Whisky, Whisky everywhere and more than a drop to drink …

Citadel Advantage Principal Associate Richard Barr has been travelling again.
This time its Singapore and he visited the “Auld Alliance”, run by Emmanuel Dron, a Frenchman with more than a serious passion for Scotch Whisky. Read about Richard’s experience HERE.

Thieves yank ATM out of bank wall

Thieves, using a stolen tractor, ripped an ATM out of the wall of NatWest branch in Bingham, in the UK and then drove off with it in the early hours of Monday morning.

British Police have released CCTV footage showing the offenders using the stolen tractor to crash into the bank wall and take the ATM

The ATM, along with a Land Rover Defender and a large trailer, both stolen, was later found at an abandoned farm building. The ATM had been broken into and "a quantity of money" stolen.

If there were Oscars for Bank / Financial Industry advertisements

The Financial Brand (www.FinancialBrand.com) has looked at hundreds of bank and credit union videos produced in 2011. They say that if there were Academy Awards in the banking industry the following would be their nominees.

If you have a favourite bank or financial industry advertisement why not let us have the details in the Comment section of our blog.

Best Use of a Celebrity Spokesperson

Financial Institution: DnB, Norway

Title: Good Morning Mrs. Clooney

This commercial from DnB, a Norwegian bank, is hilarious. It’s a bit indirect with the link back to financial services: “Some people are lucky in life. For the rest of us, saving up can be smart.”

Most Freaky Guerilla Stunt

Financial Institution: NAB, Australia

Title: Guerilla Traps

The Aussie banking giant produced two fascinating spycam videos capturing how people react when forcibly trapped.

Best Tear Jerker

Financial Institution: ASB Bank, New Zealand

Title: Mint Sauce

A young boy wants a new Nintendo DS. Alas, he can’t afford it.

Best Use of Man’s Best Friend

Financial Institution: FNB, South Africa

Title: Lost Dog

This 90-second TV commercial shows the lengths people are willing to go to for their pets… but with a clever, unexpected twist at the end.

Best ‘Glee’ Knockoff

Financial Institution: Innovations FCU, USA

Title: Bad Romance

The credit union’s staff get together for a dance routine ala Glee, set to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”

Most Ridiculous Lawsuit

Financial Institution: New Zealand Credit Union

Title: Piggybankers

This spot shows average consumers lugging their banker around everywhere, like monkeys on their backs.

Most Bizarre Cartoon

Financial Institution: Numerica Credit Union, USA

Title: Animal Instincts

Best Drive-Thru Theater Act

Financial Institution: Michigan First Credit Union, USA

Title: Boogie Woogie Banking

Michigan First set up a hidden camera to film members’ reactions as a dance crew puts on a show in the credit union’s drive-thru lanes.

Best Mr. Mayhem Imitation

Financial Institution: RaboDirect, Australia

Title: Stealing Your Dreams

A metaphorical thief working on behalf of big, bad banks steals people’s financial dreams.

Best Pirate Movie

Financial Institution: Island FCU, USA

Title: Pirates Tale

Best Villain

Financial Institution: NAB, Australia

Title: Banks Hate Us

NAB tries to ingratiate itself with consumers in this TV advert by painting itself as the bank hated most by other bankers.

Best Customer Testimonial

Financial Institution: Webster Bank, USA

Title: Type W Personality

This ad campaign features real Webster bankers and customers.

Weirdest Use of a Talking Squirrel

Financial Institution: BankWest, Australia

Title: Click to Chat

A middle aged man woos his lunch date when a gust of wind suddenly blows his toupee off.

Best Use of Bad Habits

Financial Institution: UBank, Australia

Title: Habits

Best Use of a Goofy Foam Costume

Financial Institution: NAB, Australia

Title: We Killed The Asterisk

NAB “kills” the evil asterisk to emphasize that their accounts have no/fewer conditions attached.

And the winner is .....

Texting money could replace wire transfers

In the US, a new service from M-Via in Palo Alto called “BOOM” allows for person to person money transfers. Beginning with tens of thousands of retailers and ATMs - in the US, Mexico and Haiti - M-Via is building a social network, for those who want to share currency.

Cyber Security

This past week PwC hosted ‘a real time cyber crisis’ highlighting the realities of a cyber attack, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Entitled ‘What a cyber attack looks like - raising awareness of cyber space risks for government and business leaders,’ PwC consultants used a video and actors to bring the cyber threat to life and highlight the risks organizations face if they don’t have a comprehensive response capability.

The session was chaired by PwC chairman Ian Powell.  Mr. Powell commented: “The alarming growth in cyber crime highlights the challenge that all global business leaders face. Although they might be aware of the threat they are not necessarily equipped to respond effectively, so it’s important to discuss the issues at a platform like Davos. After all, cyber is a global risk that knows no boundaries.”

“Cyber security is not just an IT issue. All public and private sector organizations need to transform their mindset and capability to address this growing threat. Often CEOs aren't particularly cyber savvy. Leaders generally see cyber as a technical issue and fail to appreciate the business impact of an attack. As a result, interaction between relevant teams is often unpractised, and decision making and communication under pressure are untested.

“Recent attacks have shown incredible resourcefulness and ability on the part of the criminals and even the most cyber savvy organisations have found themselves exposed and ill prepared to manage the effects. The cyber threat is very real and businesses need to allocate proportionate time and resource.”

This video was shown at the Davos session.

Movie-goers can order food & drinks directly from their seats

MasterCard has teamed up with Australia’s Commonwealth Bank and cinema group Hoyts to pilot a mobile payments application that lets movie-goers order food and drinks directly from their seats.

CBA and Hoyts will be the first companies in the world to try out MasterCard's QkR app when the pilot starts this month. Movie-goers at La Premiere cinemas in Sydney who have an iPhone or Android handset will be able buy food and drink from their seats through their phones.

Bank charges – Would you accept unnecessary costs from your baker or supermarket?

The Brussels-based arm of a German bank has launched a marketing campaign that points out the absurdity of bank per item fees. The campaign, using online videos and radio ads, show real-life scenarios of supermarket and bakery customers being asked to pay small fees for all the extras. Hidden cameras have been used to capture real customer reactions, which can be summed up with the phrase, "We're not going take this!"

The campaign uses the tagline "You wouldn't accept unnecessary costs from your baker/supermarket. Why accept them from your bank?"

The supermarket

The baker