We have recently conducted a very unscientific survey of banking brand slogans compiled by The Financial Brand in order to see roughly what proportion of bank slogans focus on a civil message for society.

Now, the survey has all sorts of bias, (slogans do not a brand make, country bias, historical bias, our bias, etc.)  but it provides an interesting benchmark for where banking brands position themselves and how many take a stance that addresses society’s needs.

We simply filtered the slogans through our consulting team, asking them to agree on some broad categories. Here they are with some definitions:

• Aspirational (34%): Promise of a better future for you or belonging to an exclusive club e.g. Making More Possible (ABN AMRO). Where Membership Matters (Bridgewater)
• Customer Centric (24%): Putting the customer first e.g. We’re all About You (Mazuma). You and Us (UBS).
• Boast (18%): Statement about how good the bank is e.g. Fluent in Finance (Barclays). Altogether Better (First Choice)
• Functional (8%): Statement about value or function e.g. More Broker for your Money (Scottrade). Let us quote you happy (Norwish Union)
• Civil (5%): Focus on wider society and improvement – not about the individual e.g. Capital Ideas. Human Values (New Alliance). Live Richly (Citibank). Let’s Change the World (Shorebank).
• Simple (3%): Focusing on ease of use e.g. Simpler. Better. Faster (Standard Bank). It’s That Simple (Vantus Bank).
• Local (3%) Promoting the e.g. Hometown Banking. Real Value (Numerica). We’re From Here (Frost Bank).
• Security (3%): Encompassing protection of investments and protection of the family unit e.g. Because Change Happenz (Zurich). Ready for Tomorrow? (Norwich Union).
• Pun (2%): Being cutsy with the name e.g. Investments with Abbey Endings (Abbey National).

It’s no surprise that the most common kind of slogan promotes aspirational themes and ideas. Aspirational narratives are the legacy territory of banks and many are reluctant to move away from this safe harbour. Over time, these messages have evolved from ‘exclusivity’ narratives surrounded by membership (think Diner’s Club) to celebrating the human spirit best typified by American Express and the ‘Long Live Dreams’ campaign. We expect these aspirational messages to decrease in number as a category and increase in social meaning (i.e. less individualistic) in the future.

It’s also quite sensible to see that customer-centric slogans are the second most used kind of slogan. Banks everywhere are moving from operations-focused to customer-facing companies. Most large retail banks have made the transition we expect this proportion to increase over time. Of course, if this many banks are talking about putting the customer first, how differentiated can this category be in the future?

It was a real surprise to see just how many banks boasted about their own prowess in their slogans. While banks are not known for being the picture of modesty, it’s hard to imagine why such a large portion of them continue to talk about themselves in these society-focused era. We can only guess that this group will diminish quickly as banks go through their natural cycle of repositioning.

Happily, civil-positioned slogans do not appear at the bottom of our list and are well represented by some of the world’s most successful banks. Even banks that do not indicate a civil notion in their slogan e.g. HSBC’s ‘The World’s Local Bank’ promote overtly civil messages in their communications.

This simple survey demonstrates the opportunity for banks to increase the meaning in their brands and become more differentiated. Many have slogans that are purely functional or belong to a previous age, where speaking about ones’ self was considered expected behaviour.

There is plenty more to say on the topic. The next post on this might examine top 20 global bank narratives and see what portion of them focus on civil messages.