To start our series of logo design and meaning, we’ll take a look at Bank of America. BofA is first on The Banker’s list of “Top 1000 World Banks 2011”, as ranked by Tier One capital.

The current logo was designed in 1998 by The Brand Union, a WPP-owned agency with 21 offices around the world.

The stylized American flag of red, white and blue is a clear nod to patriotism, intended to evoke trust in the company. It also suggests an American farm field, reflecting honesty and hard work.

The Arial font is simple, bold and easy to read. According to color theory, the use of blue is nonthreatening and at the same time signifies both confidence and calm.

Lastly, here’s an additional interesting bit of history. While many people know that NationsBank acquired BofA and decided to keep its name, the combined organization still operates under Federal Charter 13044 – originally granted to Giannini’s Bank of Italy in San Francisco on March 1, 1927.

Next Up: JP Morgan Chase & Co., including the origin of the Chase “donut”!

Sources

• http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/fortune/0904/gallery.cendrowski_logos.fortune/2.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America
• http://newsusa.myfeedportal.com/i/bank-america-logo
• http://designrfix.com/logo/logo-design-lessons
• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989772,00.html#ixzz1vAEdJEAX

Citi Turned Off Lights In 737 Facilities During Earth Hour 2011: http://ow.ly/4nWM6. Media outlets recognize efforts.

Following two years of successful work with clients on a range of B2B financial marketing services, I am thrilled to announce enhanced partnerships with a team of trusted creatives. The goal is to enable Manko Marketing to handle more of your projects – including those of increasing scope – and complete them even faster than ever!

Rest assured that strict confidentiality applies, all tasks will continue to be coordinated and reviewed by me – and of course retain the unconventional creativity you’ve come to expect. We intend to exceed your expectations, just now even more, more, more!

Occasionally people ask me a perfectly reasonable question: why do HUGE financial services firms – which have significant internal resources – choose to work with external consultants?

That reminded me of an excellent article on elance.com. Providing insights from a freelancer perspective, I’ll bet that you can identify with at least one of these:

1. You’re slammed.

2 You need a new idea/strategy.

3. You’re stuck.

4. The internal team lacks a specific specialty.

5. Politics prevent internal allocations.

6. You want to control accountability and ensure things get done.

Click here to read more…

Happily, clients have engaged Manko Marketing to help with all six!

Since 1984, PNC Wealth Management – part of my hometown bank in Pittsburgh – has been tracking the cost for one set of each of the gifts in the song “The 12 Days of Christmas” with its Christmas Price Index. Whether you celebrate this holiday, another…or even none at all, hopefully you will agree that it’s definitely a clever way to attract both clients and the media.

http://ow.ly/3hSKb

This year’s Index is 9.2% higher than 2009. Which items do you think cost the most…and why? The answers may surprise you!

Here’s a rundown of the items and total charges:

1.    Partridge in a Pear Tree: $161.99

2.    Turtle Doves: $100.00

3.    French Hens: $150.00

4.    Calling Birds: $599.96

5.    Gold Rings: $ 649.95

6.    Geese-a-Laying: $150.00

7.    Swans-a-Swimming: $5,600.00

8.    Maids-a-Milking: $58.00

9.    Ladies Dancing: $6,294.03

10. Lords-a-Leaping: $4,766.70

11. Pipers Piping: $2,356.20

12. Drummers Drumming: $2,552.55

Total: $ 23,439.38

For a complete explanation of the Index, visit http://ow.ly/3hSKb.

If you enjoyed this, please share with your colleagues and friends by forwarding and using the various social media links.  More cool financial marketing insights will follow as we end 2010 and start fresh in 2011!

Greg

After being founded in San Francisco in early-2009, I am pleased to announce that Manko Marketing soon will be 2,901 miles closer to Wall Street. As of June 2, 2010, the firm relocates from SF to New York City!

With a growing roster of clients and projects concentrated mainly on the East Coast, the time is right to make the move to the financial capital of the world. Having previously lived in NYC for 10 years, this is both a homecoming for me and a logical next step for my business.

Two things will not change, however. The first is Manko Marketing’s focus on B2B financial services. This is a niche that continues to benefit from my 15+ years in the industry, especially as the financial markets continue to recover and even more attention turns to branding and communications.

The other item is the company phone number. Partly to pay homage to the firm’s origins – and partly because the 212 version already is in use – that will remain 415-MANKO-MAR (626-5662).

Of course, I continue to be available to work on projects in any location, both domestic and international.  I wish to thank my loyal clients who have helped my practice grow so rapidly. It has been a joy to be involved with so many varied and exciting tasks.

So, get ready to reap the benefits of both worlds: a New York location with a San Francisco perspective. For more information and details, browse www.mankomarketing.com or call 415-MANKO-MAR (626-5662).

Color theory, also referred to as color psychology or symbolism, is the study of how different colors evoke certain emotional or even physical responses in people. Although we often see the logos of the Top 20 banks in the world, as well as those across the United States, just what insights might be found in the colors used? And what might that mean for us as B2B financial marketers?

Of course, logo color alone cannot explain the reason for the success or failure of an entire financial institution – to suggest so would be ridiculous. Recognizing that, the analysis below does reveal some compelling insights that may just inspire you in your next creative task, project or campaign.

Note that the “Top” indicator is by assets, which have been ranked globally and in the U.S. by The Banker and The Fed, respectively. Links to the sources are at the end of this post. Additionally, many of the insights on color theory and psychology are paraphrased from Wikipedia.

First, the World!

This two-part post will first examine the logos of the Top 20 global banks. A follow-up piece will do the same for the Top 20 banks in the U.S.

Globally, by far the two most popular colors are blue and red. A full 11 out of 20 (55%) use one or both colors in their logos.

Blue

Typically, blue is nonthreatening and at the same time signifies both confidence and calm. It is used in the logos of 11 of the Top 20 banks (55%), including six of the Top 10 (60%) and three of the Top 5 (80%). Additionally, five of the Top 20 (25%) use only blue in their logos – representing nearly half of all 11 institutions who use blue in any manner – perhaps aiming for extra confidence and/or calm. Maybe there is something to this, as these three financial institutions in the Top 5 have all-blue logos:

• #1 RBS, The Royal Bank of Scotland
• #2 Deutsche Bank
• #4 Barclays Bank

Red

Generally considered to be the most intense color, red evokes feelings of passion and strength. Perhaps that is why the color also is featured in the logos of 11 of the Top 20 banks (55%). However, unlike blue, only one bank – Santander at #17 – uses red as its only logo color. Specifically:

• Four banks use red as part of their primary iconography, e.g., #5 HSBC
• Three others employ red as an accent, such as #7 Citi
• And only one uses red in its lettering, #8 UBS

Black/Grey

The next most popular color is black/grey, which is used by seven of the Top 20. Positive associations include power, sophistication and elegance. While this means 35% of the Top 20 use black, greater than 70% of those are doing so in a more utilitarian way:

• Five banks use black/grey in their lettering, including #3 BNP Paribas
• The remaining two employ black in their primary iconography, #8 UBS and #11 Société Générale
• Perhaps understandably, none apply black or grey as an accent.

Green

The color that many (American) people would expect to be associated with financial institutions is the color of money: green. However, this is just not the case, both in the U.S. and around the world. While green conveys luck, initiative and wealth, just two of the Top 20 banks (10%), use green in their logos…and neither of them are based in the U.S.:

• #3 BNP Paribas uses it in their primary iconography
• #6 Crédit Agricole employs green for both lettering and as an accent

Orange and Yellow

Two curious colors that pop up just once each in the Top 20 are Orange and Yellow. Both can symbolize energy and happiness.

• #15 ING uses orange as part of its primary iconography
• #16 Banca Românească features yellow as its logo’s background color

What about those “Failed” Financial Institutions?

After investigating the logo colors of the Top 20, I thought it also would be noteworthy to take a look at the logo colors of some of the higher-profile financial institution logos that are no longer with us. It’s a mixed bag when it comes to coloring:

• Washington Mutual used blue iconography on a yellow background
• Lehman Brothers employed just green lettering
• Bear Stearns had only black lettering
• Wachovia used both blue and green elements in its lettering and iconography

To follow soon, the United States…

Sources

• World’s Top Banks by Assets: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/mar/25/banking-g20 (Source: The Banker)
• Top 50 Bank Holding Companies in the US by assets: http://www.ffiec.gov/nicpubweb/nicweb/Top50form.aspx (Source: The U.S. Federal Reserve System)

So…it’s a random Tuesday afternoon and you’ve just gotten the (call, e-mail, talk, whisper, etc.) that there’s going to be a Global Sales Offsite in (Asia, Europe, North America, Tanzania, etc.).  Of course, it’s in (two months, six weeks, one week) – and someone just decided it would be a great idea to add…a Product Showcase.  Yippee!

Chances are each product team will be given a six foot table, a tall cocktail table and a video screen of some sort.

How did I know that? Because as B2B financial services marketing professionals, we’ve all been there. Or at least we’ve been on the sidelines of something remarkably similar to this scenario.  As part of the information-sharing aspect of this blog, this is the first in what may become a series called, “What have you done when…?”

“What have you done when…at the last minute, a Product Showcase has been added to a Sales Conference and everyone comes running to Marketing?”

• How did you balance the competing needs/requests of Sales, Product, Senior Management and your own Marketing Management?
• Who got involved, i.e., just the events people or was everyone called in?
• What did you do for promo item giveaways?
• Were you able to create signage for the tables; video for the screens?
• Could you brand the overall space to enhance the atmosphere and encourage participation?
• Were you able to leverage additional resources, such as regional marketing colleagues, Corporate Comms, external agencies or consultants, etc.

Whether in this situation or others that follow, collectively we have a lot of useful information to pass along. To start sharing, just use the “Leave a Reply Field” below.

If you want to submit suggested topics for a future “What have you done when…”, please send those to greg.manko@mankomarketing.com. By working together, the next time something comes up, we’ll all be just that much better prepared with a little help from our friends.

P.S. A special “Thank You” to Diarra for inspiring this post!

Having been interested in marketing since I was just five years old (seriously), for as long as I can remember, good marketing has made me happy. What I mean by that is campaigns that are both relevant and creative always have struck a chord with me. This quite often physically manifests itself as a smile on my face and a warm feeling all over. In my opinion, good marketing can truly be that “good.” And it most always turns out to be effective, too.

From a consumer products perspective, think about Coke. Two great examples include the recent polar bear commercials and the classic “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” campaign. It’s probably a safe bet that you have a smile on your face right now thinking about either or both of those!

In financial services, the number of campaigns worthy of such praise do seem a bit more few and far between. By far, the one that most comes to mind as almost perfect is “Priceless,” by MasterCard. Started in 1997, it is a simple, meaningful and versatile expression of the brand. Additionally, “Priceless” has the added benefit of becoming “viral” before viral was cool. Parodies proliferated, which only brought more attention to the brand. The campaign is so valuable that MasterCard actually has trademarked the word “Priceless.”

MasterCard’s main competitor, Visa, currently features its “Go” campaign, which does not seem to have caught on with the same enthusiasm as “Priceless.” Personally, I am a great fan of Visa’s earlier “Everywhere you want to be,” which for me conjured up images of all the great places I would want to travel.

In the banking world, my favorite of the majors probably has been “Citi never sleeps,” primarily for the play on words and connotation that the bank is working diligently to create a better financial future.

In the asset management world, “Talk to Chuck” from Charles Schwab became especially relevant during the financial meltdown. It made that company seem more approachable, like someone that you could sit down and chat with.

Oddly enough, the financial firms that seem to have had the most success with creative marketing are those one would think to be the stuffiest: insurance companies. Perhaps the most enduring and beloved icon of all time is Snoopy, for MetLife, in use publicly since 1985 and under contract until at least 2012. (Full disclosure, I once worked for MetLife.) More recent examples include the Geico gecko and the Aflac duck. Perhaps it is the inherent expectation that insurance companies will be boring that inspires their marketing staff to push the boundaries and create truly remarkable campaigns that resonate with their clients.

Of course, the above are examples of major, often global campaigns. Many of the happiest moments in my career have been in finding an amazing venue for a client event, selecting an amazing photograph that truly captures the essence of a marketing piece, picking the perfect client gift for a trade show, devising an innovative awareness campaign that results in an enthusiastic response rate, writing a tagline for an ad that succinctly conveys the benefits of a new product, etc.

So my question to all of you out there is, “What are examples of ‘Good’ financial marketing that have made you happy?”

With all of these creative and  unconventional ideas rolling around in my brain, I figure that the best way to “Begin 2010” is by setting up a forum where those of us interested in B2B financial marketing can explore relevant and interesting topics on a regular basis.

In deciding how to structure these communications, I’d like to pay homage to one of my most rewarding marketing projects ever. That was way back when I used to work at MetLife, in Marketing and Communications for the Retirement & Savings Group. My favorite manager of all time (yes, even after all these years, Suzanne!) asked me to organize twice-yearly Team Meetings.

The goal was to get our group of 10 rather independent and creative Communications Managers together every six months to connect, learn from each other and have fun. After chatting with each person a little about what they would like to experience – and doing some brainstorming with one of our graphic designers – I came up with a theme of “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.”

At the event, each team member would share the best thing that happened to them over the past six months, the worst thing and then the most hideous piece of marketing communications that they could find. Hopefully the “Good” stories would inspire, the “Bad” ones would ensure that none of the other team members would make the same mistakes and the “Ugly” pieces would show us what doesn’t work…or at least give us all a laugh.

Using this as inspiration, periodically this blog will feature B2B financial marketing updates, insights and other cool stuff. Ideally, the topics will follow a cycle:

• The Good: Tools, tips, tricks, insights, data, information, trends, amazing marketing campaigns and other articles of interest specifically to those of us involved in marketing in the financial services industry. Taking an unconventional twist, most of these may cover topics that you might have thought of before, though never before discussed at length with your colleagues, whether internal or external.
• The Bad: Frustrations, roadblocks, clichés, mistakes, missed opportunities and anything else that weakens a brand, dilutes a campaign or makes it more difficult – and/or less enjoyable – to perform creatively and effectively.
• The Adjective-ly: Since I’d like to cover a whole range of possibilities, and not necessarily dwell on the downside of things, let’s keep this one broad. The topic/advertisement/campaign/etc. could be funny, lively, silly, friendly…or yes, just plain ugly.
• Randoms: Themes that just don’t seem to fit into any of the above three categories.

Interaction is encouraged in all areas, whether via discussion or submission. Sending in examples of B2B campaigns that you find especially compelling – for whatever reason – should make for engaging discussions. Here’s our chance to discuss topics of interest to us as B2B financial marketing colleagues across the industry.