RE: Good morning, afternoon and evening.11 Feb 2020 17:43
https://www.marketingweek.com/metro-bank-marketing-strategy/
Metro Bank on its first brand campaign and why marketing needs to work with finance
Ten years since it was founded, Metro Bank is launching its first brand campaign as it looks to raise awareness outside London and the South East, and boost the business.
Metro Bank’s high street branches are pretty hard to miss with their bold red and blue branding, and floor to ceiling windows.
That is certainly the case for its branch in Holborn – also its first – which occupies a premium position right on the corner of the main intersection. It is also its head office, a fact that is not all the clear from the outside but is hinted at with a wide stairway at the bank of the branch that leads up to a series of offices that make up the company’s headquarters.
Metro Bank was one of the first waves of challenger banks that launched in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Its purpose upon creation was to “create fans”, explains brand and marketing director Jess Myers, which means its focus has been on the customer experience rather than building its brand.
Over the past 10 years, Metro Bank has expanded, particularly in London and the South East, and has just opened its 73rd. Unlike most of the rest, though, this branch is in Cardiff and the bank is increasingly turning its attention to locations outside its heartland.
Given its increasingly national business, Metro Bank felt it needed to drive up brand awareness and start to talk up aspects of its customer experience that it feels differentiate it. That includes features such as its opening times (which are 8am to 8pm on weekdays), free coin counting machine and the fact people who open an account can walk out of a branch with a debit card.
“Our purpose has always been about creating fans and by doing that we focus on delivering an extraordinary experience for customers through everything we do in stores, products and services we create,” Myers tells Marketing Week.
“It felt like the right time to start communicating en masse to our customers and non-customers about how we are and what we stand for, and start to position products and services we have, and how Metro Bank is different to other banks on the high street.”
Building the Metro Bank brand
Myers joined the bank just a couple of months ago from RBS in a new role aimed at solidifying the role of marketing. Previously, its marketing had mostly been focused on customer communications, local events and social media, as well as “delivering the brand through our stores”. But with its 10th anniversary and expansion plans it saw a chance to communicate its brand more widely for the first time.
Its first brand campaign, created by agency Mr President and called ‘People-people banking’, includes outdoor advertising that features real Metro Bank staff and talks up its points of difference. It is also running a campaign in cinemas that aims to “bring to life” its proof po
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