1. Is the strategy employed by UMPQUA a sustainable advantage? Explain.
2. Think about the last time you went to your local bank. Did it have the type of atmosphere you witnessed in the video? Explain.
3. In the video, Lani made a statement saying: "it's not about sales, the sales will come." What did she mean by that?
"Welcome to the world's greatest bank" is UMPQUA's value proposition; thus it is up to Lani Hayward, Director of Creative Strategies at UMPQUA Bank, to ensure UMPQUA maintains this perception with its clients, customers and prospects.
Lani wanted to change the stereotype of banks as being cold and unfriendly; she wanted to change the perception and image of traditional banking. To do so she decided to go against the standard "norm" of a traditional bank. Lani threw out the standard layout/design model of a bank and developed a new environment; making it warm, inviting and friendly.
What set UMPQUA apart from industry competitors is they looked at other service industries to see how these businesses treated their clients (hotels and restaurants for example) and from that developed a unique "service and atmospheric strategy" to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Not only did they modify the atmosphere of the bank but they also retrained employees so they could perform multiple tasks, which reduced wait times for their consumers, thus providing better value.
UMPQUA consumers have access to free Wi-Fi, coffee and space to sit down and stay if they so desire. This "cool" bank is now an industry benchmark. The question is: will competitors try to copy this competitive advantage, employing it as part of their own marketing strategies?