The Financial Services Marketing Blog

Multi-lingual websites – do they serve a purpose?

February 3, 2012 – 4:06 pm by Shalini Amarnani
SBI Life Insurance today launched a multi-lingual website in nine Indian languages to facilitate communication with customers in the language they are comfortable with. The website will provide information in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada and Punjabi. LIC provides pages in Hindi as do other PSU general insurers. To reach out to a rapidly increasing online audience, the company recently strengthened its presence on the online medium. With India crossing the crucial 100 million internet ...

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Mobile Banking to Serve Half a Billion

February 3, 2012 – 8:57 am by Clair Desai
530 million is a huge figure, one that's difficult for most of us to put an image to. If, however, you can visualise that number as mobile banking customers, you'll have an accurate idea of how many the service will reach by 2013. Yes, that's only next year, but according to Juniper Research mobile banking really will extend to half a billion consumers over the next 12 months. This is even more impressive when you consider that the ...

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BSE Promotes the SENSEX

February 1, 2012 – 9:34 pm by Shalini Amarnani
"SENSEX - India's index the world tackles" is a tagline that you see on the BSE's website when you land on the home page. BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and NSE (National Stock Exchange) have been arch rivals since the NSE was launched in 1992 and within 3 years it overtook The BSE in volumes. Its USP was transparency and better technology. BSE quickly caught up on both grounds, but could not capture back its market ...

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Keeping the Customer Happy

February 1, 2012 – 9:19 am by Clair Desai
Most banks would agree that 2011 was a difficult year. Things have been complicated for a while, it's true, but last year was especially challenging when it came to pleasing customers. In the US, we saw the very vocal anger generated by new debit card fees, which led to Bank Transfer Day in November. Going by all this, anyone would think that the primary feeling was one of resentment. A new survey, however, indicates that things might ...

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Wells Fargo Hits the Big Screen

January 30, 2012 – 7:57 am by Clair Desai
As financial providers dream up new ways to reach consumers, Wells Fargo is seeing its name in lights. The US bank has entered the world of movie making, through sponsorship of a new, big-budget film. Produced by George Lucas, the movie is called 'Red Tails' and Wells Fargo is the 'official financial institution sponsor'. Importantly, the subject matter of the movie plays a big part in the promotion. Red Tails is about the Tuskegee Airmen - some of ...

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HDFC Life Tries New Campaign Click

January 27, 2012 – 10:31 am by Clair Desai
To promote its plan Click 2 Protect, HDFC Life Insurance is mixing both safe and new ideas, playing on customer sentiment through digital media. Of course, the emotion-charged element is what we've seen before. This promotion, which is all about raising awareness of the provider's newly-offered online term insurance plan, features five TVCs, each about family security. Covering diverse life stages, these commercials from Leo Burnett remind consumers why their family's financial security is so important. To ensure ...

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Cloning by Kotak

January 25, 2012 – 1:48 am by Clair Desai
Welcome to the future. It's now possible to design a clone, and give that creation total control of your everyday chores. Sure, it's an exaggeration, but what we're telling you is more or less true - Kotak Life Insurance has just released a Facebook app based on this very concept. For the first time, customers really will be able to duplicate themselves, albeit only on the social media platform. The idea is that the new double will streamline ...

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Paisa Bolta Hai

January 24, 2012 – 2:14 pm by Shalini Amarnani
Hand over a Rs. 500 note when you have shopped at the local supermarket and the note and you will be both examined suspiciously. Counterfeit currency racket has been plaguing the Indian economy for some time now. If a bank teller detects a fake note in a deposit, s/he will give the customer to destroy the note or file a report with the police. Most customers choose the lesser evil of destroying the note. RBI of ...

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The Credit Card with a Keypad

January 23, 2012 – 7:39 am by Clair Desai
The future of credit cards is here, and it's not so bright for wannabe thieves. Shown off earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show in the US, a new card concept comes with an inbuilt keypad. Making things very difficult for the dishonest, this design asks users to tap in a security code as part of every transaction. It was created by NagraID Security (NIDS), which used the Las Vegas-hosted Electronics Show to demonstrate the many possibilities ...

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MTV Spins Financial Advice

January 20, 2012 – 9:41 am by Clair Desai
Sometimes, clever initiatives come from the most unexpected of places. Who would have thought we'd be discussing a financial aid app launched by MTV? This week the US television network introduced an interesting new platform for Facebook users, called 'My College Dollars'. A joint effort sponsored by MTV, a campaign called Get Schooled, the College Board and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the application is all about students and their financial aid options. It was designed by ...

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