Filed under: Advertising, banking, Digital culture | Tags: citibank, generation forward, MySpace
Citibank recently launched a new credit card in partnership with MySpace targeted at young adults which it terms “Generation Forward”. It’s launched a sexy ad talking bout this generation, offering some reward type arrangements for good behaviour and offers an interest rate reduction for paying on time.
The idea has been slated by many already as an empty promotion that not only offers a complete firfy if you read the fine print, but that the “generation forward” positioning is actually at odds (in philosophy) from how Citibank itself operates.
The idea of a bank rewarding younger people for responsible repayments is a nice one. The idea of putting a line in the financial sand between the generations which caused the financial crisis and the new generations coming up the line is also a nice one. All in all it seems to be another marketing program that didn’t quite hit the mark due to it’s inability to deliver any real change beyond a sexy campaign.
On the banking scene,I wonder if anyone will build on the idea and do it for real? I wonder if a bank could actually take the positioning and deliver on real savings for younger people as a loyalty exercise? If they could find more innovative ways to provide value and earn more coin for themselves, whilst providing a genuinely responsible and transparent credit plan for young people in the process…Now that would be impressive.
If you’re interested, here’s a little more commentary on the topic:
Filed under: Emergent media, Geek stuff, Social media, Work Futures | Tags: P&G digital hack, Social media, Tide t-shirt
It seems that the peeps at P&G realised that this whole ‘social media’ thing was something they needed to get their heads across. What better way to do it than invite 40 of the best geeks from the Valley and stage a 4 hour social-media hack-a-thon exercise for charity.
40 executives from the Valley were invited down to meet with a hundred P&G marketers to help them get their heads around social media. They played in teams and competed to see which group could sell the most Tide t-shirts using only a thousand bucks and any social media tool they could get their hands on. All proceeds went to charity.
For those of you who haven’t yet read the story on P&G’s Digital Hack Night here’s a couple of links:
