Deutsche Bank (May'08 - Oct'10)
Company: Deustche Bank
Period: May 2008 - October 2010
Industry: Banking
Division/Department: Private & Business Clients / Marketing
Job Position: Brand Manager
Description
I joined Deutsche Bank in the Marketing team for Liabilities (or Investment Products) reporting to the Marketing Director.
Among my responsabilities were:
1. X-Markets Brand Management
Initially, my role was to be responsible for the X-Markets brand, which encompassed the bank's investment products worldwide. This was exciting for me, as it would be my first experience working in an international environment, with frequent interaction with people at the headquarters in Germany and, especially, in the UK.
My responsibilities included defining the marketing plan for the X-Markets range, as the bank aimed to position it as an umbrella for all investment products launched for retail sale. The typical client profile for these products was primarily Personal or Private Banking (affluent).
The marketing plan involved actions both to raise awareness of the X-Markets brand and to promote investment product sales.
For brand awareness, we focused on PR activities (events and presentations), Direct Marketing, Online Marketing, and TV through Digital Signage platforms.
Within X-Markets, there were times when the product came from the Investment Center in the UK to be adapted in Spain. In these cases, before deciding to launch one product or another, I would hold a meeting with the Area Directors to get their feedback on each product and the potential sales volume in each region. Based on their feedback, we would finalize the issuance.
As such, working with the sales network was frequent, and we had to maintain close collaboration.
In many instances, the issuance originated directly from the Madrid Investment Center. Every week, we held a conference call where we reviewed the ongoing products with the IC and monitored the business generated by each product to decide whether to strengthen any with additional marketing actions. It was during these conference calls that I truly felt I was part of a German company, as we reviewed the entire investment product business in less than an hour and made timely decisions to improve results.
One of the products I was most involved with, due to its innovation, was DB Evolution [link].
Additionally, because I worked with investment products, I also handled the issuance of structured products for commercialization in branches, submitting documentation to the CNMV (in collaboration with the compliance department), or validating advertising with the Bank of Spain if necessary.
2. Pension Plans and Savings-Insurance Products
Another responsibility was managing the Pension Plans campaign and savings-insurance products like the "Gestión Futuro" service.
For the PPI campaign, I worked with Zurich Vida to define the product to launch or promote during the campaign. Once the product was chosen, I handled the communication and commercialization campaign.
Similar to X-Markets, I developed a mix of actions to reach the expected sales results.
The action mix included:
- Direct Marketing: mailing, emailing, SMS to clients with a product-buying profile.
- In-branch POS materials: posters, displays, brochures, totems, merchandising, etc.
- Radio: product launch campaigns on radio.
- Online: AdWords campaigns, banners (display and CPL), retargeting, affiliate networks, etc.
I always linked the communication campaign with a promotion to capture more attention and drive up-selling.
During the pension plan campaign, it was also crucial to report on the volume of business generated, contracts signed, etc., as it was the last major campaign of the year.
3. Digital Signage Project
During my time at Deutsche Bank, I also led the Digital Signage project implementation in the bank's offices after the person who started it left the company. The project was exciting as it combined new technology applications with advertising and brand presence. It also gave us complete flexibility to customize ads by region, office, and even time of day, allowing us to display the most relevant content based on the client profile in each branch.
We conducted a pilot test in four offices, and the result was very positive. However, it was 2009, and the financial crisis was beginning to impact, so the project was discontinued due to the substantial investment required.
4. Deutsche Bank Brand Repositioning
In my final year at Deutsche Bank, I was assigned the task of developing Deutsche Bank's brand positioning in Spain.
According to our market research, Deutsche Bank was perceived as a bank distant from the end customer, very “affluent,” and not close to Personal Banking or Mass Market clients. We aimed to change this perception while maintaining the image of a "solid bank" and a "premium brand" positioning.
To achieve this, we hired the agency Added Value through Draft FCB (the communication agency we worked with) to conduct consumer focus groups and redefine the brand positioning based on the results.
This project allowed me to learn a lot about running focus groups, gaining deeper insights into consumer behavior, and applying research results to develop brand positioning.
Last year, Deutsche Bank launched its new television campaign based on the conclusions and strategy we developed with Added Value and Draft FCB. I was thrilled when my former manager reached out to let me know about the new campaign.
5. Agencies I Worked With
The agencies I collaborated with at Deutsche Bank included:
- Draft FCB: main communication agency
- MKN: occasional communication campaigns
- Wunderman: occasional communication campaigns
- Mediacom: media planning
- Carat: media planning
Achievements
Among my accomplishments, I would highlight that the bank's current communication strategy is based on the brand repositioning project I led.
Learnings
At Deutsche Bank, I consolidated my knowledge of marketing and market research through the various projects I participated in.
However, what impacted me the most were the circumstances that unfortunately affected the department. The economic crisis deepened at the end of 2008, which impacted the team. From a department of 11, only 4 of us remained.
It was a very intense experience, especially since some very talented people in the department had to leave.
In my case, I was fortunate, firstly because they decided to keep me even though I had only recently joined the department, and secondly because this situation gave me the opportunity to take on more responsibilities and be more involved in all types of projects.
I will always remember the people I worked with fondly, and I still maintain good relationships with many of them today. I believe the situation we went through, with such intensity in a short time, brought us closer together than if we had worked together for ten years.
Skills acquired
- Operational Marketing (briefing, copywriting, advertising...)
- Product development
- Project management involving several stakeholders
- Collaboration with sales department
- Trademarketing & POS
- ATL & BTL promotional & advertising plan
- Digital Marketing & customer experience
- Brand Management
- Brand positioning
- Sales analysis
- PR
- Budget management
- Team management
Reasons for the change
I decided to leave Deutsche Bank following a change in the Director of PBC (Private & Business Clients). The previous PBC Director was based in Barcelona, but he was let go, and the new Director was placed in Madrid. From that moment, Madrid gained influence over all functions and projects, so in Barcelona, we felt increasingly sidelined rather than being involved throughout the process as before. Professionally, this meant a shift from strategic to more operational work, which, in my view, devalued my role.
For this reason, I felt it was time to move on and find a company where I could regain the level of influence I had always sought in my career.
