Merrill, Citi, AIG: Where Financial Brands Go From Here
A little over a year ago, the financial names mentioned in the headline above were commonly listed among the top brands in the world.
Now they are worthless, or near so, according to the stock market. And they may not be salvageable, according to Harvard Business School marketing professor John Quelch.
So what do the financial brands of the future look like? What will entice consumers to once again place trust in financial institutions? Opines Quelch:
"Financial brands today must address the most basic of consumer concerns: will my money be safe with this company? So long as they are not triumphalist, large banks like JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo that were less involved in chasing too-good-to-be-true sub-prime returns have a differentiating advantage. But it's hard to rebuild consumer trust based on the fact that as Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan's CEO, has stated: 'We suck less.'"Read Quelch's post on Harvard Business Publishing, How Financial Brands Should Market In a Recession, to get a better understanding on why it's a great time to be a conservatively run community bank. Or a non-bank looking to get into financial markets. Quelch says Wal Mart and even Google might might move into financial services markets left vulnerable by former industry leaders.