A-town:

All the banks have done is to advertise on DSTV or what have you. Cable/satellite operators sell "ad/commercial" space.
Their audience is africa. What better way than to advertise on DSTV. If they show the commercials in America, then only can you make so much noise about

On the contrary I think it's worth debating. The banks are the mainstay of the economy, and everybody should be concerned about what they are doing. We might all learn a few things, if professional and sound opinions are made, rather than passionate angry statements.

biina:

What happens if you fail to meet the projected turnover? do you proceed to spend the same amount on marketing the following year?Marketing being an inexact science makes it difficult to associate specific ROI with specific marketing campaigns.
Yet, I am not trying to find the rational under which the said campaign is being funded, but only to postulate that it is very likely not on the basis of attracting borrowers or improving the balance sheet. The little it can achieve is to attract depositors (liabilities).
Like I said earlier, aggressive drive for deposits is usually reflective of poor profit margins. Depositors are liabilities to a bank and the bank should only take up as much as needed for effective business. A good example were the financial discount houses of time past, who took deposits promising attractive returns, but never lent at a commensurate rate. It all turned out to be a ponzi scheme, in which new deposits were used to fulfill the obligations to the old, with the last depositors being taken for fools.
All we have is evidence of people depositing and/or investing in the bank, there is none indicative of them actually turning over the funds (except you include dodgy transactions like the forex round tripping). Nigerians might have to face another round of distressed banks soon enough.

Well. . . not entirely correct. Banks of late have been extending credit aggressively to the consumer SME markets (LPO financing), and also financing high-value projects in Nigeria. The airport concession in Lagos ($750m), Lekki Expressway concession and the Lagos light-rail project (over $1bn), even MTN and Zain had in the last few years post-consolidation raised structured financing to the tune of $1.5bn (Vmobile) and $2.5bn (MTN). Even Dangote I think raised about $200m to finance some part of his cement projects. So the banks are indeed doing to some extent what they should be doing.

I don't expect to see another failed-bank rash like the ones in '94. Those were raw Ponzi schemes, or SPVs set up for the sole purpose of round-tripping. Banking has advanced significantly beyond that in Nigeria. It seems the game plan is to attract foreign funds, not from you guys, but from foreign institutions, and use them to finance projects in Nigeria. I deal with banks in Nigeria on a day to day basis, and I can tell you things have changed a lot, and they are a lot more focused than they were in the past, though the learning curve is still there.

Cheers, chief.

yicob:
Is not as if they just roll out money for advertisment. These guys make yearly budget where they estimate their income and expenditure. They know where to get money without touching depositors funds.
FYI, It takes many heads to come together to reach the decision of advertising on global and new media e.g CNN and Yahoo ! Since the board agrees to spend heavily on advertising, who are we to challenge their deeds. Let's wait and see if one of their depositors would complain that the banks surcharge them for the global and new media adverts. This is like the 3rd year of Zenith on CNN. Would they still continue if there is no huge ROI that's greater than what was invested ? Advertising is not an end but a means to it. Their Marketing force just wont sit in the comfort of their office. They need go out and complement the awareness the advert created. They already have target location cum audience. . . .so they know where to focus. The 4 major characteristics of good ads are (AIDA);
1. Attention
2. Interest
3.Decision
4. Action.
The ad has been successful in getting people's attention. The other 3 are bit successful in conversion rates of 5% to 30%. Thank God, banks don't sell products, they sell services. They welcome both butterflies and true friend customers. The fact that the conversion rate is still low doesnt mean it wont rise. All they need is continuous branding and professionalism at work. It might not take a day to get there, but the results keep accumulating, providing avenue for them to sift performance.
Nuff said ! My N3.00 

How much forex is lost to adverts to mass market on CNN compared to expected inflow with that effort? Why adverts to mass market when you can reach the people with forex to invest in Nigeria are small and can be reached in smaller cheaper medium?

If more of that resource is directed to local media what will be the impact on the national economy?