Financial Brands Lag with Target Audiences

Research in the US shows that the big hitting financial brands are not doing too well at getting their message across to their target audiences. I would think exactly the same message applies to the Financial Industry in the UK.

Overall familiarity with key financial brands is surprisingly low, particularly given the marketing efforts of the big players. With a one-size-fits-all mindset, the financial services industry has yet to really connect with important segments, including women, young consumers, and many middle income families.

As Americans age, there is a natural progression of familiarity with financial services brands; older consumers are more conscious of key brands. Despite the financial services industry’s focus on the Baby Boomer market (those born between 1946 and 1964), the survey reveals that most Americans aren’t familiar with the range of financial services brands until after retirement age.

The research then goes on to state the obvious: “Income is also a significant factor in determining the familiarity of brands in financial services: customers with household incomes about $100,000 a year have the strongest knowledge of major financial brands”. What a surprise.

The conclusion of the research is that: “The industry should focus on power branding in different demographic and sociographic segments of the population.” Another conclusion is that if the industry had not focused most of its marketing bucks on promoting credit related products to the young they might have a better knowledge of the other financial products like savings and investments.Dick Stroud