Two weeks ago, we wrote a post about the opportunities for banks to re-frame their narratives in the light of the financial crisis and the long-term trend of increased social-context of brands. One of the opportunities we highlighted was the entry of non-banking brands with civil missions into the financial services arena. It appears that O2 has thrown its hat into the ring with NatWest as a backer.

Mobile operators have been trying to edge into financial services ever since the WAP days and the promise of mobile transactions. But the ratio of trust-to-competence was too low to make a real go with customers. The financial meltdown has created new opportunities for trusted brands to enter this sphere. Virgin looks set to buy Northern Rock and now O2 has become the first mobile operator to enter into financial services.

“The strength of our brand and relationship with our customers gives us the ideal opportunity to take O2 into a completely new market,” said Ronan Dunne, O2’s UK Chief Executive. “By bringing a fresh, transparent and customer-focused approach to pre-paid cards, we plan to drive this market and take a significant share. In partnership with NatWest, O2 Money is delivering new ways of helping our customers better connect with their money.”

The O2 brand narrative ‘We’re better, connected’ speaks to progress and unity, a civil mission that is rather similar to Orange’s ‘Together, we can do more’. These overlapping narratives demonstrate the fierce competition in the civil arena in telecom. O2 has become the market leader in the UK through consistency of the brand and clever deals like sponsorship of the Millennium Dome and winning an exclusive agreement with the Apple iPhone.

O2 Money looks like an interesting way to leverage the brand’s equity and widen the perceived competence of the brand. While the ‘We’re better, connected’ brand certainly has relevance to telecommunications, we can see it extending into other areas. In our opinion, the O2 narrative needs to be supported as they come under increased pressure from Orange (notably the successful Orange RockCorps programme) and work to widen their offer, but the brand is certainly breaking new ground and seems to be going from strength to strength.

TNS reports that trust is returning to banks, so this window of opportunity is probably going to be open for a limited time. Watch this space.

This is a recent ad from Orange, showing a group of young girls volunteering for their community in what looks like a South London estate. The ad itself is enjoyable and well made. It tells its story very eloquently indeed. But is it the right story?

From a civil standpoint, this campaign is very appealing. Sure, in an ideal world young people would choose to volunteer and help their communities without other incentive. But I’m no fundamentalist (I have my adbusting friends for that) and tend to be more pragmatic. My experience, working with youth groups during my university years, leads me to honestly believe that once teenagers experience the fulfilment, local pride and sense of achievement that volunteering for your community gives, they will continue to do it of their own accord. So it’s easy to assume this ad passes the civil test with flying colours.

But what about the branding aspect? What’s the final effect of this communication piece? It’s easy to agree there is a worthy cause here, and that the young people in the ad come across as warm, positive and authentic with a strong sense of optimistic solidarity, all themes that are relevant to Orange’s ‘I am everybody’ campaign. But what about the Orange brand? Do these qualities ‘rub-off’ on the brand or does the message of the ad feel separate from the primary narrative of the brand?

It may be easy for anyone to relate to the ad’s content, but what are the dominant associations it engenders for the brand? Hard to say. Is there an alternative story that would have worked as strongly on the civil as well as the branding aspects?

As a part of  Brandinstinct’s involvement with the Civil Branding initiative, I often play devil’s advocate. This is not because I don’t believe in the concept. The beliefs driving civil branding are deeply imbued in how I think about the future of marketing. However, Civil Branding as a workable concept is still evolving and as companies develop this new philosophy of marketing communications, a lot is yet to be discovered.

These are not optimistic times, but there is substantial evidence that companies are becoming increasingly aware of their impact on the world and are trying to adopt more sustainable behaviours. Environmental impact seems to be the fastest evolving subject and social responsibility a close second.

This trend is further driven by a virtuous cycle created by the public, the media and the government. The focus for both is corporate impact on the physical environment. Civil Branding is deeply concerned about the impact on the mental environment. However, while our research suggests people are acutely aware of that mental impact, this agenda is not as explicit as the physical one yet.

Like its sister cause, sustainable design challenges, Civil Branding requires a systemic view leading to a long-term solution. I can’t help but feel current efforts are a little like early environmentally conscious advertising, they are as yet to fully integrate with brand strategies.

With all of the pessimistic reporting in the media, an optimistic world view is most welcome. Jane Jacobs, a famous urban philosopher, explains why the difficult relationships between corporate businessmen and environmental activists are so difficult to resolve. Her view is that business people fail to see the problem and activists fail to see the solution. This difference leaves a gulf that is all too difficult to cross. I think an optimistic view allows us to have a vision of the world where we can accomplish better things for society. Whilst simply ignoring problems is foolhardy, focusing on them privileges them and leads us into mental cul-de-sacs.

This new campaign entitled ‘I am everyone.’ aims to create deeper meaning around the optimistic  world view, appreciating the way we are all connected – for good or bad – as humans. The ads broadly state that our experiences shape us and more subtly suggest that we can overcome the negative experiences and focus on the positive if we have the right attitude. Of course, the magic ingredient is an optimistic attitude.

The narrative is not just some unattached emotional promise. At a functional level, it makes sense for Orange to promote notions of interconnectedness since they are in the communications business. Now a triple play, the orange brand narrative can speak beyond one-to-one communications and discuss our connection and relation to the wider world via the Internet and TV.

While Orange does not appear on any brand valuation surveys due to the lack of significant American operations, we are certain that this is the most valuable telecom brand in the world. By continuing to focus on progressive messages that bring us together, Orange consistently promotes a world view that has wide appeal and is relevant in a society that is searching for encouragement.