Andy Lark – Commonwealth Bank’s CMOO on Groupon, Social Media, Opensourcing Innovation [Interview, Part 2]

A few months ago, the bank made a brilliant move when they hired Andy Lark as their new Chief Marketing and Online Officer (CMOO). Andy was the man behind Dell’s move into the social media space.  During our interview, he shared his vision of social media, open innovation and digital engagement in banking.

Interview Part 1 – Interview Part 2

I’ve just come back this morning from a short trip to Malaysia where I delivered my latest social media in financial services workshop and spent a couple of days with a fantastic group of digital bankers and insurers. This trip had me delayed the publication of a few posts from my recent two weeks in Sydney.

The timing of my first trip to Australia couldn’t have been better, and my trip couldn’t have been any more productive. I organized a well attended party for ‘my book launch‘, Credit Union Australia claimed the 1st spot on facebook ahead of the four big banks, Pygg.co launched -enabling payments on twitter via PayPal-, NAB had to deal with a PR crisis amplified on facebook and twitter…

And Commonwealth Bank reinforced its commitment to be the most engaging and convenient australian bank online, on mobile and on social media channels: they launched their innovative mobile payment app for iphone ‘Kaching‘, they are about to launch a clever contest on facebook ‘time vault‘ to celebrate the centenary of the bank, they filed a Trade Mark for a idea / innovation platform ‘a la Dell’s Ideastorm’, and there are many other social media initiatives to come in the next 3-6 months…

So what is CBA’s secret which explains their recent significant social media and digital ramp up? Or should I ask who is behind this vision? A few months ago, the bank made a brilliant move when they hired Andy Lark as their new Chief Marketing and Online Officer (CMOO). Andy, an online/social ‘veteran’ who spent a fair amount of his career in the US working with the Senior Executives of the most innovative startups, was the man behind Dell’s move into the social media space.

So imagine how delighted I was to meet Andy in person at CBA’s launch party for ‘Kaching’. We had the opportunity to record a 30mn interview together straight after the event, and catch up over dinner a week later.

Reducing the Friction (Payments) and the Rigidity (Banking Experience)
Andy and I had some great conversations about rugby, fine food, watches and -of course- social media and digital engagement in financial services. Andy shared his vision of providing a much improved customer experience to banking customers and enabling them to check their accounts and achieve their savings goals in a more intuitive and convenient way.

We talked about the concept of ‘banking on the couch’ thanks to tablets and smartphones, removing the friction when sending payments, reducing the rigidity of the current banking experience and making it inherently social.

Andy Lark, Chief Marketing and Online Officer at Commonwealth Bank
I invite you to watch the second part of my interview with Andy, available on the Visible Banking YouTube channel.

Agenda
* Thoughts on Groupon and banking: building or partnering? (00:05)
* After Dell, what is your vision of social in banking? (03:24)
– 1st pillar: content and community (04:05)
– 2nd pillar: customer service and support (04:55)
– 3rd pillar: unscratched opportunity in marketing (07:15)
* Difference between ‘progress’ and ‘potential’ in social (06:15)
* Content is critical (best practice, Amex OPEN Forum) (08:15)
* Banking is completely meaningless in the social world (08:55)
* Voice of the Customer and Crowdsourcing (10:10)
* Rolling out social media monitoring at the branch (11:40)
* Influencer management and ‘micro elite’ journalists / bloggers (12:20)
* Know your Followers/Fans (KYF) (13:50)
* KPI: correlation with ‘social events’ (14:50)