The unbankers: bankers, but not as we know them. Their message: "Don't hate me, but...

Lie back on the couch and let's do some word association. "A banker is ... a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain." A banker is "out of touch, old fashioned and greedy;" "stiff and cold;" "sterile";

Whether you take, respectively, the words of Mark Twain from last century in the opening quote, or this year's take in Washington Mutual's TV ad campaign, or bankers' and consumers' comments to ABA BJ, the rap on banks isn't good.

The banker's image is something to live down. That message is so commonly conveyed by banks now that it seems to speak almost of an identity crisis in the industry.

Commerce Bank has actually just printed the message 'Love your bank at last' on bank envelopes. The underlying message seems to be 'we know you consider banks loathsome, but give us a chance.'

To show that they are not like 'real bankers,' banks are acting in 'unbankerly' ways. Whether skewering toupee-wearing, 'white men in suits'--specimens of 'old-fashioned bankers'--as WAMU does in its TV ads, hosting dogs and rock bands in the branch, decorating it in what appears to be graffiti, or talking of karma, these are banks, but not as we know them.

The bartender at a recent community art opening in Commerce Bank's new branch in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan's Greenwich Village, said, "It's really weird to be on the wrong side of the teller counter--serving alcohol!" Further down the counter, regular banking business was being conducted.

One of the cleaners at the event, Henry McWhite, remarked, "When I heard it was a party, I asked, 'in a bank?' That was a new one on me!

"I'm not a banker, but ..."

"There's nothing wrong with being a banker," said Brandon Williams, the man whose brainchild the Commerce soiree was, over the din of a rock band.

But Williams, who is responsible for all of Commerce Bank's 25 Manhattan branches, sounds like one of the many women who preface any expression of support for what might now quaintly be termed 'women's rights' with: "I'm not a feminist, but ..."

Williams sounded less convincing on the lovability of bankers as he continued, "Let's go to WAMU, they're making fun of bankers. With us it's the same concept, we're trying to be--not trying, we are--new."

WAMU skewers what it calls "traditional bankers" in its acclaimed TV ad series 'Chattin' with the Pen,' a spoof that's reportedly "The first ever talk show about banking." The elderly white men, corralled in the pen, poorly field questions--all posed by women and minorities in a Jerry Springeresque event presided over by a young, good-looking, denim-clad black WAMU banker.

Will the real bankers please step forward?

WAMU was asked if any of its peers reasonably protested: "But you're bankers, too!" and didn't the distancing moves of WAMU and others from the stereotypical banker smack almost of an industry identity crisis ?

And further, what is it about banks that make them inherently unlikely to provoke 'a warm and fuzzy' feeling among consumers? Witness, by contrast, the real affection consumers feel for favorite retailers, be it Starbucks or Bed, Bath & Beyond. Has the new wave of unconventional banks engendered such feelings?

WAMU declined to discuss these matters in an interview. In a statement, it noted, that since last year, when its Chattin' with the Pen campaign and WAMU Free Checking began, it has added a record 1.23 million net new checking accounts and, according to a JD Power & Associates study, is the first bank consumers think of switching to.

Shock value works

Shock value draws customers into the branch--at least in New York--both HSBC and NorthFork Bank say. An elderly woman who came into NorthFork's new branch on 2nd Ave and 10th St., in Manhattan's edgy East Village, to complain about the apparent graffiti on its walls, wound up opening an account, says branch manager Michael Narciso (see photo on page 10).

Although the interior is graffiti-styled, Narciso says it's not condoning graffiti. The sanctioned illustrations depict neighborhood scenes by local artists.

"This is a way of saying it isn't right that banks should be cold and sterile," he says.

HSBC's eco-friendly marketing campaign makes frequent use of the word 'karma.' The incongruity of using the religious concept of reward for living a good life, with, by contrast, Biblical connotations of usury that tarnish 'banking' takes people by surprise.

"They stop and go, "Oh?!" says HSBC spokeswoman Linda Recupero. "It has drawn people into the bank."

The karma campaign came to the U.S. after its success in winning 'the green vote' among consumers in the U.K. and Asia and was recently extended beyond its planned end on June 1.

The campaign uses slogans like: "Free business checking, good for business, good for the planet. Free checking, it's good karma."

The rational part is that paperless statements are a requirement for free checking, which is good for the planet.

Banks just wanna be loved

Asked what it is about banks that makes them inherently dislikeable, Recupero says, "If you look at the WAMU commercials, it's how people thought about banks--the stiff and cold stereotype that's developed over the years--that we are trying to break."

Laughing at the term, 'unbankerly,' she agrees it's a good description of how a growing number of banks are acting and that it "absolutely" is part of these efforts to "get people to feel better about the brand in the same way a Starbucks would--to feel connected to the brand and that it understands the consumer's experience."

Jennifer Wade, a young artist who exhibited at the art event at Commerce Bank, said that to her, "it was much more important than just making a donation, to see a bank engage with the community."

For several years we've seen many banks trying to look like stores versus fortresses, with behavior to match. Coffee pots and fireplaces, libraries and computers are variously offered as creature comforts. Banks began not to 'quack' like banks, so to speak.

Citi, in 2002, introduced it's 'live richly' campaign, covered at the time by ABA BJ. Citibank's ads literally and otherwise suggested consumers should smell the roses rather than count their pennies.

Mary Ellen Georgas, New York-based senior consulting associate with Capital Performance Group, says, "It was not well received by some in the industry," but it somewhat "opened the door" on more casual bank marketing.

Want to stand out? Go guerrilla

The land grab in New York City in recent years, as many regional banks have entered, makes marketing campaigns intensely competitive.

"Until recently there were two dominant banks in New York," [Citi and Chase] so new contenders had to go to extremes to distinguish themselves, Georgas suggests.

Even within Manhattan marketing efforts are very localized. One attendee at Commerce's art party, an actuary, who preferred not to be named, said, "It's hard to imagine this taking place on the [conservative] Upper West Side."

Equally, Narciso defended NorthFork's graffiti-styled East Village branch with the comment: "This isn't Wall St." Like many banks, NorthFork decorates its branches according to the neighborhood.

In the same area, WAMU ran a brief campaign that some would label "guerrilla marketing." Using the local convention whereby notices are stuck on street-lamp poles to casually advertise everything from peace demonstrations to apartment sales, WAMU had its own handwritten, photocopied appeal to potential customers. Handwritten? From a national bank? In its own way, it had more impact than a billboard in Times Square.

Head office in Seattle couldn't readily recall the unconventional flyers, but spokeswoman Mary Kelley noted that marketing campaigns may be run at local branch level. "We give our stores latitude to run promotions they know will connect with the community."

Too cool for their own good?

There's a danger that banks' efforts to 'get jiggy with it' could backfire as spectacularly as Dr. Evil's approach to teenage son Scott, in the movie Austin Powers. Having just met his estranged son, the decrepit doctor advances on him in a stiff and jerky rendition of the Macarena, promising the retreating teen, "I'm hip, I'm cool ... Scott, come to Daddy!"

Sarah K. Levy, a recent law graduate, says she was repulsed to find Northfork's 'graffiti branch' on the site of a former ethnic restaurant near where she used to live. On the other hand, she likes it that she can bring her dog into Commerce branches.

"What bothers me is the fakeness of it all. I mean, graffiti is anti-establishment by its nature whereas banks are the Establishment," says the recently graduated lawyer.

Equally, art is meant to be subversive, banking conservative. The tension isn't lost on the NoHo artists. Harriet Fields, who organized the Commerce Bank exhibit, says that "as a kid" she would have balked at having her work displayed in a business premises, but now, "it's a new world."

Brand expert Marsha Yudkin, CEO of NamedAtLast.com says, "Being caustic is more acceptable in big cities where it's harder to win loyalty."

She warns banks, "There's a danger if you break the banker stereotype that you come off as too cool, lackadaisical, or irresponsible."

It's the old tension between not losing trust while sharing in the warmth certain retailers enjoy.

Says, Yudkin, "Too much emphasis on style makes for a fleeting brand that has to be changed often and so loses credibility."

HSBC's Recupero counters, "whether you're a bank or not" there's always a tension in corporate advertising between being creative and being gimmicky.

Commerce's Williams, senior retail market manager for Manhattan, says, "A lot of banks are definitely trying to change their look and feel, but I don't think they can change a culture."

Georgas, who used to work for Chase, says, "It's easy to go after the disaffected customers of big banks by appealing to their sense that bankers don't understand them or care to. "But long term it'll be interesting to see who prospers." As a banking relationship deepens, customers inevitably want a broader range of services from one source, she maintains. Can the contenders provide?

By Orla O'Sullivan, freelance financial writer, and former senior editor of ABA Banking Journal.