Hometown Banks Of America

Dealers sell security

If the fear of getting laid off is keeping you from shelling out money on big purchases like cars and houses, you're not alone.

Businesses on the Grand Strand and across the nation, knowing that consumers are saddled with financial worries, are trying to ease those concerns and jump-start consumer spending by offering a safety net.

Car dealerships, home builders, stores and travel companies say they'll make payments or buy back products for people who get laid off - a marketing strategy that has quickly grown in popularity this year in light of the tough job market.

Consumer anxiety has risen with unemployment rates, which have soared on the Grand Strand in recent months. The unemployment rate in Horry and Georgetown counties in March was 12.8 percent, according to the latest information from the S.C. Employment Security Commission. That's lower than in February, but higher than in March 2008.

"It's on everyone's minds right now with the economy," said Shannon Williams, director of strategic marketing with home builder Lennar Corp.'s Coastal Carolinas division. "This gives them that peace of mind and that security that we can help them through that time."

Lennar's loan protection program costs home buyers $495.

People who participate get two years of coverage during which, if they lose their jobs, their monthly mortgage payment up to $1,800 is covered for up to six months.

Hyundai was the first company to unveil such a program this year for new car purchasers, announcing in January that buyers could return the car for a year after the purchase date if the owner gets laid off, becomes physically disabled, is self-employed and files for personal bankruptcy or faces other hardships.

In February, it expanded that free program, called Assurance, to include 90 days of payment relief.

Robert Wingate, general manager of Myrtle Beach Hyundai, said he doesn't think anyone has bought a car solely because of the program, but it helps.

"This just gives you a shot to hang on to your credit if something happens that changes your life," rather than allowing the car to be repossessed, Wingate said.

Many companies have followed suit: JetBlue airlines says it will refund customers' fare or vacation package if they lose their jobs; developer Goldberg Cos. lets laid-off tenants live rent-free for 60 days and then cancel the lease if they still can't find a job; and men's clothing retailer Jos. A. Bank recently ran a promotion where jobless customers could be refunded up to $199 for a suit without even having to return the outfit.

GM, Ford and The Ryland Group Inc. also have rolled out payment protection programs for people who get laid off.

The initiative has generated traffic for many businesses, and in some cases it has boosted sales.

At Myrtle Beach Hyundai, sales are up about 5.1 percent year-over-year, Wingate said, which he attributes in large part to the Assurance program.

It's generating "a lot of buzz" for Lennar, Williams said. "I think those people who have been on the fence and unsure about it because of the economy, it's definitely given them a reason to pick up the phone."

The move is smart marketing, said Bill Daddi, president of New York-based public relations and marketing firm Daddi Brand Communications.

It's "demonstrating a unique understanding and empathy of what a consumer is going through right now," which helps build relationships and customer loyalty, Daddi said.

Shoppers on the Grand Strand said they like the idea.

"I think that's great," said Kelly Strange of Syracuse, N.Y., who was in Myrtle Beach this week on vacation. She said those types of incentives wouldn't make her buy something she didn't need, but she would feel safer buying from those companies if she was in the market for their product.

"With the economy right now, the way it is, people need to be protected," Strange said.

Other people, such as Karen West of Myrtle Beach, said that such promotions don't make a difference in where she spends. She wouldn't make a big purchase like a car or a home if she were concerned about being unemployed.

"I plan to keep my job, and if I don't keep my job, I don't need a new car," West said. "I need a bicycle."

People should do their research and read the fine print before signing up, experts said.

Some of the programs are free with purchase, but others cost money, and they each have different rules about how to cash in.

"Consumers should always take time to read the full details of an offer," Daddi said, but also added that it wouldn't benefit a company to make it too difficult for a customer to take advantage of such a program.

"A company that utilizes an approach such as layoff protection should be doing so with the intent of, we want to help our consumers," he said. "If it's just being utilized as marketing platform and they want to make it difficult to take advantage of that, it's going to have the opposite effect, and they may as well not do it."

It's unclear how many consumers actually cash in, and for many businesses it's too soon to tell.

"I would say it's a reasonable percentage" of people who return cars or take the payment relief, said Jeff Beaver, senior vice president of marketing and product management for EFG Cos., which owns Walkaway USA, a company that since 2006 has teamed with car and motorcycle dealerships to provide the coverage. He declined to give specific numbers.

"The relief of consumers who have had to return the car is pretty dramatic," Beaver said, "even if they've turned around and bought a less expensive car from the same dealer."

Banks find TARP changes rules of game Valley

Banks that took taxpayer bailout money are coming under intense government scrutiny about how they are spending their money.

Now executives of beneficiary companies have had their salaries capped by presidential order, sales reward trips have been scrubbed and sports sponsorships are imperiled.

This has many in the banking industry, including many of the biggest banks in Silicon Valley, trying to figure out what is acceptable business practice when participating in the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Some are even being advised by their legal counsel not to participate at all.

Ed Goines, former general counsel for the San Francisco 49ers who negotiated sponsorship deals on behalf of the team, said he has heard that banks are being more careful about what some may view as objectionable spending in the harsh new light of government supervision.

If deals are in place, it’s unlikely banks or other corporate sponsors would back out due to contractual obligations, said Goines, sole practitioner of the Sui Generis PC law firm, which represents businesses on deals involving sponsorships, promotions or marketing in connection with sports or entertainment brands.

“They still have to go through with it or else they’d have a lawsuit on their hands,” Goines said. “What I’ve heard is that they’re being less visible about it, say if they had an option of a luxury box or on-field presence. Some banks are doing the less ostentatious stuff. They’re saying, ‘We’ll honor our obligations, but we’re not going to throw it in peoples’ faces that we have these grandiose deals.’ ”

Geoff Roach, executive director of the San Jose Jazz Society, said organizers of its annual San Jose Jazz Festival have been approaching local banks for this year’s event, including past sponsor Well Fargo, but have yet to garner sponsorships from them or local credit unions.

“I think part of it is that they’re trying to figure out their budgets,” Roach said. “The way we typically get money from banks or any company is it would come out of their community philanthropic budget or the advertising-marketing budget. If a sponsor comes out, they get booths, signage, access to customers, sometimes media coverage. It’s an advertising expense like any other expense.”

Greg Jamison, president and CEO of the San Jose Sharks, said the franchise is monitoring the issue closely, but the team hasn’t encountered any difficulty with the banks or other corporate sponsors yet.

The Sharks won’t be offering season ticket sales for the 2009-10 campaign until spring, he said, “but we’re very aware that it’s a tough time nationally and internationally. We’re having discussions internally about the future. But from the snapshot right now, it hasn’t been a problem as of yet.”

Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp., which signed a $7.5 million per year naming rights deal for the Carolina Panthers football stadium in 2004, has come under the government microscope.

The bank, which took an initial $25 billion injection in December and another $20 billion in January, has been considering a major sponsorship deal for the New York Yankees ‘ stadium.

BofA was blasted for spending an estimated $10 million on a Feb. 1 Super Bowl corporate sponsorship, but bank spokesman Joe Goode refuted the report last week, saying that dollar figure was reflective of the bank’s overall relationship with the National Football League. Goode said BofA was one of many sponsors of a Super Bowl fan festival called the NFL Experience, in which the bank operated a consumer display offering services to game patrons. Sponsorship cost in the “low six figures,” Goode said.

Goode said the event netted about 14,000 applications for NFL-themed checking accounts and credit card services.

“It was a very successful and revenue-­generating event for us,” he said. “We recognize that government and taxpayer investment in our company comes with an obligation to pay it back with a premium, and the way we’re able to do that is by exercising profitable business activities that allow us to generate the earnings and fulfill our obligations to shareholders, including the U.S. taxpayer.”

Citigroup, recipients of a $50 billion swap for preferred stock, and the New York Mets have both denied a Feb. 3 Wall Street Journal report that the troubled bank might reverse course on a stadium marketing deal worth $400 million. Citi, which announced last year that it planned 53,000 job cuts worldwide, released a statement saying it would honor the legally binding deal agreed in 2006 and that none of its bailout money would be used for Citi Field.

On Feb. 3, Wells Fargo & Co., which traded equity for a $25 billion injection, canceled what was reported by the Associated Press as a 12-night employee junket at two of Las Vegas’s priciest hotels.

The previous day, Wells Fargo announced a total quarterly dividend of $371.5 million payable to the U.S. Treasury, the only holder of record for 25,000 shares of Series D preferred stock purchased under Treasury’s Capital Purchase.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, Wells Fargo reported $22 billion in loan commitments and $50 billion in mortgage originations.

“That’s nearly three times the capital purchase program investment into Wells Fargo,” said Wells Fargo spokesman Chris Hammond.

Hammond said the Vegas trip was mischaracterized as a junket, calling it a “four-day business meeting and

recognition event for hardworking team members who made homeownership achievable and sustainable for borrowers across the nation.”

“It’s clearly been sensationalized,” Hammond said. “Wells Fargo does not need to use capital purchase program funds for recognition events.”

Avoiding Eggs in Your Bank Marketing Basket

Remember podcasts, those affable, here's-a-way-to-use-your-iPod talking audio files? Well, I heard a great one the other day -- by accident. See, they download automatically to my iPod and as I was wheeling around my Nano during a long flight home, I hit play on this June 17, 2008, podcast from Ad Age. It was a smart move.

In this podcast, Joseph Jaffe, who runs the Jaffe Juice blog, spoke about social media. Well, at least that was the title. What he was really talking about was the need for contact with customers. Strike that -- "contact" is not the right word. "Communication" is better. Corporations need to communicate with their customers, and this communication needs to be the centerpiece of every marketing initiative. It is a tough lesson for big-league banking to learn.

Jaffe told the story about a Starbucks customer named Winter. For whatever reason, Winter decided that he wanted to have a cup of coffee in every single Starbucks, no matter where it was. Jaffe, who calls Winter "everyman, he is you, he is me," says Starbucks had its Jared (the Subway spokesman). Instead, Starbucks apparently contacted Winter to "find out what he was up to, what is alterior motive was, whether he was trying to profit from all [Starbucks's] brand equity." Winter's response via Jaffe: "I don't know. I wanted to have a cup of coffee, because it was -- like -- cool, you know."

Jaffe explains that Starbucks missed a grand opportunity.

"Give him a Starbucks mobile, a little Mini Cooper with a spinning coffee cup on top -- I don't know," said Jaffe. "Figure out how to make good. This is marketing that is non-linear and adaptive and course-correcting, being able to spot opportunities and change ship."

It is a humbling story for Starbucks, I am sure. What does it say about banking? A lot. Here is Starbucks, a marketing juggernaut, completely botching it. How many times do banks botch it? The challenge to "communicate" with their customers is so much more acute for banks for so many reasons. Even if a customer does "communicate" with a branch officer, anything resembling a decision is conducted so far from that branch that the communication is merely social. Marketing is strictly superficial.

I argue that banks need to break down these walls today for a couple of reasons. First, customers are increasingly going to expect it. As Jaffe said in the podcast, "every customer deserves a response, and if you don't have the expertise to provide that response, hire someone who does." The more we social network, the more we expect communication that is not, well, marketing-speak. All any bank needs is a Winter and they've instantly got egg all over their brand. And this kind of egg smells.

Second, the financial crisis has stained every bank's brand. Just think about AIG's tagline: "The Strength to Be There." Uh, right. Banks have no choice but to go that extra mile to "communicate" their value proposition to their customers. As some of you know, I am a Citibank customer. Right now I am in the middle of an interaction with the bank. Oddly, it is the first time someone from the bank has followed through to call ME back! When the bank branch rep said someone would call ME, I thought to myself, yeah, right. But I got that call. Where it leads is another question, one which matters so much more than the quality of Citi's next TV ad. Eggs, anyone?

MyECheck Inc. Launches on Forever Living Products (FLP) -- a $2 Billion in Annual Sales MLM Company

MYEC, an electronic transaction processor and provider of alternative payment solutions, announced today that it has launched Forever Living Products (FLP) as a client and is providing the multi-level marketing distribution company with its comprehensive suite of electronic check processing services.

FLP customers may now use their checking accounts as an additional form of online payment. MyECheck's patent pending software can debit every U.S. checking account, even accounts that ACH cannot debit; thus providing online merchants financial access to more consumers and businesses than any other payment method.

With sales topping $2 billion, FLP is a Scottsdale, Arizona-based multi-level marketing-distribution company with over 9 million distributors. The company does business in over 120 countries and is the world's largest grower, manufacturer and distributor of Aloe Vera-based products. Please visit www.foreverliving.com for more information.

MyECheck provides access to more U.S. consumers than any other payment method because it can be used to clear checks from 100% of U.S. checking accounts, including business accounts and accounts where ACH does not work. MyECheck facilitates faster funds clearing than cards or ACH, providing same day or next day availability of funds to the merchant's bank.

MyECheck also offers fraud control tools including bank account verification, negative check-writer database queries and payment guarantee at lower rates. Because MyECheck does not use the ACH network, transactions are not subject to National Automated Clearing House Association ("NACHA") regulation, including their rules, fees and fines.

MyECheck RCCs are governed by Uniform Commercial Code (State check laws), and Check 21 law, which is more favorable to the Payee than NACHA rules and facilitates higher returned item collection rates. The lower number of returns and higher return collection rates translate to fewer losses, lower fees for payment guarantee and higher profit margins for MyECheck Merchants.

About MyECheck
MyECheck Inc. is a leading electronic transaction processor and provider of alternative payment solutions to credit cards for brick & mortar, internet, and mobile commerce. MyECheck utilizes a patented method of creating and clearing remotely created checks (RCCs) for exceedingly fast, secure and cost effective payments. As the leader in Check 21 solutions and check image processing for online merchants, MyECheck provides merchants with financial access to more customers than any other payment method.

Please visit www.myecheck.com.
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, continued acceptance of mentioned products, increased levels of competition, new products and technological changes, dependence upon third-party suppliers, intellectual property rights, and other risks detailed from time to time in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

MyECheck Contact:
Patrick Lowry
916.932.0089

North Jersey Federal Credit Union Selects Dynamic Marketing Systems to Automate, Support Marketing Initiatives

Utilizes marketing resource management solution to produce cohesive marketing materials

Dynamic Marketing Systems, a provider of Web-enabled marketing resource management solutions, announced Totowa, N.J.-based North Jersey Federal Credit Union has selected the company's Web-enabled Micro Merchant to support the credit union's marketing programs.

The agreement was made through Dynamic Marketing Systems' alliance with the New Jersey Credit Union League (NJCUL) and makes Micro Merchant available to participating credit unions interested in having the capability to develop, customize and print marketing materials through a centralized Web portal.

North Jersey Federal's marketing staff is now using Micro Merchant to execute the credit union's marketing collateral development, production and print processes. Using Micro Merchant, the creation of materials now takes only a few hours, as compared to the credit union's traditional methods that involved multiple outside resources and took several weeks to complete. Credit union employees can also create customized messages and promotions for the branch or individual needs yet still ensure consistent brand identity throughout the organization.

Micro Merchant includes a variety of design templates for many marketing and sales activities and can be customized by financial professionals to meet the needs of specific markets or branch locations. Each template gives staff the ability to create a variety of marketing collateral materials such as banners, posters, inserts, advertisements and other sales materials.

"The implementation of Micro Merchant has been an extremely easy process for us," said Maria Alves-Schemetow, vice president of marketing for North Jersey Federal Credit Union. "Having an online, automated marketing resource management solution saves us a tremendous amount of time and reduces costs when developing promotions. With the help of Dynamic Marketing Systems, we have been able to implement the Micro Merchant software and train our staff efficiently on the product leading to a greater streamlining of our marketing processes."

"Micro Merchant is an invaluable online marketing resource tool that financial institutions can rely on to develop and produce quality marketing materials in a minimal amount of time," said Gordy Cain, CEO of Dynamic Marketing Systems. "Working closely with North Jersey Federal Credit Union, we enable them to deliver consistent messaging and product promotions to their members at very low costs compared to the traditional way of doing things."

Additionally, Micro Merchant's sustainable print-on-demand service reduces the waste associated with large print quantities sitting in inventory and, as a result, reduces printing costs. Micro Merchant is provided using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model requiring no software implementation and limited support by a financial institution's IT department.

About North Jersey Federal Credit Union
NJFCU is a member-owned, not-for-profit and community chartered, financial cooperative dedicated to providing members with quality financial products and services. NJFCU was established in 1936 and currently has more than 30,000 members.
Anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or regularly conducts business in Bergen or Passaic Counties, or the underserved areas of Essex or Union Counties or the City of Newark is invited to join NJFCU. To find out more about NJFCU, log onto www.njfcu.org.

About Dynamic Marketing Systems
Dynamic Marketing Systems is a provider of Web-enabled marketing resource management solutions and is based in Norcross, Ga. The company's marketing resource management platforms provide centralized management of sales and marketing content, streamline marketing design, production and printing processes and support personalization of marketing content for individual business units or customers. Dynamic Marketing Systems currently serves 10 corporate clients and ten community banks and credit unions with 44 branch locations. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.dymasys.com. For more information on Micro Merchant, visit www.micromerchant.com

SOURCE: Dynamic Marketing Systems

For Dynamic Marketing Systems
Cory Jones, 678-781-7203

Month2Month.com Launches the First Totally Personalized e-Cards

Senders can stamp their own personalities on free, high-quality cards at an ad-free site Month2Month.com, a young e-card Web site, announced today it is launching the first e-cards that senders can completely personalize as their own rather than using an e-card company's name. This new service offers several important innovations and features that other e-card companies do not:

-- Cards can be easily personalized with the sender's own name or
brand instead of the commercial logo of the e-card company. All of the
company's Halloween cards now have this feature, which will be
rolled out to include all of Month2Month.com's cards in the coming
weeks.
-- The site has no advertising of any kind. Month2Month.com is convinced
that many people stopped sending e-cards because they either had to pay
for them or put up with annoying, intrusive advertising, on both the
sender and the recipient ends.
-- The cards themselves bear no company or site logo to commercialize them.
Senders can feel proud to stamp their own personalities and sign their
own names on these cards.
-- Senders can choose which cards they want to personalize from a wide
variety of cards. They can even change the card sentiment from
"Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" or "You
Are Invited" to suit their needs.
-- All of the cards on the site are free, not just a limited group, and
there is no registration required or personal information gathered for
later use.

"We have focused all of our efforts to make sure that both senders and recipients of the card have the best possible experience," explained Month2Month.com CEO John Aslanian. "This includes everything from the size of the cards (ours are larger and fill more of the screen), to the design, to the Web site itself. We want to greet our site visitors with top-notch cards in one of the last few commercial spaces on the web free of annoying, intrusive advertising, which we feel takes away from the meaning and warmth of the card."

Aslanian said he created the Web site because he was appalled at the poor quality and unimaginative products he saw at other card sites, both paid and free, and thought there was a great need in the market for top-quality free cards. "One of my biggest pet peeves is being shown irrelevant ads while looking for cards, only to find they aren't worth the wait, or the best ones aren't free. Even if you pay, the quality is not great."

On any given weekday, animators manipulate images of haunted hayrides, garden scenes, or dancing cowboys in the sunny loft studio of the company's headquarters in quiet Port Chester, N.Y. Producing the cards can be laborious; each card can take up to six weeks to make, as opposed to just a few days at larger companies. And the rewards of taking such pains to create just one card are obvious: in an independently-conducted market research survey, 90% of users surveyed said the cards were better than well-known, paid, big-brand card sites.

The cards are all made in-house and never outsourced to freelancers. "This is an extremely rare practice that speaks to our conviction that the assembly line e-cards put out by large corporations have lost their spark," Aslanian said. "Our new site reflects our commitment to providing users with a better way to say 'Boo!,' 'I love you,' or 'Happy Holidays' on the Web. We want users to see our cards as good enough to deserve their own names."

To use the company's free e-cards, visit http://www.Month2Month.com .

About Month2Month.com
Founded by John Aslanian in 2006, Month2Month.com is an Internet company located in Port Chester, N.Y., 30 miles north of New York City. Its e-card Web site, http://www.Month2Month.com, provides a broad selection of creative, high-quality, full-animation greeting cards that are totally free, on a site that contains no advertising, and doesn't require anything on the part of senders except to personalize their cards with a warm message of cheer.
SOURCE Month2Month.com

http://www.Month2Month.com

Resurgens Bank Selects Dynamic Marketing to Support Marketing Programs

Resurgens Bank has selected Dynamic Marketing Systems's web-enabled Micro Merchant to support the bank's marketing programs. Micro Merchant enables a financial institution to develop, customize and print marketing materials using a centralized web portal.

Resurgens' staff is now using Micro Merchant to execute the bank's marketing material design, production and print processes. Using Micro Merchant, the development of materials now takes only a few hours, as compared to the bank's traditional methods that involved multiple outside resources and took several weeks to complete. Banking employees can create customized messages and promotions for the branch or individual needs ensuring consistent brand identity throughout the organization, said Dynamic Marketing Systems.

Charles DeWitt, president and CEO of Resurgens Bank, said: "The implementation of Micro Merchant has been an extremely easy process for us. Having an online, automated marketing resource management solution saves us a tremendous amount of time and reduces costs when developing promotions. With the help of Dynamic Marketing Systems, we have been able to streamline our marketing processes while ensuring that our customers view Resurgens Bank as having a consistent brand in the marketplace."

Gordy Cain, CEO of Dynamic Marketing Systems, said: "Micro Merchant is an invaluable online marketing resource tool that financial institutions can rely on to develop and produce quality marketing materials in a minimal amount of time. We are thrilled to offer the solution that can assist Resurgens with delivering consistent messaging and product promotions to their customers at very low costs compared to the traditional way of doing things."