Push for
name
recognition
worldwide
Private bankers on course Holland in brief
Looking ahead
4 International
You can't hum our
anthem.pll You can't even
draw our flaq.lxl
Still, now you know the
name
ofourAAA-bank.
58 member banks
evacuated
Symbolic milestone
50 years of freedom
From the end of February,
Rabobank will be making a
major advertising splash in pro
minent international business
and financial media.The aim of
the focused campaign is to im-
prove the bank's name recog
nition and support increasing
international activity.
Titles such as the FT, The
Economist and the Wall Street
Journal will begin carrying the
new advertising campaign. In a
change from what had become
the bank's signature - the use
of old and modern Dutch mas-
ters, such as Rembrandt and
■o Mondrian - the new look ads
0\
will feature short statements
and suitable visuals to get
2 across the message of who we
<n are and what we do.
3 From 1992, marketing pol-
icy was aimed primarily at so-
called 'below the line' interna
tional Communications. This
means the bank attempted to
increase name recognition
through the production of
Rabobank. Tha Ofcngat Outdi faMk
authoritative studies and the
organization of international
conferences, seminars and
trade fairs. Although these
activities are highly successful
and will be continued, their
reach proved limited. The new
advertising campaign has been
designed to broaden the bank's
exposure as an internationally-
oriented wholesale bank which
is also the top global food and
agribusiness partner. The cam
paign, which was developed by
Saatchi Saatchi, runs until
mid-April, with follow-up in
specific media throughout the
rest of the year.
Now private banking has become one of the bank's
spearheads for international growth, inhouse training
has been intensified.
London was the venue for the bank's two week-
long private banking courses held in January and
February. Rabobankers from all over the world met
there to prime their skills and promote an esprit de
corps in this fast-growing field of activity. The partici-
pants at each course represented the offices where pri
vate banking and trust are firmly rooted in Rabo-
culture - Singapore, Hong Kong, Curacao, Zurich,
Guernsey and Luxembourg. They pooled resources
with the Utrecht team to come up with a creative and
challenging course.
Even before the course began, people had been
asked to solve a case study involving an imaginary
bank which was planning to set up a private banking
department. The results were discussed, criticized and
improved upon over the week. Intensive video-taped
role-play sessions to hone Communications skills were
also part of the training sessions. In addition, partici-
pants had to absorb the avalanche of information pro-
vided by seasoned speakers. But in spite of a hectic
Schedule, there was time for fun too, and for prizes.
The best two business plans developed from the case
study scenarios won notebook computers for both
Willem Jan Habersaat of the Zurich office and Harry
Lai of Hong Kong. And they also carried off a prize
for their offices back home. Zurich gets an additional
marketing course for private banking and Hong
Kong will be visited by trust lawyer Joe Field of the
American firm Bryan Cave.
March 3
Annual results 1994 published.
March 7/8
Latine America regional trade
finance conference, Sao Paolo.
March 29/30
Rabobank International Grain
Conference, hosted by Popular
Rabobank, will be held in the
Spanish capital, Madrid.
April 2
1994 Annual Report/Group
Profile published.
May
Official opening Milan branch.
May 16/18
International Agribusiness
Management Association con
ference in Paris - Rabobank is
one of the chief sponsors.
June
Opening Turnhout (Belgium)
private banking office.
June 11/16
General Managers Conference.
October
Rabobank sponsors food
and agribusiness congress,
China.
Around a quarter of a
million people were forced
to leave their homes and bus-
inesses when the Netherlands'
great rivers, including the
Rhine and Meuse, threa-
tened to burst their banks in
early February. Among the
evacuees were the personnel
of 58 Rabobanks, primarily
in the southern provinces.
Crisis teams were brought in
to ensure the whole pro
cedure progressed smoothly,
both for the removal of
equipment and furnishings
and for the move back when
the emergency was over.
Fortunately, none of the
member banks sustained
any damage. But the story
did not have a happy ending
for many of the farmers
among their clients. Numer-
ous farms and livestock
were affected by the flood-
ing and the bank is prom
inent in all manner of com-
missions and bodies set up
to assist victims.
According to market re
search carried out by the
Dutch NIPO organization,
after only two months the
bank's new symbol is al-
ready as well known in the
Netherlands as the old one.
Around 54 percent of the re-
spondents said they recog-
nized the symbol immedi-
ately as Rabobank's new
housestyle. ING had the
highest recognition rating,
scoring 78 percent.
On January 18, Queen
Beatrix minted the first of
ficial NLG 50 piece to com-
memorate the Netherlands
liberation by the Allies
50 years ago. A total of
650,000 coins will be pro-
duced of which 202,000
have been allocated to
Rabobank.
