Pink is the new bank! Branding with color.
I was reading Tim McAlpine’s blog (Currency Marketing) where he talks about his 22 immutable laws of branding. I responded to his post suggesting that I would like to see a credit union “Go Pink”.
I know what you are thinking. “Have you lost your mind?” - Gimme a second to explain.
Think what IBM did back in the day. They were called “Big Blue”. ING has completely branded orange. They even paint their branch locations “ING Cafe” bright orange. Now that Virgin is in the banking game, I am sure that they are going to brand their red like crazy. So, a lot of good colors are getting scooped up. But I think for impact, Pink is the way to go. Why? Pink brings a lot of good stuff to the table.
- Breast Cancer Research
- Victoria’s Secret
- Fashionable (hasn’t pink always been fashionable?)
- It rhymes with “Think” - Need easy access to your account? Think Pink!
- Giveaways dont have to be specially branded with your logo, they only have to be pink.
- Offer free checks, but only in PINK!
- Most financial obligations are on the female in the married relationship. Most of the cashiers at the grocery store are female. If your member whips out a book of pink checks… Word of mouth?
- Easily identifiable
- Unique and fun
- Appeals to young female consumers
- Can co-brand a secondary color (a more masculine color) like chocolate brown or black.
- You would be the ONLY pink financial institution.
- Create a branded clothing line that people would actually wear. A pink shirt that says “Cute, Rich and PINK!” for teens that open savings account.
- Partner with many community projects organizers. Have a team of employees called the Pink Squad that volunteer time to help.
I could go on forever. I really like this idea. I am pretty confident that no one will take me up on it. But it is food for thought!
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Comments
What really drew me to this is that we could not come up with a single negative association with pink - unless you are thinking political or sexual. Then you have to consider if the positives outweigh the negatives. I think they do - especially for the target of membership.
I posed this to my wife (32) and she said that she would open an account just to get some pink checks. I asked my mom (I won’t say her age but it is higher than 32 and less than 55) and she said that even if she didn’t close her Mocse CU account, she would definitely open an account with Pink CU just to get a credit card and the free checks.
So far, 100% of the women I have talked to are actively excited at the idea.
Not good if your SEG is a manufacturer or something…but other than that…YES! Definitely would be attractive with courting young adults - something to set you apart from your bland, pastel competitors.
Chris - yeah you have a point. I think I told Dan that the old men on the board will probably flip their wigs if anyone actually presented this concept. You will probably hear “But I don’t WANT pink checks!”. That wasn’t the point. This would not be targeted at grouchy old guys who like to complain before they listen. I understand pink doesn’t appeal to them. It won’t appeal to all types credit unions either. It isn’t “Manly” enough for the Pipefitters Credit Union (I made that CU up by the way).
Thats why I mentioned co-branding a second color. This whole idea of a Pink CU is really more geared towards a specific person, a specific group or a specific credit union. They may not be a mechanic or an ironworker or a coal miner. But I think Pink CU might have an incredible potential for growth outside of a credit union’s core SEG. People keep saying “how do we reach young members?”. Answer: appeal to their idea of cool. Make money fun! I think money is fun! I think everything about money is fun - making it fun for your members is the key to youth membership.
Like I said, Pink CU would work for older demographics as well because of all the other positive things associated with Pink. However, I understand that those people are likely going to be female. But haven’t we all decided that women make most of the household purchasing decisions anyway? And, if they are like my mom - you might get a member solely for the cool pink and platinum visa card. Now you have a chance to sell them on more services. Pink hooked them, you have to sell them the rest of the credit union.
Purely for awareness and marketing - Pink Rocks! Plus I like the idea of the credit union being able to “Retail Up” their presence with any kind of merchandise as long as it is pink (or dark brown or black - whatever masculine color you pair it up with.). It makes giveaways very inexpensive to brand by color.
Right on, Tony! And it may very well be that young women are the key to young adults. From iNFORM i3 team biz plan…
“…Clearly, developing and implementing a focused approach to the needs and priorities of young women consumers will fill a gap in the marketplace and address the needs of an attractive segment (young adults)…” And also…there are many shades of pink!
I agree wholeheartedly with this approach. It’s Positioning 101 - The first into the mind is going to get remembered. Take a peek at this video of Seth Godin (marketing guru) in which he states we need to get back to the basics and become ‘remarkable’. Become something worth making a remark about. Click here to view. It goes hand in hand with your suggestion Tony.
I just ran across this post “Women Drive Card Usage“. It supports the idea of a credit union with a main focus of catering to women.
Or a credit union with products designed specifically for him and her. Her card may have a 1% reward contribution to breast cancer research - his card might have a 1% reward that dumps into a CD for child education. Her card could be platinum with pink trim and his card could be black with platinum trim.
These are just ideas folks 
Good post and some good discussion.
Smile Bank in the UK is Pink:
http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Smile/Page/smView&c=Page&cid=1023953608805
Beautiful!!! And I totally identify with this… In fact I came across this site while doing research for my MBA dissertation titled “The Rise of Pink”.. I’m doing research on how the colour commands a premium price for products, how its able to stimulate the female mind, and how the opposite sex is simply unable to decipher the phenonmenon.
I love this idea! Especially the free pink checks! My wife would really digg it.And can you imagine the cool flowers and stuff that could grace the website? I painted giant flowers and butterflies in my daughter’s room and she loves it! Gosh Tony, this could be a major jump start to a credit union who’s looking for a new brand. You wrap a van in pink getup and drive it around. Maybe give out flowers to people. Valentines Day could be your biggest membership drive of the year. “Barbie banks here!”. Loan discounts for pink painted vehicles.
I think at the least I am going to take your idea and add a pink flower to some of our stuff. It might look good with my green.