The new marketing campaign of UBS is moving Johan Jervøe into the limelight: the global head of marketing at Switzerland's largest bank aims to improve the image of the banker, away from the sleek lackey waiting at the foot of the stairs of the private jet. To achieve this he pushes the digital channel - and doesn't shy from rapping the knuckles of his troops.
Johan Jervøe is a master of promotion. Of his own persona (picture) as proven on the many social media platforms. But quite as much of his employer, UBS. The Dane is the architect of the first global marketing campaign of the Swiss banking giant since 2009, as finews.ch reported.
The campaign is designed to polish the bank's image, tarnished as it is by financial scandals and the crisis in the industry. «Together,» the title of the arty campaign shows the strategic change and new direction of the institute, the bank claims. A bank, which moved closer to its customers and their concerns.
Art and Understanding
The job to translate the slogan into a multi-media work of art was Jervøen's, who's been a top UBS manager since 2013 and lives in Switzerland. He speaks German, Swedish, English and of course Danish. Money was no obstacle - to get the story to the customer, pictures, films, sounds and social media had to be employed - to the tune of 150 million francs. That bought him, amongst others, star photographer Annie Leibovitz (picture) and nobel price winners.
The effort was worth the money, Jervøe told «City A.M.», the UK-based commuter daily. Art and understanding are keys for growth at the customer base, the top manager said. He considers Virgin-founder Richard Branson and Arianna Huffington, boss of «Huntington Post», as role models.
The Leibovitz Portraits
A discussion about the art collection of UBS, the banking world's largest according to Jervøe, can lift a customer meeting to a completely new level. When customer and banker talk about more than «just» business, they can learn from each other.
UBS launches a traveling exhibition in January 2016, with portraits of influential women portrayed by Leibovitz.
The campaign is based on findings of an internal survey. Right after taking the reigns at the banking giant, Jervøe engineered a poll of thousands of employees and customers. The results showed that bankers disliked their image as sleek lackeys waiting with new contracts for the super-rich touching down in their private jets.
«Am I a Good Father?»
The customers meanwhile demanded more control over their assets and showed their disdain about the banking lingo. The messages had to become simpler. That's why the UBS-campaign will ask: «Am I a good father?»
Seventy percent of the message will be pushed through social media channels. The customers seem to more at ease with digital communications than the banks themselves, the marketing boss said. Four fifths of all answers to a test campaign in January were sent from mobile devices.
Promotion Expert
That's where Johan Jervøe comes in. Before taking up work at the Swiss bank, he was marketing manager at IT-giant Intel, responsible for the promotion of personal computers and mobile devices as well as cooperations with other brands and media partners. His previous job was leading the team that designed the global multi-media campaign «I'm loving it» for McDonald's.
Still, Jervøe is no soft, cushy pushover of a manager. According to a report by Swiss sunday paper «Schweiz am Sonntag» last May, he sent his team an emailed messaged with new home office rules, making it clear that working from home was a priviledge not to be abused.
