Managerial framework for bank advertising

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to create a managerial framework for selecting the most effective bank advertisement appeal for different financial services. Financial services were classified based on the FCB grid: high/low involvement and think/feel decision. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from 62 banks with content analysis based on 1,514 unique print advertisements, published between 2006 and 2014 in national newspapers in Romania and Hungary. The ads were coded, based on Pollay’s appeals, and then a cluster analysis was performed to identify appeal and financial service clusters. Findings The results revealed ten bank-specific appeals which can be used for advertising four different banking services categories. All type of savings and loans for B2B are advertised with quality appeals (safety, productivity); current account and card, personal/home loans are advertised with financial value appeals (convenient, cheap); corporate branding with emotional appeals (affiliation, distinctive, enjoyment); and services with mixed appeals. Research limitations/implications The study could be extended for different target market, creative strategy, other media and more countries. Practical implications The paper provides guidelines on how the FCB grid could be extended for bank services to recommend specific appeals for each category. Originality/value The financial service literature proposes guidelines regarding bank advertisements. However, the recommended advertisement appeals were not linked to different bank services. This paper creates a comprehensive managerial framework in order to match the bank’s specific appeals with different bank services.

How are we tempted into debt? Emotional appeals in loan advertisements in UK newspapers

“…Research from outside of the UK shows that bank services advertisers utilized emotional appeals mainly in corporate branding advertising (Alt et al, 2019). Emotional appeals in advertising affect customers' reactions to advertisements, enhance their attention to advertisements and affect brand attitudes (Hornik et al, 2017;Panda et al, 2013).…”

Impact of perceived experiential advertising on customers' responses: a multi-method approach

“…This is also true in banking studies with the predominance of rational appeal in advertising (e.g. Alt et al , 2019; Czarnecka and Evans, 2013, Estelami, 2009). Other studies in banking also focus on emotional appeals (Mogaji et al , 2018; Mogaji and Danbury, 2017), and on both rational and emotional appeals (Ahn et al , 2012; Albers-Miller and Straughan, 2000).…”

“…In banking, rational appeals in advertisements were once more dominant (Alt et al , 2019). Some studies in the banking sector have since considered the emotional appeals (e.g.…”

“…In view of the considerable sums of money spent on advertising by banks (Statista, 2019a; Alt et al , 2019) and a trend towards saturation which renders it increasingly difficult for brands to capture consumer attention (Teixeira, 2014), it is critical to gain an enhanced understanding of the effectiveness of advertising and its capacity to generate different types of experiences. To this end, the main study seeks to investigate a new variable with affective commitment to evaluate the effectiveness of perceived experiential advertising.…”

Online banking and privacy: redesigning sales strategy through social exchange

“…In bank communication, the corporate brand has a vital role in building its image, reputation, awareness and trust. Therefore, selecting a particular bank is usually a long-term decision with a high level of involvement by customers, mainly determined by the effectiveness of a bank's communication strategy, which acts as a differentiation method (Alt et al, 2019). Customers tend to interact with peers and family members, especially on the convenience of online banking and the significance of the banking relationship.…”