A PR Lesson From Deutsche Bank

U.S. banks should take note of Deutsche Bank Belgium's clever new online and radio marketing campaign.

From Occupy Wall Street protests to backlash over fees and Bank Transfer Day, banks in the U.S. have faced quite the public relations nightmare over the past few months. After demonstrating how to lose customers, some of them could probably learn a thing or two about PR and gaining customer respect from Deutsche Bank Belgium.

The Brussels-based arm of the Berlin-founded bank just launched a clever marketing campaign that points out the absurdity of arbitrary bank fees. The campaign, which consists of two online videos and some radio ads, plays out real-life scenarios of customers being asked to pay small fees for everything from exiting a store to a smile from the cashier. The bank used hidden cameras to capture real customer reactions, which can be summed up with the phrase, "We're not going take this!"

Next comes the tagline: "You wouldn't accept unnecessary costs from your baker/supermarket. Why accept them from your bank?"

It'll be interesting to find out what type of effect the campaign actually has on consumer opinion of the bank and its customer count. If nothing else, the videos, which you can view below, provide a bit of entertainment.