The bank is United Jersey with 116 branches in the state of New Jersey.
United Jersey is not in the same situation as Long Island Trust. (There is no one positioning approach that will work everywhere.) There are many differences between the two banks, the most important being that unlike Long Island Trust, United Jersey is not the biggest local bank in its marketing territory. (That distinction belongs to First Fidelity with Midlantic in second place and United Jersey in third.)
One thing that United Jersey has in common with Long Island Trust is its marketing environment. Both operate in the shadows of Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical, Manufacturers Hanover, and the other big New York City banks. That’s at the north end of the territory.
In the south, United Jersey operates in the shadows of the big Philadelphia banks (Mellon, First Pennsylvania).
The problem of finding a viable banking position is complicated by the fact that the services offered by United Jersey are similar to those of its competitors. Federal and state regulations see to that.
The only approach that will work is the Tylenol approach. You don’t find the answer to the problem of positioning the bank by studying the bank. You find it by studying the competition, as Tylenol did by studying the problems of aspirin.
At one end of the scale, United Jersey competes in the marketing jungle known as metropolitan New York City.
And it really is a banking jungle. In Manhattan alone, there are 389 banks. Not to mention Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and the entire state of New Jersey.
The King and Queen of the jungle are Citibank and Chase Manhattan. These are big banks. In Manhattan alone Citibank has 74 branches.
How do you find weakness in Citibank, which has almost as many vice presidents as United Jersey has employees?
The problem of finding a meaningful advantage for United Jersey can be approached by looking at the disadvantages of its big-city competitors.
Why position United Jersey against the big banks? Why not take on the score of small financial institutions? The reason to go against the big banks is because they are the ones in the minds of the prospects. Positioning is always a question of dealing with what’s in the mind.
The disadvantage of large size is slow service. As an Avis ad once said, “Rent from us. The line at our counter is shorter.” Banks shouldn’t hold up people, either. We developed a positioning strategy for United Jersey called the “fast-moving bank.” This strategy had two key aspects.
A. Exploit the only real weakness of the big metropolitan New York banks: their slow reaction time.
B. Encourage United Jersey management to make sure the bank’s performance matches the advertising’s promise. That took the form of seven key commitments.
1. Decentralized decisions. United Jersey pushed decision making down to the local level. (One of their lending teams can approve a $10 million loan, and that team meets daily.) In 10 commercial banking centers throughout the state, other officers on site can make business loans quickly.
2. Cross training. United Jersey trains its people in all their banking services, not just in one specialty. So when a customer has a question, he or she doesn’t have to wait for an answer while the question is referred to another person.
3. Commitment to electronics. United Jersey’s system of statewide ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines) is the largest private network in the state. United Jersey’s corporate customers can be on line directly with the bank’s computers for balance inquiries and other daily questions.
4. Speedy lock box service. United Jersey people pick up checks six times a day during the workweek, four times on the weekend. Its Newark lock box has its own private ZIP Code. United Jersey empties lock boxes and fills up customer accounts as fast as it can.
5. FACT terminals. (Fast Authorization of Cashless Transactions.) With these terminals now in place, merchants enjoy the benefit of rapid electronic approvals. And faster approvals with minimized risk mean improved cash flow.
6. Responsiveness. Whether it’s being first with a new product or matching the competition’s rates, United Jersey is committed to being responsive to the customer’s financial needs.
7. Central location. United Jersey built its new corporate headquarters in Princeton. From the geographic center of the state, United Jersey is less than an hour away from any of its business customers by car, even less by helicopter.
When the bank’s performance matched the promises the advertising was going to make, the advertising started to make the promises. Focusing on the weakness of the competition, naturally.
Each television spot contrasted United Jersey bankers with their counterparts at the whimsically named “Lethargic National Bank.” In one spot, approval for a business loan at Lethargic National seemed to take forever. A second spot showed a Lethargic banker disappearing when a customer needed a quick answer to his questions. And in the third spot, a husband and wife found the bankers at Lethargic moving in slow motion on a simple installment loan.
The humorous vignettes drove home the point that United Jersey “values your time as much as your money.”
Print advertisements also carried the “fast-moving bank” theme. “Haste makes money” and “Banks shouldn’t hold up people,” were two typical headlines.
“Time Is Money” desk signs were given to all United Jersey bank officers, a not-so-subtle reminder not to keep the customer sitting next to their desk waiting.
By all measurements the fast-moving bank strategy was a big success for United Jersey. Unaided awareness, for example, almost tripled in just over a year.
Business and profits went up. A year after the program started, United Jersey announced earnings were up $30 million, an increase of 26 percent over the previous year.
An even more important barometer of change was the attitude of employees. One United Jersey officer reported, “The image advertising is great, but the best thing I’ve seen happen is that our people, line officers, etc., are striving to live up to Fast Moving … and they are! I’ve seen a tremendous change in attitude since the campaign began. Approvals come faster. People don’t sit on things.”
The essence of a good positioning strategy is that it transcends every aspect of a company. You know you have a winner when you run it up the corporate flagpole and everybody salutes.