Thursday, March 15, 2012

Mr. Tire, Part Two: Marketing to a Very Dissatisfied Customer

I wrote in a previous post (How Social Media can Succeed and Fail at the Same Time) about my recent experience (on Super Bowl Sunday) with @MrTireAuto when I purchased two new tires.After communicating with a Corporate Marketing person on Twitter and via email, I've still never heard from the store manager.
So, this week, a direct mail postcard arrives in my mailbox. It's from, you guessed it, Mr. Tire reminding me that my 60,000 mile scheduled maintenance service is due and, of course, they can perform it. So what do you think my first reaction was? "You've got to be kidding me, right?" There is no way I'm going to go there for this service (or any other, for that matter) and this marketing effort just reminds me how they never followed through. And, of course, provided me with another blog post.
So thanks, @MrTireAuto, for the reminder. Unfortunately, probably not the "reminder" you wanted it to be.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Do Negative Ads Work in the Battle between CU's and Banks?

With the Republican Presidential Primaries in full swing, it brings to mind a recent social media campaign from a credit union in New York. The credit union in question is Summit Federal Credit Union in Rochester, N.Y., which produced a video entitled "Sh!t Banks Say". you can view it below.
If this were the primaries, the banks would be Mitt Romney, representing the institutions who are gouging consumers with fees and are more interested in profits than service. Credit Unions, on the other hand, would be Rick Santorum, emphasizing the "moral bankruptcy" of these institutions and his efforts on behalf of the working people. All communicated through a series of negative ad campaigns from both sides.
As noted in numerous publications and blogs (including Bank Technology News and Snarketing 2.0 , a blog from Ron Shevlin ), this is an ongoing trend for credit unions; to bash the banks. However, as also noted in these articles, these negative efforts do very little to emphasize the benefits of a credit union. Much like our current crop of Republican candidates, it's more the danger of electing the other than providing a clear, positive differentiation of their candidacy.
Whether this will work in the political realm is to be determined in the months ahead. So the question is; Are these effective tactics for credit unions? What do you think?