𝐈𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐝𝐬: 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐤 — 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐥𝐲

Thanks to Steve Driggs for his inputs

📌An evolving industry
The banking industry changed. The 1990s saw unprecedented consolidation. From 1990 to 1998, approximately 4,000 U.S. banks consolidated, lowering their number by 30%. Thanks to legislation, banks could broaden their services, but they faced fierce competition from unexpected companies. General Electric, etc, offered credit cards and consumer loans. Once regional, banking was now a national battleground.

The commoditisation of financial services exacerbated the problem. Banks became interchangeable utilities. Citibank’s credit card business, once a star, declined as customers became apathetic to their financial institutions. Citi needs a new, compelling motive to beat its competitors to succeed.

📌The Plan: Reinventing Citi
Citi’s Anne MacDonald and Brad Jakeman, saw the need. Citi was envisioned as a worldwide power brand like Nike, etc, not just a bank. MacDonald remarked that these brands have consistency and momentum, boosting their worldwide growth chances.

Get Vejay Anand’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

Citi had to adjust internally before rebranding. Customer focus became the norm. Citi launched consumer-friendly goods, including credit card identity theft protection, and increased customer support across all touchpoints. The most ambitious notion was brand positioning: Citi would become the first “unbanklike” bank.

📌Understanding “Unbanklike”
Creating a “unbanklike” bank was difficult.

Fallon pitched for the business. Fallon first assessed Citi’s brand — or lack thereof. Unlike many heritage companies with muddled messages, Citi was a blank canvas, allowing Fallon to create something fresh.

Citi’s target market was 25- — to 59-year-olds with $35,000+ family incomes.

📌Barber’s Advice
Focus groups initially lacked motivation. Practical banking issues like peace of mind, security, interest rates, and handy locations received uninspiring responses. Nobody appeared to care about banks.

A Fallon planner got a haircut at a barber. The barber said, “People don’t care about banks, but they care a whole lot about money and its role in their lives.”

This simple sentence was powerful. Fallon’s crew changed. They returned to focus groups and shifted the subject from banking technicalities to money in people’s lives.

This change in focus changed the discourse. The room came alive as participants expressed what money meant to them — what provided them pleasure and what they needed to live a successful life. Fallon suddenly heard from actual people, not “bank customers.”

The focus groups’ unexpected findings stood out more. They were held during the dot-com boom, when early retirement, IPOs, and luxurious lifestyles were popular. However, participants did not fantasise about yachts, IPO windfalls, or lavish holidays. Money was only a tool for them; they didn’t envision becoming millionaires.

TO READ MORE, VISIT https://onlykutts.com/index.php/2025/01/12/iconic-ads-citibank-live-richly/