When a corporate crisis occurs - publicity must act quickly. Crumbling banking system - sounds pretty critical to me. And while all eyes pointed at Congress and Wall Street this week, JP Morgan Chase was stealthily picking up the pieces of Washington Mutual.
Local celebs and community members gathered yesterday for an event that might have looked perfectly normal just a few weeks ago. With the requisite giant check and ribbon cutting fanfare, a new Washington Mutual branch opened in the Excelsior district of San Francisco.
Hmmm, is this confusing? I, like so many other WaMu customers gasped last week as the FDIC moved in to seize the embattled thrift before depositors could deplete it of its holdings. The company was seamlessly transferred to JP Morgan Chase, who it turns out didn't just take control of WaMu's massive deposits.
Unless you follow banking branch architecture closely, you most likely wouldn't have known that Washington Mutual had actually been granted a patent back in 2004 for their very unique bank designs.
Called "Occasio" which means "favorable opportunity" in Latin, the patent is for a "financial transaction processing system" that includes a retail floor plan that is more akin to a friendly coffee shop than the marble pillared and finely polished wood financial palaces we knew growing up. There is a note of irony here - those designs were meant to impart strength to bring back shaky customers after the difficult times in the 1930's. And it was depositor lack of confidence that brought WaMu down in the end - so what does that say?
At the time the patent was granted, The San Francisco Chronicle wrote:
"WaMu says the patent...is the first issued in the United States for a banking office. Experts say it very well may be the first patent covering a retail store design of any type.
"It's a little bit unusual because what they've claimed in their patent is what they call a financial transaction processing system. But in reality, it's the floor layout for a retail bank office," said Don Bartels, a patent attorney at Coudert Bros. in San Francisco.
Bartels said the patent seems more like savvy public relations and marketing than ammunition against potential copycats. He chuckled as he rattled off the details of the patent."
The original concept behind Occasio was to give WaMu a fun edge, that was customer centric and stood out from the banking crowd. Features include free-standing kiosks where customer banking is handled, sexy mood lighting that creates an atmosphere of calm, digital signage that gives an of-the-minute feel, play areas for kids that are set up where videos about banking are played, soothing jazz that purrs on a sound system, and coffee and popcorn that are offered for free. Sounds like a nice place huh? Take it from me, Occasio branches *are* nice places.
While the opening of a local bank branch wouldn't normally make national news, this new WaMu is a reassuring site for those of us thrown by the current state of affairs in the banking system. A subtle but effective devvelopment that is part of the crisis communication message that JP Morgan Chase's PR is working to convey. I for one am reassured by them.
