Tuesday, February 3, 2009

ING Direct promotes savers’ pledge on microsite, YouTube & Facebook.

ING Direct wants citizens to step up and be counted as a saver! In fact, they’ve literally installed a counter on their “We, the Savers” microsite which tallies the number of visitors who have signed their online “Declaration of Financial Independence.”

The 10-point declaration asks savers to pledge that they’ll adopt good savings and borrowing habits, remember what matters, take care of possessions, and finally, be heard by government representatives. Visitors can also check who are their fellow signees and the states in which they reside. The site also includes a poll, forum, video and other interactive options. We, the Savers campaign was launched the day after Thanksgiving, along with visibility on YouTube and a Facebook page.

Arkadi Kuhlmann, CEO of ING Direct USA, commented that "with ING Direct's online tools, savers can see the real advantages of saving and pass along the knowledge to people in their online networks. Since reversing long-term spending habits can be difficult, ING Direct has made saving as straightforward and informative as possible for new savers and investors."

I applaud ING for their efforts to promote savings, albeit the approach advances their primary business. It’s definitely a step that a lot of financial institutions haven’t followed in the past. . . encouraging and educating their customers about good financial habits. Hopefully, more CEOs and bank marketing departments will follow ING’s lead and take their own pledge to consumers.

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