In this article:
- Capital One reintroduces its “cafe” branding as virtual rather than in-person gatherings.
- One example is a podcast that aims to debunk misconceptions around money.
- It’s not the first B2C podcast-as-content-marketing, but it still ahead of the curve
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When people no longer enter the bank and have been warned off hanging out and sipping coffee there over the last year, Capital One had to redefine what it means by “cafe.”
Back in 2016, Capital One launched a campaign to rebrand bank locations as cafes, a place where people could sip (free) coffee and take in information about financial products. This was meant to make banks more appealing to Millenials, as Capital One openly admitted.
My own local branch brought in small round tables, stools, and some easy chairs and couches in the signature blue and red colors of the brand to bring that concept to life. Then COVID struck in early 2020, and the bank lobby closed altogether for several weeks.
When the lockdown eased up, it reopened, but it didn’t want to invite any visitors to linger. All the easy chairs were flipped over or cordoned off. Even the desks used by the bankers who were supposed to take the time to discuss opening new accounts or mortgage details with customers disappeared.
If you banked in person at all during peak pandemic time in New York, you were supposed to just get in and out as quickly as possible. You would keep your mask on at all times and not even dream of sitting down. The coffee machine was labeled “out of order.”
But now Capital One wants to bring back its cafe concept. It is reopening and even opening new ones in certain locations. But it also is rolling out the virtual cafe experience by introducing podcasts like the one I got notified about in an email.
Virtual banks like Ally already offer information like this, and it’s no surprise a more “traditional” bricks-and-mortar bank now follows suit. In some senses, it’s a challenge for brands to make these podcasts feel conversational (like a cafe chat is), and to differentiate them from what others may call “audio webinars.” Still, offering valuable knowledge in the form of a podcast is for sure brands all over the map should engage with a lot more than they seem to do right now.