Consumer insights - mail and financial services champions

As advertising spend and consumer trust in the financial services sector continues to decline, what can financial services companies do to get consumers back on side?

One option is to court financial services champions - individuals who are knowledgeable about financial products and services, and who share that information with a lot of people. These product ambassadors are a powerful audience for financial service advertisers who want to benefit from their own advertising plus word of mouth generated by influencing the influencers.

This MMC report from 2009 uses Mintel, BMRB, Nielsen and TGI data to explore which channels best reach these influential people.

Key facts about financial services champions:

• 69% of financial service champions have two or more current accounts.

• They are 81% more likely than the national average to have stocks, shares, unit and investment trusts, and 66% more likely to have a loan.

• They are much more responsive to direct mail than the national average and are 154% more likely to have paid more attention to an advert.

• 53% of financial services champions have done something in the past 12 months as a result of the direct mail they’ve received.