By Craig Wilson

Banks are all scoundrels, right? So, how is it that one SA bank has managed to reinvent itself as not just a cool bank, but as a cool brand? And why have the other big banks fallen so far behind, at least in terms of customer perception? Surely it can’t just be due to a clever presence on Twitter and some billboards with iPhones on them. Or can it?

It’s been a pretty amazing year for First National Bank (FNB). At the end of August, CEO Michael Jordaan tweeted that it had been the bank’s best month ever for new clients and those switching from other banks.

Part of this is no doubt because of FNB’s enormous marketing drive to get people to consider switching to it — have you heard those “Steve” ads? — particularly in light of its offer to deliver new cards, and certify the required documentation upon delivery, and to switch new customers’ existing debit orders, all without having to visit a branch.

But there’s another, far more intriguing reason that FNB is in favour: it’s gone from being “just another bank” to the sort of brand people evangelise about. You know you’ve done something right when people are extolling the virtues of your brand without you having to incentivise them. Do a Twitter search for FNB to see what I mean.

There are a number of factors at play in FNB’s move from boring bank to hot brand, just one of which is its social media presence. As any social media “guru” will tell you, simply being on Facebook or Twitter isn’t enough. What’s crucial is how you use them. It’s about “engagement”.

FNB has at least two active accounts on Twitter. The first, Jordaan’s personal Twitter account, is pithy and often funny. He uses it to field complaints and compliments with the sort of deftness you wouldn’t expect from a banker.

The second account, RB Jacobs (the name that appears on mock-up cards in FNB advertisements), deals with customer queries and complaints. It’s manned constantly during office hours and it’s a great way for customers to raise a problem and let FNB contact them to rectify it.

Then there are the special features and offers that set FNB apart. Perhaps the most popular of these is eBucks, where consumers collect credits for every card purchase they make, which can be converted to cash, invested, or used to buy products at retailers aligned to the programme.

Though eBucks isn’t an astounding differentiator, FNB has positioned it as such by reminding customers that most of them accrue almost as much in eBucks a month as they spend on bank fees, meaning their banking is almost free.

Then there’s FNB Connect, a service that essentially turns FNB into a small telecommunications company. Think cheap and free calls and cheap broadband data.

The bank has also been vocal about giving its premier customers access to lounges at the airports. Though these are only open to its platinum cardholders, FNB has realised the value of offering value-adds to those who might not even be able to afford them otherwise: South Africans are an aspirational bunch.

Then there’s the issue of banking fees. A recent study by trade union Solidarity found FNB was the second cheapest bank after Capitec. The other big banks will say, perhaps with some justification, that the fees issue can be spun in any way to make any of them look cheaper, but the fact is research like Solidarity’s creates customer perceptions. For now, FNB’s rivals are on a losing wicket when it comes to perceptions about fees, in part because they have failed to make consumers sufficiently aware of what they offer.

The point is, FNB is offering — or, more importantly, is seen to be offering — greater value than its rivals while still apparently managing to charge its customers less in bank fees.

In an effort to get more people to use electronic banking channels, and thus reduce the number going into physical branches, FNB recently launched a promotion where its gold and platinum cardholders can purchase a smartphone or iPad tablet computer, pay if off over 24 months, and still pay less than they would if they bought the same device today for cash.

You can bet the actuaries have done the numbers and decided that getting more people using electronic channels will save it money in the long run. To its customers, though, it looks like FNB is doing them a rather nice favour.

In the process, it’s created the impression that it’s a bank aligned with modern technology, wooing bright young minds to work for it.

Sure, some of its services and offerings are unique, but most aren’t. The bulk of them are stock-in-trade banking services and you can get those anywhere. What FNB has done is taken a handful of innovations and built its image around these.

It’s clearly working. As Jordaan responded on Twitter to a customer who said recently that FNB was “innovating in the mobile and online space” and, more importantly, that other banks needed to play “a little catch-up”: “I certainly hope not.”