In 2000, the finance industry spent almost £900 million on above-the-line advertising to communicate a variety of products, brands and corporate messages.

What are consumers' attitudes towards financial advertising?

How have marketing and promotional strategies adapted to developments such as the Internet and e-business?

In an era of such rapid change, the environment in which financial services providers operate has forced many firms to develop a much more proactive approach to marketing and promotion. Within this report, Mintel identifies and examines the key issues confronting those involved in promoting financial services. Furthermore, in recognising that consumers have disparate financial requirements - often based upon age, lifestage, wealth, financial education and risk profile - this report examines consumer behaviour when purchasing financial products and services. Such an understanding is critical when developing both effective and targeted promotional strategies.

In 2000, the finance industry spent almost £900 million on above-the-line advertising to communicate a variety of products, brands and corporate messages.

What are consumers' attitudes towards financial advertising?

How have marketing and promotional strategies adapted to developments such as the Internet and e-business?

In an era of such rapid change, the environment in which financial services providers operate has forced many firms to develop a much more proactive approach to marketing and promotion. Within this report, Mintel identifies and examines the key issues confronting those involved in promoting financial services. Furthermore, in recognising that consumers have disparate financial requirements - often based upon age, lifestage, wealth, financial education and risk profile - this report examines consumer behaviour when purchasing financial products and services. Such an understanding is critical when developing both effective and targeted promotional strategies.

In recent years, traditional financial services providers have come under increasing pressure from the wider business environment. Political, economic, social and technological changes have both facilitated and forced change within the financial services industry. While, by definition, such factors will largely be out of the control of the businesses themselves, future success or failure will depend largely upon how well the management of financial services providers are able to anticipate and react to such influences.

In this report, Mintel provides an analysis of current promotional strategies and particular emphasis is placed upon market penetration and defensive marketing activity. Looking beyond the traditional marketing mix, this report also investigates how promotional strategy has evolved in recent years. We analyse what impact developments such as Internet technologies are having on traditional markets and how marketing and promotion has had to adapt to meet these new challenges. We also examine how providers are maximising the use of data-mining tools to develop more accurate promotional strategies.

The report also provides a detailed analysis of the main financial advertisers, how much they invest on media promotion and how they invest it. This is based on further analysis of ACNielsen MMS media data for the five-year period 1995-2000. Through exclusive consumer research, this report assesses which financial provider's advertising has the greatest impact on consumers. This research also provides an insight into how consumer behaviour is affected by financial services advertising and what consumers' general attitudes are to financial advertising.

Other Mintel reports of interest include:

- Life and Pensions, Mintel Internet Series, March 2001

- Deposit and Savings Accounts, Finance Intelligence, February 2001

- Strategies and Impacts of New Players in Finance, Special Report, January 2001

- Current Accounts, Loans and Overdrafts, Finance Intelligence, January 2001

- Automated Finances, the ATM and Kiosk, Concept Report, April 2000

- Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), Finance Intelligence, May 2000

- Motor Insurance, Finance Intelligence, June 2000

- Credit Cards, Finance Intelligence, August 2000

- Shareholding, Finance Intelligence, October 2000

- Online Investments, Mintel Internet Series, October 2000

- Money Transmission, Mintel Internet Series, November 2000

- Online General Insurance, Mintel Internet Series, December 2000

- The New Distribution Mix in Financial Services, Special Report, December 2000

- Interactive Investing, Finance Intelligence, April 2001

- Branch Distribution: Changing Consumer Preferences, Marketing Concepts, May 2001

- Smart Cards: Opportunities for Competitive Advantage, Finance Intelligence, June 2001