Before we move on to more weighty matters, one last example from Holiday 2012. Zions Bank had the most decked out website we observed in the past two weeks. Because it ranks just outside the 20 largest U.S. banks, it didn't make last week's holiday roundup. But since it was so decked out, I thought it was worth a followup.

On New Years Day, Zions had holiday-related messages playing on three of its six rotating homepage themes.

• EZ Budget, its budgeting tool that helps track and manage spending for an event (previous coverage of the tool)
• General mobile banking pitch with a "tracking holiday spending" use case
• Happy New Year greeting

Bottom line: Without breaking the bank, Zions projects a timely, modern look that supports its brand.

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Zions Bank hompage featuring EZ Budget spending tracker (1 Jan 2012)

Zions Bank homepage featuring mobile banking wrapped in holiday theme

Zions Bank homepage with "Happy New Year" greeting

Besides losing weight and hitting the gym more often, financial matters dominate the New Year's resolution list. Spend less. Save more. And in general, just be smarter about your money. During this brief window of rational thinking, financial institutions would be wise to promote products and services that help.

But in a fairly exhaustive search today (31 Dec 2012), looking at the 40 largest U.S. banks and at least that many credit unions (note 1), we only found one New Year-theme promotion (note 2), a 1.49% auto refi offer from Stanford Federal Credit Union (see below).

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Stanford FCU homepage (31 Dec 2012)

Landing page for New Year promo

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Notes:
1. The first 40-50 credit unions listed in the Google results when searching "credit union" from a Seattle IP address.
2. Several credit unions posted well wishes and holiday hours on their homepages. Also, Fifth Third has a "celebrate 2013" message on its homepage as we reported last week.
3. Picture from New Year email and infographic by Finovate alum, Kiboo

In my annual look at holiday offerings from major banks, I found that Scrooge still roams the halls at many of the big names. Only eight of the 20 largest U.S. banks are using holiday-themed promotions or graphics (note 1). That's one more than last year, but still two less than 2010.

As usual, PNC Bank is the exception with their two-decade long holiday CPI (Christmas present index). BB&T, Comerica and Fifth Third are also festive this year with gift card promotions supported by seasonal graphics. And US Bank, Citi, Key and Regions Bank used some holiday imagery.   

The scrooge list: top-20 banks with no holiday promotions or graphics on Dec. 20): 
Bank of America, Bank of the West (BNP Paribas), Capital One, Chase, Citizens (RBS), Harris Bank (BMO), HSBC, ING Direct (Capital One), SunTrust, TD Bank, Union Bank (Mitsubishi UFJ), Wells Fargo

Following is a quick overview of the promotions, including a 1-to 5-bulb rating.

Previous year-end holiday posts: 2011 (big banks), 2011 (CUs/community banks), 2009 part 1, 2009 part 2, 2007, 2006, 2006, 2004

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Big banks in the holiday spirit
(rated 1 to 5 bulbs; screenshots from Thursday, Dec 20)

PNC Bank

• Gift Hunt tied to its Christmas CPI (based on the song 12 Days of Christmas)
• Visa Gift Card promo (in rotation of four homepage promotions)

Score:

Hompage: PNC is leading with its 12 days of Christmas price index

PNC Bank microsite with gift hunt link

Also running gift card promo in rotation

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BB&T (20 Dec 2012)

• Holiday themed graphic featuring mobile check deposit
• Small ad for gift cards

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Fifth Third

• Rotation of three holiday themed promotions
  -- Holiday billpay sweeps
  -- New Years savings promo
  -- Gift cards

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Comerica

• Prominent gift card promo across page and in lower-left corner

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Key Bank

• Holiday graphic, but no product promotion

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Citibank

• Toy shopping background image

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US Bank

• Pitch for online banking, convenient while shopping

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Regions Bank

• Small saving money tips

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Notes:
1. Observations taken between 2pm and 3pm Pacific on Thurs Dec 20 from Seattle IP address, Chrome browser with no cookies
2. Animation from http://www.millan.net/anims/christmas.html#

Last year, we were disappointed at the lack of promotions on double-triple-digit day, finding just a single promo 11/11/11 promotion (see our post on Notre Dame FCU). But it was Veteran's Day and most U.S. banks were closed.

This year, 12/12/12 falls at a much better time in the promo calendar, and FI marketers responded, at least on the credit union side. In the first five pages of Google results we found 15 CU promotions, most offering 12-month, $1,200 loans.

However, it turns out that "12/12/12 loans" are regular December fare at a number of credit unions. Only four of the 15 were focused on the once-in-a-hundred-years date, one on the deposit side and three low-rate loan specials (note 1).

The standout deal? A 0.12% APR on a $1,200 loan from L'Oreal USA FCU. 

Here are the four CU 12/12/12 promos:

• L'Oreal USA Federal Credit Union: 12-month, $1,200 loan with with APR = 0.12% (requires payroll deduction & estatements; link, screenshot #1)
• Meadowland Credit Union: 12-month, $1,200 loan with rate as low as 1.2% (direct deposit & checking account required; link, screenshot #2)
• Notre Dame Federal Credit Union: 120-day loan of $1,212.12 at an APR of 1.1212% (requires opening new credit card; link, screenshot #3)
• USAlliance FCU: 12-month, 1.2% APY CD (new money only; link, screenshot #4)

Other 12/12/12 loan seemingly unrelated to Dec 12, 2012 (with links to the loan page):

• Carolina Foothills FCU (link)
• Clackamas FCU (link)
• Ecusta Credit Union (link)
• Freedom FCU (ran during the summer, link)
• Fremont FCU (link)
• Gulf Coast Educators FCU (link; see banner at top of post)
• John Hopkins FCU (link)
• Northwest Georgia Credit Union (link)
• Northwest Resource FCU (link)
• SRP Federal Credit Union (link)
• Telhio Credit Union (link)

No banks seem to be joining the fun. Although Chase was promoting its sponsorship of the 12/12/12 Sandy benefit concert with an AdWords buy on Google yesterday (screenshot 5). 

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1. L'Oreal USA FCU is offering a rate of just 0.12%
Note: Interest totals just $0.78 over the life of the loan, payroll deduction required

2. Meadowland Credit Union worked Aaron Rodger into its promo

3. Notre Dame FCU is the only FI that ran promotions on both 11/11/11 and 12/12/12 promotions (11 Dec 2012)

4. USAlliance FCU was the only one with a deposit special

Chase Bank is the headline sponsor of a Sandy benefit concert (link)

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Note:
1. We searched for "12/12/12 promotion credit union" and found many entries. The same search with "bank" instead of "credit union" turned about nothing (at least through the first dozen pages of results).

During the past few years we've reported on Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions at financial institutions (last year). ING Direct is the only large bank that has consistently used the post-Thanksgiving holiday in its marketing (see below) and we are glad to see it continue under Capital One ownership.

This year we found another new entrant for our database of holiday offers, 42,000 member Oklahoma Employees Credit Union. It has a prominent black tag on its homepage announcing a "Black Friday Money $ale" (see first screenshot). 

And from the looks of it, the CU has created a pretty hot offer, leading with car loans as low as 1.49% with no payment due for 90 days (well after holiday spending subsides). But that's just one of the seven holiday offers (second screenshot). The CU is also offering:

From Black Friday to Cyber Monday (Nov 23 to 26)

• 1.49% APR* on New or Used Auto Loans 
• 1.00% APR^ Off Unsecured Loans
• Surcharge Free Gift Cards***

Black Friday to the End of the Year (Nov 23 to Dec 31)

• 90 days no pay**
• $149 Mortgage Loan Origination Fee^^
• $49 Credit*^ with New MasterCard
• 0.49%tt Business Loan Origination Fee

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Oklahoma Employees Credit Union homepage with Black Friday specials (Wed, 21 Nov 2012)

Black Friday landing page (link)

 


ING Direct homepage with Black Friday offers (21 Nov 2012)

ING Direct Black Friday teaser page (link)
Note: The bank does not reveal the actual offers until midnight Thursday

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Fine print on Oklahoma Employees Credit Union offers:

*Annual Percentage Rate. 640+ credit score. Max term 60 months; estimated payment $17.31 per $1,000 borrowed. Min amount $10,000. Existing OECU loan min advance $2,500. Requires automatic payments and eStatements. 
** Borrower may defer initial auto loan payment up to 90 days. Interest will accrue from date of advance. 
^ Annual Percentage Rate. Reduction from regular earned rate as determined by credit score. 
*** Up to 5 cards
^^ Max 12 years up to $250,000 and 75% loan-to-value as determined by appraisal or AVM. 
*^ Initial transaction must be made by 1/10/13. Credit to be issued by 2/10/13. 
tt Owner occupied commercial real estate. Max loan $500,000. Additional closing costs may apply. Normal lending policies apply.

On the first day of 2012, we found a few financial institutions wishing their customers well, while also informing them of holiday branch closures. Always festive Amplify Credit Union (Austin, TX) had a great look as did First Federal Bank of Florida (see below). 

First Federal also remembered to address New Years Eve hours on Saturday, a more likely question. 

Final note: While you're at it, also mention holiday hours in your call center and online banking support.

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Amplify Credit Union (1 Jan 2012, link)
Note: Amplify switches out its header graphic and logo treatment on major holidays. Here was their Valentine's look in 2010.

First Federal Bank of Florida (1 Jan 2012, link)
Note: First Florida had the best New Years graphics. They not only ran two banners, but also used subtle animation to cause the logo and top banner to twinkle when it was moused over. The bank also addressed Dec 31 hours along with those on the official holiday.

U.S. New Mexico Federal Credit Union (1 Jan 2012, link)

Last week we looked at the holiday efforts (or lack thereof) of the 20 largest U.S. banks. But aside from PNC Bank's "Christmas cost index" and ING Direct's "12 days of mobile," not much this holiday season was particularly noteworthy (inset for Midland Bank gift cheques, circa 1956, see credit below).

For inspiration, you need to look at the smaller banks and credit unions. Here are five we found through random googling today: 

1. Michigan State University FCU: 6.9% Holiday Loan (homepage promo #2)

2. Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union: Visa Gift Card (homepage promo #2)

3. OnPoint Community Credit (Oregon): Mobile gift cards (homepage, promo #1) , Visa Gift Card (promo #2)

 

 

4. Community First Credit Union (Florida): iPad giveaway for eStatements (homepage, promo #3; landing page)

5. Texas Bank: "Stash the Christmas cash" (homepage, one of four rotating promos; landing page)
Note: "Stash the cash" is similar to BofA's "keep the change;" debit card purchases are rounded up to nearest dollar with the extra 1-99 cents deposited into savings. The holiday promo included a 5% bonus match on each transfer in December (website powered by Bancvue)

 

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Note: Picture credit. Midland Bank advertisement for holiday checks from The Illustrated London News, 17 Nov 1956. (Click to enlarge, for sale here). 

Since I began blogging in 2004, I've usually run a year-end post looking at the holiday marketing efforts of the top-20 U.S. banks (links below). This year, only 7 of the 20 banks are using holiday or seasonal imagery on their homepages. That's a decrease of 3 over last year.

As usual, PNC Bank is the gold standard for holiday bank promotions, with its long-running (25+ years) "cost of Christmas index" which quantifies the cost of procuring all the items mentioned in the famous song, "12 Days of Christmas." Following is a quick overview of the promotions, including a 1-to 5-bulb rating. 

Previous posts: 2010, 2009 part 1, 2009 part 2, 2007, 2006, 2006, 2004

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Big banks in the holiday spirit
(rated 1 to 5 bulbs)

PNC: Christmas cost index

• Cost of Christmas based on the song 12 Days of Christmas

Score:

Homepage

Landing page: Amazing microsite, wonderful graphics, and slow loading (link)

Fifth Third: holiday sweeps

• Pay Your Bills sweeps with holiday graphics
• Small ad with a card wrapped with ribbon which directs users to branches for "holiday shopping made easy," presumably for gift cards, but neither the ad nor the landing page make that clear

Score:

ING Direct: Mobile usage sweeps

• 12 Days of Mobile sweeps

Score:

Landing page

Chase: sweeps and car loans

• Winner Wonderland, credit card sweeps with one entry for every credit card purchase and 5 entries for every donation put on the Chase card
• Add joy to your wallet, car refinance promotion

Score:

BB&T: Visa gift card

• Small advertisement in lower right

Score:

Homepage

TD Bank: Visa gift card

• Small advertisement in lower right (below the fold on my laptop)

Score:

Homepage

Key Bank: gift cards

• Very small gift-card promo, below the fold on my laptop and rotating with a half-dozen other items

Score:

Homepage

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Notes:
1. No holiday imagery on the homepages of BofA, Wells Fargo, Citibank, HSBC, US Bank, SunTrust, Capital One, Citizens, Regions, Harris, Bank of the West, Union Bank, Comercia
2. Screenshots taken from Ft. Myers, FL, IP address, between 7 and 8 PM, 20 Dec 2011    
3. Credit: Happy Holidays animation from LayoutSparks.com