La Banque. Nouvelle Définition

There’s an interesting campaign running in France currently, by BDDP et Fils for Caisse d’Epargne. There isn’t some ground-breaking product at stake here.

(I mean, it’s a bank. Until they turn those chained up pens into magic laser pointers there isn’t going to be all that much innovation.)

But it’s an interesting take on banking advertising. Unlike virtually any other bank I can think of, they are running ads that are designed to appeal to young people. Showing young people, advocating for young people, and effectively staking a claim to be the bank that “gets” young people.

And they don’t talk about “young people” policies that no young person is actually going to care about. Telling young people you have the product for them isn’t a real message – but telling them that you value them as much as anyone else, is. It’s easy to forget how marginalised young people really are financially.

There’s so little effort made to reach out to young people and give them a genuine connection with their bank. Desperate, creepy attempts to push accounts to new university students aside.

So there isn’t much new being done. But there is something new being said. And starting the conversation is a pretty necessary step to building a relationship.

As I’ve said before, you have to have a back-and-forth relationship with your audience. Embracing the idea of being defined by your customers is a powerful statement.