Jan
10
Resolve to Evolve
By Laurie Campbell Pannell, Creative Partner
Ours is not a static industry. Times change, banking styles evolve, technologies advance and our changing customers propel our banks forward. And some bank brands even help drive this perpetual change—those that evolve with the times.
Your bank’s brand is influential—from affecting a customer’s experience in the lobby to motivating community-wide involvement on Facebook. The new year is the perfect time to resolve to be the most relevant bank brand in the market.
In that spirit, why not approach the new year with a renewed sense of purpose? We are not only helping to build our banks, communities, businesses and families, but we are helping to evolve the banking landscape as we know it. It’s a great mission!
Your bank has the ability to educate its market about the latest banking technologies and help move the community forward on its path in the year 2012. Just as community banks cannot afford to fall behind the national banks, communities cannot long afford to fall behind the times with the rest of the world.
However, some view a bank and its brand as unchanging—an unmoving pillar in the community. Yet great leaders are anything but static. They grow in wisdom and increase their ability to lead with every new challenge they surmount.
It’s the same for most all industries, companies, products and even individuals. Credibility only increases when we change with the times. For example, why do some music bands have the ability to turn out hits for decades, while others are just a flash in the pan? They evolve. As Robert Plant, the lead rocker in the iconic 70s band, Led Zeppelin, explains, “The thing is, how much do people really want to learn? Some people get in a groove and they stay with it indefinitely, and what starts off as a great moment of explosive passion can end up as cabaret 25, 30 years later.” After selling more than 200 albums, Plant could have spent the second half of his career simply touring for all his old fans. In contrast, Plant has reinvented himself by giving his voice a new genre. He took the best traits of his brand and gave them new life in the realm of blues and earthier sounds and began collaborating with new artists. His relevance is ongoing because his brand is continually evolving.
This year, as you and your team prepare for the year ahead, take a look at your bank’s personality and brand to see if it is as relevant as it could be. Are you still mailing out paper statements when the rest of the world has gone electronic? Still consider your website as a side door to your bank, when today’s consumer considers it your front door? Like the woman who still wears a beehive because it looked so fabulous in her teens, we may think a great brand must remain exactly the same to maintain its success. But when we get a “new do,” so to speak, we demonstrate our awareness of changing styles and our ability to adapt, update and remain at the top of our game.
