Christophe Langlois
Only six months after launching TooKam.com, the first bank totally integrated with social media (customer support on twitter and facebook via secure chat, 3D internet, blogging…), Jean Philippe – the CEO of Credit Agricole Pyrenees Gascogne innovates again with the launch of ‘Kam&Leo‘ (pronounced like ‘chameleon’ in France, or ‘(Too)Kam-eleon’).
Jean Philippe is unarguably the most forward thinking CEO in the worldwide banking industry. In the last three years, under Jean’s leadership, Credit Agricole Pyerenees Gascogne, a major French regional bank, became The most experimental bank in the social media space.
Like a few dozens other banking and insurance Senior Executives Jean is actively using twitter. He is also on facebook, and last but not least, he’s shared his views in a very transparent and honest way on his blog for years. At the end of September, Jean organized a number of events in his region to meet, respond to the questions, and re-assure his customers and the local communities. This is another great example of Jean’s committment to be approachable, and Credit Agricole Pyrenees Gascogne to be a different bank, genuinely focused on supporting the local economy and building a customer centric business.
Please note that Jean’s views of the role of the CEO, and the importance of being visible and know personally, is fundamentally different to other banking CEOs like Mark Mullen, CEO of first direct… I invite you to watchthe video I recorded with Mark last week.
In a nutshell, the Credit Agricole selected a number of funds falling intothree key categories:* “Renewable energy”
* “Ecology”
* “Solidarity”Social Media ‘Integration’
Straight away, you will notice the several calls to action and the strong presence of social media channels like facebook (Kam&Leo’s facebook page, created on 12 September 2011, with 30 likes), twitter (Kam&Leo’s twitter account, created on 27 September 2011, with 26 followers),blogging (Kam&Leo’s blog, 1st blog post on 12 September 2011) and 3D internet / virtual worlds.
For the time being, this social media presence is fairly basic, without much effort on community management and no content strategy just as yet. You can expect soon a level of activity and engagement similar to the one on the official TooKam page on facebook: with a customized tab dedicated to secure chat, and a couple of games aimed to build awareness of the new brand.
Shopping Basket
In addition to the focus on social media and digital engagement, the other innovative is in the product selection process and the integration of a ‘shopping basket’.
Kam&Leo’s Promotion on Credit Agricole’s Homepage
Last but not least, it is one thing to launch an isolated, social media enabled, innovative experiment in the conservative banking industry.
It is something totally different to demonstrate your pride and your committment, and giving your initiative a good level of exposure and visibility at least online.
Promoting your social media presence on your own digital assets, and via traditional marketing channels, is key in social media.
Check out the amount of visibility Kam&Leo gets on Credit Agricole Pyrenees Gascogne’s homepage.
My Take
This is another rather interesting initiative from Jean and his team. Even though this initiative is not as innovative as some of Jean’s previous social media initiatives, it is another statement of Jean’s vision and Credit Agricole’s focus on people, proximity, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
It is also good to see the bank cleverly leveraging the social media experience gained in the last six month with TooKam.
This active social media presence allied with the support from Jean, his high profile in the French banking industry, and his reputation as a champion for innovation, will guarantee an excellent (traditional) news coverage (online, TV, radio), as well as a high volume of blog coverage (earned media). This is an excellent example of the power of earned media, how to support the launch of a new brand / product / service (I invite you to check my coverage of South Africa’s FNB‘s new mobile app launch), build brand awareness, and quickly drive customer acquisition.
In your opinion, how ‘cool’ and ‘relevant’ is ‘Kam&Leo’? And how successful could this initiative be? Is it just a marketing coup, or another key milestone in the French banking industry? Will it deliver and do better than Kwixo (even though we are talking here of two very different areas of banking)?
Working Together
We at Visible Banking would be delighted to help you and your team better UNDERSTAND and LEVERAGE social media in a strategic yet pragmatic way. So please don’t hesitate to call me, send me an email or DM me (@Visible_Banking) to book a meeting and talk about twitter, facebook,crowdsourcing, customer reviews, social media & social commerce in banking, financial services and insurance.
