ATM Advertising- Is it really so simple?

The use of ATM’s for the purpose of one to one advertising has gained momentum of late. On paper it seems like a great idea but in reality it requires great care in planning before a full scale roll-out can take place.

The transaction at the ATM is unlike any other customer activity within a financial institution. When a customer approaches a machine, they are interested in speed. Anything which impedes the delivery of their transaction can be interpreted as an annoyance. And, if the delay is related to the advertising being displayed, it could very well thwart the return of that customer to not only your ATM but your institution. This is certainly not effective marketing.

Still, the marketing opportunity which is presented cannot be ignored. It is for this reason customers continue to ask us if we can integrate our software with ATM machines. To date the answer has been no and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future. This is mainly because our system is built to distribute dynamic media. And, although our customers can and certainly do use still images on screens driven by our software, we like to see a heavier weight given to motion graphics. Today’s environment as it relates to ATM transactions simply does not allow this.

The bigger marketing opportunity appears to be the full integration of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications with ATM advertising. Under this scenario, the marketing message to be displayed would not be random but driven by the information delivered by the CRM application. Several of these types of products are starting to enter the market.

NCR is one manufacturer trying to make head-way with advertising on the ATM. Although I do no have hands on experience with the Aptra product from NCR, it appears to follow along the lines of what I am suggesting about integrating CRM with the ATM. In other words, don’t blindly push advertising to machines but make a product offers based on what you know of specific customer based on real time data. The value of this proposition has merit. There is a clear difference between “Ask us about our Home Equity Programs” and presenting a qualified customer with “You have been approved for a $10,000.00 Home Equity Line. Would you like one of our representatives to contact you?”

The systems that allow for this type of targeted messaging remain in relative infancy. I think it will be interesting to see how they develop over the course of 2006 and subsequent years.

Should You Use Television In Your Branch?

Should you use television in your branch?

Over the past couple of months the integration of television in the branch has been a hot topic. So hot in fact that we have begun development of an enhancement which will allow our customers to control when T.V. is displayed, the duration it is displayed and even the channel that is on the screen. Better still, this control will be available through our web portal. But this feature was not added without careful consideration of both our application and the effect this ability might have on the impact of marketing oriented media at the branch level. There were several large concerns, but the biggest ones fell into three categories; Competitive brand intrusion, effectiveness and control.

1- Competition- The unfortunate reality of television is that the advertising displayed during normal program breaks cannot be controlled by the user. In other words, there is no way to select that your competitors advertising does not display in your branch. This is something each customer will need to confront when deciding on the use of television. The only way around this is to purchase custom produced content which is available but very expensive.

2- Effectiveness- The vast majority of our customers (90%+) do not employ sound during branch hours. This poses a problem because T.V. by nature is very dependent on audio. And, although closed caption can certainly mitigate the confusion created by displaying television without sound, it is still is not as effective as intended.

3- Control- I have visited many a branch only to see Oprah being played on the screens in the branch when a news oriented channel like CNN or CNBC was intended. Without a method to control the channel at the corporate level, there is very little that can be done to ensure the channel your management has selected to play is actually being used.

Television integration and use in the branch is something we will most likely not be able to avoid in totality. Special situations such as severe weather storms, pressing news or sporting events will always be requested by customers. So, for those financial institutions which choose to use television in the branch, the critical detail is choosing a system that allows you to control, to the best of your ability, when, what and how often television is used. This control should help you control the frequency of competitive intrusion and help limit any drain on effectiveness.

With the above in mind, we have set out to build a feature in our application which will allow our customers to have this control. Through our web based interface it will be possible to schedule what plays on an individual screen or a group of screens based on various time/date parameters.

This feature will be available in August 2006 and we hope it will add control to the use of television in the branch. To learn more about this feature, please call your sales representative at 502-896-0947.