financial services

National City Makes Banking Personal

Even--maybe especially--during troubling economic times, banking can still be a very personal experience. With that in mind, National City has launched a Web site of "real stories" from its customers, telling how bank personnel have gone out of their way to help.

"At the core of any bank's stability is to keep and reach customers," National City representative Todd Morgano tells Marketing Daily. "This is a reflection of the hallmark of our company, which is how we treat our customers."

The Web site, www.nationalcity.com/realstories, contains videos of customers telling how National City employees went above and beyond the call to help. In one story, the Aiello family tells about how their daughter--studying abroad and out of money--missed her transportation to the airport to come home.

After calling National City's customer service line, Terrill Moses was able to transfer money between accounts, giving the daughter the ability to make it to the airport. The video ends with the Aiello family and the Moseses embracing in the Aiello's home and the tag line, "It's not just banking. It's National City."

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After the video, an interactive menu pops up, showing pictures from the daughter's trip to Italy, useful travel phrases to know, money management tips for travel and Mr. Aiello's personal letter to National City.

The stories came out of company research with more than 5,000 current National City customers. "In almost every instance, our most fervent customers touted what our people did for them," Morgano says. "Loyal customers wanted to make a difference, and we wanted to promote that." New stories will be updated every few weeks.

The effort is also intended to convey the bank's underlying strength, particularly at a time when consumers are a bit distrustful of the banking industry in general. "We're sensitive to the turmoil. One thing we've been talking about is the strength of our situation," Morgano says. "At the core of any bank's stability is to keep and reach customers."

The bank will take out ads in 160 regional publications (such as local newspapers) throughout its nine-state footprint to promote the site. The site is intended to run concurrently with other National City advertising, some of which shows new customers being baffled by the ease and breadth of National City's rewards programs.

"We want to tell the story of what it's like to be a National City customer," Morgano says of the campaigns. "National City prides itself on going above and beyond for their customers, and rewards them for it."

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