How we handle our money–including credit, loans and banking–is moving online. Digital marketing of mortgages, credit cards, student loans and other financial products will become the dominant way we relate to banking and related services. The CEO of Capital One has already said that ” [A] mobile phone is just a credit card with an antenna.” So called M-commerce (mobile commerce) will be a crucial avenue where we actually apply for credit on “the fly,” so to speak, with our cell phones themselves used to buy products.  Banks and other financial companies are using Facebook, other social media, online video, Twitter, search engines and interactive online marketing techniques to sell their services to consumers. They are also using digital media in PR campaigns designed to make consumers forget about their unethical behaviors which led to the current fiscal crisis.
Financial services companies are even using so-called neuromarketing–testing messages via fMRIs, for example–to help hone their marketing messages. Neurofocus, a Nielsen backed company that helps create digital and other ads based on brainwave research, released a study earlier this year that “dived deep into test subjects subconscious minds to discover their hidden, unspoken beliefs and feelings about financial institution brands.†They “tested consumers in its laboratory to determine exactly what financial brand messages they responded to best, at the deep subconscious level of their minds, where brand perceptions, brand loyalty, and purchase intent are truly formed.â€Â Financial marketers are also using behavioral targeting online, which stealthily collects data on us for tracking and target marketing. That’s why we keep seeing ads for credit cards and other money-related products. The information gathered as we fill in forms on the Internet can be sold as part of the online lead generation business. Online lead generation played a role in the subprime debacle, as consumers provided marketers with personal information that helped trigger pitches for mortgages and other credit.
Alternet has just published my article on these issues. It can be found here.
