• by Aaron Baar , June 15, 2009

With consumers closely reviewing their spending, regional financial company Beneficial Bank is rolling out a new personal finance manager as a way to lure new lucrative customers, supported by a new print, online and radio campaign.

"These things are becoming very popular," says Jake Hancock, account manager at LevLane, the Philadelphia advertising agency that developed the advertising for Beneficial. "People are becoming increasingly interested in seeing all their money in one place."

The new tool, FinanceWorks, provides online viewing and analysis of all a consumer's accounts (not just those from Beneficial). The tool, which was created by popular finance tracking company Quicken, is being promoted with print, radio, online and point-of-sale advertising that asks, "Where is your money going? And what would you do if you knew?" Those ads are intended to build off a campaign from last fall, in which the bank encouraged people to "do the right thing" financially.

"To do the right thing financially, it takes knowledge and your bank helping you to know where your money is before you can start planning for the future," Hancock tells Marketing Daily. "[Beneficial] has aligned itself as the bank that's trying to do the right things financially, and providing tools and education about managing finances helps them do that."

Beneficial is actively targeting college-educated, married consumers who make more than $100,000 a year. Those consumers, Hancock says, are already familiar with online banking products and are comfortable using online finance tracking tools. While some of them may already be using online tracking software from companies like Quicken and Mint.com, the bank is hoping its brand carries some extra weight, particularly when it comes to competing with lesser-known products, Hancock says.

"People like their banks and tend to trust their safety," Hancock says. "It might be more comforting to use a bank that's local and has a reputation for being safe and reliable."

Because many of these users may hear of the product from a radio or print advertisement but may not remember all of the details, Beneficial has also started a search marketing effort (its first) "to complete the path to purchase," Hancock says. The bank has also launched a social marketing effort, with a Facebook fan page and Twitter feed, although Hancock says those were already in the works.