Industry News - March, 2007

Indian bank ICICI is using Bollywood star appeal to help drive its new global advertising campaign.

The bank has enlisted the help of film-star Shah Rukh Khan in a bid to persuade UK customers of Indian origin to use its services.

ICICI is no stranger to the Bollywood scene, having used Bollywood legend Amitabh Bahchan one of its previous campaigns.

K V Kamath, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, commented: "We are proud to have Shah Rukh Kh... more...

The number of banks and financial institutions using mail for marketing rose last year, according to new research.

Traditional advertising methods appear to be successful in the eyes of such institutions, with Mintel Comeperemedia stating that Capital One, American Express, HSBC and Bank of America all reporting higher direct mail activity.

This was particularly the case for credit card and insurance providers, with mail volumes growing substantially last year in comparison wit... more...

The majority of insurance providers, banks and financial services are complying with EU regulation on email privacy in their marketing tactics, according to a new report.

In a poll of 200 companies across several sectors, CDMS found that 69 per cent of firms are compliant the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, which came into effect in 2003.

The legislation states that companies can only send unsolicited emails out to non-customers if they have "activel... more...

Lloyds TSB is holding a review of its current marketing roster, reports suggest.

The bank is to review its direct marketing, digital and integrated agencies, leading to a possible consolidation of the business, according to mad.co.uk.

Analysts say that the review will be the first major one taken by group director Nigel Gilbert, who replaced interim marketer Alan Silberstein in September.

The review follows one that took place in February 2005, which included non-roste... more...

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said that any retail advertising campaign for hedge funds is likely to be double-headed.

Its conclusions follow a case study presented in a recent consultation, which found that consumers may not fully understand the implications of investment strategies of hedge fund propositions and the use of derivatives.

The FSA reports that in deciding how to distribute funds, firms may have to ask themselves whether the "relatively complexit... more...

People should not underestimate the power of traditional advertising media such as television, according to new research.

Data jointly-produced by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association and BIGresearch found that half of consumers take their cues from traditional routes before shopping online.

The study states that people seeing products in print publications and on television usually go on to search for them over the internet.

This suggests that online marke... more...

Banks and institutions in the financial services sector have been urged to improve their branding power by one leading figure.

Peter Stringham told delegates at a recent conference that banking is currently "a big business building small brands".

He told the Financial Services Forum that banks did not have the requisite "energy" to build brands, though they were able to build strong products.

The former chief executive of HSBC continued that compani... more...

Zurich Financial Services is to be one of the first companies to advertise on Channel 4's new on demand service, 4oD.

The insurance-based financial services provider is to launch the campaign on March 26th and will run it across the service for a month.

Zurich is only one of a handful of advertisers that have been granted permission for advertising content on the on-demand service.

Mad.co.uk reports that the campaign forms part of the insurance provider's wider campaig... more...