By T.L. Stanley

Good news: America’s 19 largest banks have been stress-tested. Bad news: Only half of them passed. Welcome to 2009, when what had been the world’s mightiest economy now warrants modifiers like “shaky,” “anemic,” and “feeble.” Is it any wonder that financial-services brands would rather be anywhere but here?

You already know the tale of how we got here—the colossal flops of Lehman and WaMu, Wachovia and Merrill. You know about those billions in bailouts (as well you should; you paid for it.) But at least pundits have stopped calling this the second Great Depression. On May 21 the Congressional Budget Office actually released some good news, predicting that the economy would start growing again by the end of 2009 (though it did call it a “slow, painfully slow recovery.”) Currently at 8.9 percent, the unemployment rate could hit 9.6 percent this year, per the Federal Reserve. Another familiar number: 14—those are the seconds that separate each new foreclosure in America right now.
Among other things, it’s all meant that marketing has not been Job One for financial institutions of late. Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo have slashed their media spending over the last six months by as much as 40 percent. Advertising in the banking category overall has dropped 10 percent in the last six months.

“Their marketing budgets have been under stress because the whole business is under stress,” says Jon Swallen, senior vp-research, TNS Media Intelligence. The exception has been Citigroup. It bumped its ad budget by 100 percent in the last six months—but only because it largely sat out the marketing game last year.

What’s more, the marketing you do see from financial-services brands these days is sober and chastened, opting for back-to-basics messages that stress services like money markets and savings accounts. (Most banks could use the cash.)
For its part, the credit-card segment (stung by the recent passage of Federal reforms that will slap limits on rate increases) has popped the clutch in reverse; ad spending for Visa, MasterCard and American Express showed double-digit decreases last year. Analysts expect more of the same in ’09 as the marketers focus on choosing new customers carefully, instead of just taking anyone with a pulse (you know, like those mortgage brokers did.)

“They’re all chasing quality, and there are fewer people who have the right profile," says Ben Woolsey, director of marketing and consumer research at CreditCards.com. “Issuers will be competing more fiercely for a smaller number of consumers.” Visa’s new campaign “More people go with Visa,” stresses using the card for important purchases, not mere indulgences. A number of card issuers have even started to toy with a truly novel marketing message: Live within your means.

Click here to buy "America's Top 2000 Brands" excel file. RETURN TO CATEGORY LIST