ING Direct Café Case

Ray Oldenburg coined the term The Third Place in his 1990 book: The Great Good Place. He described it as “nothing more than informal public gathering places“; the name itself derived from considering our homes to be the ‘first’ places in our lives, and our work places the ‘second.’

“The character of a third place is determined most of all by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful mood, which contrasts with people’s more serious involvement in other spheres. Though a radically different kind of setting for a home, the third place is remarkably similar to a good home in the psychological comfort and support that it extends. (…) They are the heart of a community’s social vitality, the grassroots of democracy, but sadly, they constitute a diminishing aspect of the American social landscape.”

With as much as 30 millions Americans being a part of Kinko’s generation (spending significant time working outside of a traditional office), more and more businesses and organizations try to encourage people to hang out. For some of them it comes naturally; the most obvious: cafés, coffee shops, bookstores, bars, and hair salons are listed in the subtitle of Oldenburg’s book.

The Third Place characteristics: regular clientele, psychological comfort and playful mood make it a marketer dream-come-true, so sooner or later the concept had to expand beyond its natural hosts.

ING Direct entered the US market in 2000. Operating electronically without traditional offices (unlike some of its European branches), the bank has since opened cafés in major cities to make its brand known.

Banking and coffee might not be the usual connotation, however this experimental marketing effort has proven to be a huge success, with a single “branch” yielding more than $200 million in new accounts and mortgages within a year of opening (source).

The cafes look nothing like a traditional bank branch: no tellers, no personal banking desks or any of the usual bank stuff. Instead there are typical café surroundings: barristas (who double as personal bankers), tables, lounge chairs, financial newspapers and internet kiosks. Although the ING propaganda in the café might be overwhelming (its a branded brand space with every sandwich bearing the ING Direct logo), they do stop at the point of bringing the customers in and avoid the banking products pitch (available upon request, so to speak).

Undoubtedly, the cafés are a part of brand spaces trend, yet they outclass the omnipresent flagship store in several ways:

They easily drive traffic into the branches and get customers to stay a while.
They help to build face-to-face relationships with customers.
The customers may conduct banking transactions in a place they potentially actually like to be in, not necessarily just to buy stuff and leave.
Most probably they will not have much trouble holding customers interest and loyalty.
They might change the way people think about going to the bank.
Last but not least: they serve a social need.

IMG src: Inside cafe scene by Edward Hopper.

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Ogilvy’s principles of management

1. Remember that Abraham Lincoln spoke of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He left out the pursuit of profit.
2. Remember the old Scottish motto: “Be happy while you’re living, for you are a long time dead.”
3. If you have to reduce your company’s payroll, don’t fire your people until you have cut your compensation and the compensation of your big-shots.
4. Define your corporate culture and your principles of management in writing. Don’t delegate this to a committee. Search all the parks in all your cities. You’ll find no statues of committees.
5. Stop cutting the quality of your products in search of bigger margins. The consumer always notices — and punishes you.
6. Never spend money on advertising which does not sell.
7. Bear in mind that the consumer is not a moron. She is your wife. Do not insult her intelligence.
[via: Patricia Sellers]

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Lawrence Lessig’s, as always insightful essay on Google, copyright and our future.

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2 If you have a choice never have a job.
3 Some people are toxic avoid them.
4 Professionalism is not enough or the good is the enemy of the great.
5 Less is not necessarily more.
6 Style is not to be trusted.
7 How you live changes your brain.
8 Doubt is better than certainty.
9 On aging.
10 Tell the truth.
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Not exactly on the main subject of this blog, but hey, branding actually IS about meetings. Meetings, the Google way:
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Banking & Coffee