A Funny Name And A Way To Put Humanity Into Online Banking

Kasasa campaign

Do you Kasasa? BancVue will launch a nationwide campaign this month to introduce white-label software, training, consulting and marketing services for local banks and credit unions.

The poetry-laced videos with the slogan "Don't just bank. Kasasa" promote services for the financial institutions targeting a younger demographic, as well as consumers likely to give to charities for a social cause. The videos have been uploaded to Kasasa.com, Google's YouTube, as well as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

The videos mix animation and real people, encouraging consumers to tune into social change. The campaign focuses on banking services during a time when so many are turning out. They tout donating interest earned on checking accounts to charities like humane societies or cancer funds.

A local grassroots marketing campaign is in the works, along with search, television and radio ads.

A handful of banks and credit unions started testing the programs in May to work out the kinks, according to BancVue CMO Susan Sierota, who once led branding for Peet's Coffee and Tea, and Coors Light. "If you looked at our current clients and add up all the branches, we would be the No. 4 largest bank in the country," Sierota says. "We have the scale to bring a product through the retail arm to consumers across the country like no other company can."

Ten banks participated in the pilot. About 500 accounts were opened at Kasasa.com. The accounts are insured.

"We ask consumers in the videos to do certain things, such as online banking, which saves the banks money, and in turn the banks can give the money back to consumers in the form of rewards," Sierota says.

The challenge has been launching a brand for financial institutions during a time when so many banks and credit unions are failing. Total estimated losses to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) for all 57 U.S. bank failures, year to date, come in at $12.7 billion on $42 billion in total bank assets, according to ChicagoTribute.com, citing a report from Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

BancVue acts as the financial institution's marketing and development arm. Services include allocating marketing budgets and designing the programs.

The Kasasa marketing campaign promotes free, no minimum balance and nationwide ATM refunds. The incentives for consumers range from high-interest rate checking, between 4% and 5%, to programs that allow consumers to give automatically to a charity, or download free music from iTunes.

BancVue's flagship product -- rewards checking -- supports more than 620 clients, such as First Arkansas Bank and Trust, and Bank of Idaho. The institutions' assets range between $100 million to $10 billion.

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