Luncheon Meeting

Friday, April 20 , 2007

Services Marketing

At a time where many street corners in America look the same and businesses are forced to compete by offering similar services, how can a company stand out in the crowd and truly differentiate itself with consumers?

Larry Magnesen, chief marketing officer of Fifth Third Bancorp, recently helped lead his company in its largest rebranding effort in decades and shared how Fifth Third has positioned itself for the future during his presentation "Services Marketing in 2007" at our April 20 luncheon meeting.

Larry explored the relationship between the customer experience, customer service and branding; examined how to brand services in competitive categories that have little differentiation, such as banking; and revealed the marketing challenges with current issues such as e-threats and phishing.

Larry recently returned from Barcelona where he spoke before the European Financial Management and Marketing Association.

Larry joined Fifth Third in 2001 and was promoted to chief marketing officer in 2007, with responsibility for directing the advertising, marketing and communications activities across the bank’s 19 affiliates in 10 states.

Prior to joining Fifth Third, Larry served as senior vice president of marketing for Old Kent Financial Corporation and previously served as head of Retail Administration and Business Banking.  Larry also has held marketing positions at the former Banc One and Citibank.