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The Oregon bank continues to draw consumers in unexpected ways. Its traveling digital art show, called Exhibit: Growth," underscores how financial institutions are rethinking the ways they advertise their services.
December 3 -
Though not as well-known as Facebook or Twitter, the image-collecting social media site has more than 1.3 billion "pins" about managing money and is gaining traction with banks such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Regions.
August 5 -
Wells Fargo is touring music festivals, rodeos and other local events around the country with an Oculus Rift headset consumers can try on, part of a trend of banks using unconventional tactics to promote their brands.
August 21 -
The new American Express film Spent offers an opportunity to consider some emerging strategies aimed at helping low-income and struggling middle-class Americans avoid or get out of debt.
June 20 -
The iPod music player has established itself as the toaster of the new millennium, a giveaway that banks use to attract attention, and new deposits, from young consumers.
December 23
There's
Umpqua Bank, which has sponsored a
To inspire conversations on the subject, Suchin Pak, of MTV and DailyCandy fame, will host Umpqua's podcast and interview guests like "Saturday Night Live" writer Paula Pell and NBA center Myers Leonard about their personal journeys with money.
Umpqua's effort represents a growing trend of bank brands thinking unconventionally to try to get consumers' attention through storytelling on ever-more digital mediums at a time when branch traffic continues to decline.Bank of America, for example, has been finding success
The bank-run podcast idea is not brand new:
This time may well be different, as a younger generation of consumers gets their news on digital media channels.
John Siracusa, host of the
"It's the future. Period. End of story," said Siracusa. "Everybody has a mobile device. Even kids. …They get a Social Security number and they get a phone."
The most recent Pew Research Center data shows podcasts have been steadily growing an audience over the past two years.
That comes on top of an
Because of the audience opportunities, Siracusa recommends banks to take a cue from Umpqua and launch their own shows.
"It's easy for consumers to listen to podcasts," said Siracusa. Unlike a blog or a video, a consumer can listen while he's driving to or from work, for example.
For Umpqua, the podcast represents its ongoing experiments in digital marketing.
"The need to continue to create new ways to connect with people is really important," said Eve Callahan, an executive vice president of corporate communications at Umpqua Bank.
The podcast, which Callahan said was dependent on finding the right host, is designed to help spur conversations with consumers and introduce more branding opportunities for the bank in addition to providing content the bank can publish on its other social media channels.
To be sure, building an audience is no easy feat.
To draw attention to the show, Umpqua is releasing a short artistic film, The Seed + The Moon, that explores human potential and growth as it relates to money in addition to unveiling a website —
As Umpqua learns what resonates with consumers through this new medium, Siracusa, who has hosted 17 podcasts, offers these tips to other banks interested in launching a podcast: Consumers listen because of the topic and because of the host. Stick to a schedule, and don't expect a large audience all at once. Do, however, invest in podcasting equipment and editors and book guests with large social media followers.
"In my experience, when an influencer shares a podcast, you will see a huge influx of downloads," said Siracusa.
And like with any investment, he urges producers to crunch metrics like how many people listen to the show and in what geographies.
"It's important to understand to measure effectiveness but to give it enough time," said Siracusa.
