Bills Blog

Everyone is consumed with the recent financial news that goes up and down like a yo-yo every day. You tend to view the news in the context of your personal position, how it affects you and the well being of your family. You can't help but think about the future; what will it bring and will this financial mess ever straighten itself out? Being in the communications business, sometimes you take a step back and think about the brand carnage from this recent financial mess. Everyone who has any ties to advertising, marketing, publishing and/or just the overall field of communications is going to feel the effects. It has taken out and/or substantially diminished many brands that were huge spenders in the financial services category.

I wonder if it has also driven a stake into the heart of taglines. When you dissect the death of some of these great financial brands, you begin to think about what got them there and the message they were sending in their communications; most notably, with the tagline executions. When you investigate further you start to see a pattern developing. The one characteristic among all of them is that many taglines are going to "Tagline Heaven." The death was quick and swift.

For years, AIG signed off all of their ads with, "The Strength to be There." It certainly isn't very appropriate today and the company wisely pulled any future corporate advertising. What was once a great tagline was rendered irrelevant. One weekend was all it took to kill that campaign. The story is no different at Lehman Brothers. The brand is being split off into segments as companies like Barclays wait to gobble up the best parts. Lehman's tagline is "Where Vision Gets Built." I'm certain many visionaries in that company didn't see this coming. Citigroup's tagline - "Citi Never Sleeps" is apropos as their senior executives aren't getting much sleep!!

The housing sector isn't immune from tagline death. You might ask what was Freddie Mac's tagline - "We Make Home Possible." A great inclusionary and promissory tagline that seems so meaningless today, especially for those whose homes are being foreclosed.

The carnage applies to brand icons as well. I wonder what's going to happen to the iconic black longhorn bull from Merrill Lynch. The brand that was "bullish on America;" with brand characteristics of optimism, confidence and the belief in the human spirit. The tagline execution is "Human Achievement." It all rings hollow right now. Conversely, Merrill Lynch has created an opportunity for Bank of America. Bank of America's tagline is "Bank of Opportunity." They certainly are being opportunistic in their gobbling up of Merrill Lynch. The crown jewel of Merrill Lynch is their retail brokerage position. You can be sure that Bank of America is going to transition Merrill Lynch as their retail brokerage arm. "Bank of Opportunity" based on how well positioned Bank of America is commercially, makes perfect sense and is completely relevant in a day where obtaining financial assistance is extremely difficult for most everyone, despite having great credit.

So maybe taglines, after all, aren't dead. It's going to be fascinating to watch what's going to transpire from a financial services communications and branding perspective. CEO's, CMO's and their communications partners are going to have a real challenge in restoring trust and credibility for any financial services brand. It's going to have to go far beyond great executions with taglines that are meaningful and resonate. The future of these brands is going to be all about customer engagement. Confidence will be restored based on one-on-one relationships that people or companies have with the brand. You can't rebuild it overnight; and no single communications campaign can make that happen. These financial brands are going to have to work diligently to pay off every brand touch point they have. In a way, it will have to carry through some of the characteristics of financial services relationships of the past, much like George Bailey's little old Bailey Savings & Loan in the movie, It's a Wonderful Life.

It's not just the tagline or execution. It's all about the brand relationship. That's one constant that will never change in our communications world.