don’t have to sacrifice their ethics for returns.

Being in The Know is a concept that everyone is familiar with. It describes someone whose finger is always on the pulse, a person who is tapped into the right people, is moving in the right circles, gets the best information and as a result makes knowledgeable, informed and smart decisions.

You’ll also notice that we introduced an animated character in our advertising. The character is symbolic to RaboPlus and the customer. This character imparts knowledge to people not in The Know, grey people, who turn orange as they become in The Know.

So please let me know what you think of our brand campaign. It has already been written about in The Australian. I’ve no doubt that some people will love it and some won’t like it all. Advertising is of course very subjective but we love the interaction between the animated characters.

Add comment Trackbacks (0) Trackback url Permalink

Comments

1. Rob FOwler (Sydney)Quote | 17/03/2009 04:48

I like the new brand campaign. It is short and to the point. Although, once again, I think it appeals more to the low end of the market it does not make me want to look away like the last one (the truth hurt too much, wealthy people really act like that!). I appreciate your efforts to bring some honesty to the 'large type' rates.

2. Neerav (Sydney)Quote | 18/03/2009 07:46

How about uploading the TV ad to Youtube and embedding it here for us to watch and comment on?

3. Greg McAweeney (Sydney)Quote | 18/03/2009 10:45

Rob FOwler (Sydney) wrote:

Rob, thanks for the feedback. As you can imagine we had lot of internal debate about whether or not our target audience would be receptive to the creative. It’s very subjective of course. We tried to ensure that the messages would be clear and as you say, to the point. We are also running some radio commercials at the moment so keep your ears open for them. We will put them on the media section of the site in a couple of days.

4. Greg McAweeney (Sydney)Quote | 18/03/2009 10:45

Neerav (Sydney) wrote:

How about uploading the TV ad to Youtube and embedding it here for us to watch and comment on?

Thanks Neerav. We’re on the case and plan to upload the commercials to YouTube in the next day or so.

5. Gerry Luhman (Maroochydore Queensland)Quote | 19/03/2009 09:27

Sorry Greg: I like the idea behind the main concept but the figures are faceless without personality. Is that the way I want to remember RaboPlus? No way! Reckon the Yank agency could learn a thing or two from the Kiwis (great ads several years ago featuring the young girl) and Aussie ad with all those theatric goons that gave us a big laugh which to me, showed innovation and humour that easily stood out from the boring banking crowd. Have you slipped into blandness? Hope not!

So, I reckon your agency needs to try harder!

Cheers,

Gerry

6. Arthur Koulianos (Melbourne)Quote | 20/03/2009 09:37

Organisations such as RaboPlus and ING Direct (sorry to name a competitor on your site) should be congratulated on keeping the fight up with the big 4. We need groups such as RaboPlus to succeed so that we all have more options to choose from. The banks are greedy but we don't stop them enough by talking with our feet as well as out shareholder votes.

7. Greg McAweeney (Sydney)Quote | 20/03/2009 10:57

Gerry Luhman (Maroochydore Queensland) wrote:

Gerry, we discussed this a lot when we made the campaign – should we give the characters faces - but we decided not to. We think the way they move demonstrates empathy and confidence. By the way, the agency we used is a Sydney based agency. I thought their name, US, might cause a bit of confusion alright. US are part of the Razor group. We liked the RaboPlus NZ ads too. I felt that the platform of “Join the People in The Know” reflects our brand values and the animated characters are just one expression of this concept.
Greg

8. Dave (Melbourne)Quote | 20/03/2009 10:32

The Ad is OK and I agree with Gerry about the faceless beings. The message is similar to MembersEquity but they have gone with a more Australian feel and sometimes comical. My most important critique, is to make sure you keep a consistent message because its very different to the previous campaign. I hope the Brand/Marketing manager has planned some scenarios with a long-term strategy. Otherwise instead of building the RaboPlus brand, it might erode!

9. Melanie Templeton (Sydney)Quote | 20/03/2009 02:04

Dave (Melbourne) wrote:

Hi Dave, I am the newly appointed Brand and Campaign manager for RaboPlus and have been around the RaboPlus brands in NZ and Aus for a few years. I hope that as you get to know the ‘raboman’ you’ll see his personality come through a bit more, and how he will represent our brand values. We are definitely looking long term with the “People in the Know” communications platform and will be using it to springboard all activities across all channels. And to Gerry’s point about the last campaign, we got a lot of mixed feedback about it,and now given the current financial climate we felt it inappropriate to carry on with that theme.

10. Laraine Halleday (Melbourne)Quote | 21/03/2009 04:43

You must be joking - 'people' in the Know? Annoying little faceless blown-up balloons that a gust of wind could carry off at any moment or a pin-prick reduce to oblivion. Such a noble concept warrants something more substantial, credible, real. What a waste of money!

11. DavidQuote | 29/03/2009 10:20

Forget the so called feel good adds or branding.Word of mouth is the best add you can have and at the moment rabo is in free fall with its interest rates.The higher the rate the more talk the more customers you will get
Thanks
David

12. Greg McAweeney (Sydney)Quote | 30/03/2009 10:24

David wrote:

David, you’re absolutely right that word of mouth is the most powerful asset in attracting customers.

We have been advocating for a great deal more transparency and less complication in banking which we feel likeminded consumers will appreciate. However, re your comment about Rabo rates on the slide, you will be aware that the Reserve Bank has been aggressively cutting official interest rates for some time now and all banks have been reducing their rates.

Our on-call rate is a variable 4.0% p.a which is 0.75% higher than the official cash rate. You will find rates higher than this but the vast majority of these (not all I admit) come with the smoke and mirrors of promo rates. Also, we have some of the highest term deposit rates for 3, 4 and 5 year terms right now.

13. Michael MenziesQuote | 13/07/2009 07:55

The guy in the bath???? what has that got to do with safe banking it turns most people I have spoken off your products.Pony tails who dream up ads are usually off the planet and may get away with it in other areas but a so called SAFE STAID BANK ad!!!!I Don't thinkk so.If this stupid inappropiate ad continues my money is coming out of Rabo Bank.

14. Greg McAweeney (Sydney)Quote | 14/07/2009 12:52

Michael Menzies wrote:

Thank you for your comments Michael and I’m sorry you feel so strongly about our ad. This ad was created to specifically highlight our broadcast sponsorship of the Tour de France on SBS. We wanted to do something that related well to cycling enthusiasts, while also providing a bit of tongue in cheek humour. We've received a number of positive comments about the ad but of course, advertising is a very subjective thing. Not everyone will like it and non-cyclists may not get the joke about men shaving their legs. We don’t feel that this Tour de France themed commercial undermines Rabobank’s stature as the 'world’s safest privately owned bank'. We take the good and bad comments about our advertising and use this feedback when developing our campaigns. We appreciate that you’ve taken the time to respond to us.

15. JohnQuote | 23/07/2009 10:03

I laughed at the comment from Michael Menzies - he's clearly not a cyclist but does appear to be a policeman who beat hippies in the sixties.Just to counter his comment I am a cyclist, love the ad and my wife chuckled when she saw it and commented "did someone put a camera in our bathroom?" Keep it up, John PS This is my first time on your site and it's very impressive.

16. steve (brisbane)Quote | 18/08/2009 10:57

Why the current drop in rates on business savings? Isnt everyones money the same colour? why should businesses be stuck with 3.75% whilst personal customers get 4.00%? To that end business customers try AMP and personal customers will get a better deal at UBANK.

17. Greg McAweeney (Sydney)Quote | 19/08/2009 10:26

steve (brisbane) wrote:

Hi Steve, thanks for taking the time to comment. Business customers do have different day to day cash needs to personal customers. This inevitably means large sums of money being moved in and out on an irregular basis, something that we have to manage. This leads to volatility, and that attracts a lower premium for this portion of the deposits we hold. Most banks already recognise this and price their rates accordingly across all their business products, with the new RaboPlus business account rate of 3.75% still a market leading rate that is not subject to promotional terms and conditions.

18. gtQuote | 12/05/2010 06:10

nice post!