The public outcry and backlash continues following employee claims over the past week that the five major Canadian banks have used “strong force” with employees who are “expected to aggressively sell products,” according to one report.

As has been well publicized, CBC received more than 1000 emails from employees at TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, and Scotiabank claiming that they were pressured to use unethical tactics to upsell customers — even when it was not in the consumer’s best interest.

For me, as a marketing professional, it is going to be extremely interesting to watch how banks respond to this major PR disaster that is unfolding before our eyes.

Now What?

What banks say and do will shape their image for years to come and will impact the response from the Canadian government, employees, customers, and shareholders.

Here are 5 predictions on how Canadian banks will change their 2017 marketing plan to respond to this PR disaster:

1) Go Silent

As share prices for all Big 5 banks have dropped since the story was reported, most of the banks will weather the storm with silence.

There is really nowhere to move in this situation and any attention at this point would just rattle the cage.

The marketing departments in these companies are most likely gathering information from every news outlet: traditional media, online, and on social media; taking a pulse of the situation and preparing a strong response effort.

They have stopped any non-essential marketing tactics and have mostly shut down any essential campaigns that are not time sensitive.

We often hear that there is no such things as bad PR. This event is the exception to that rule; until we see how and if they are capable of leveraging this attention for their own good. (Almost impossible yes but an opportunity every marketer secretly wishes they can work on.)

Canadian banks really want it to all go away and time will help that to happen, as long as they continue to keep quiet.

2) Unity

When claims of TDs unethical sales practices were revealed during a CBC report my opinion is that the other 4 banks most likely rejoiced; it is only natural of course when a major competitor in a fierce industry is toppled that others would see it as beneficial to them.

But when the other 4 banks became included in the complaint, it became clear that a tight refined message needs to be put out by all parties together.

My next prediction for the banking marketing teams on how they will handle this fiasco would be a joint message reiterating their “good and proven strategies to fit the right solution to their right customer need” and for this message to be all over the news in a few weeks.

This will do 2 things for banks, re-position the anchor by taking back control of the message and it will give more of an opportunity for banks to listen and measure exactly how large the backlash is based on public response.

Recurring themes will come up and the real micro-issues that Canadians have with this whole exposure will come to light and to what degree the public will or won’t tolerate and accept the findings from these reports.

3) A Message of Community, Experience, Quality and Trust

My next prediction is that you will start to hear more about how banks help your local community, how their experience has helped to shape the Canadian economy, and how the Canadian system because of the Big 5 is in good hands.

A lot of dollars will be spent on recovering from this PR nightmare. We will see messages about banks being great community leaders in all sorts of places online and off.

The message will be angled as such: Canadian Banks are proven to look out for the interests of Canadians overall.

There will be loads and loads of supporting evidence to back it up too.

Whether the Canadian public buys it or not is to be seen — but any marketer knows there is no challenge too great…especially if you can throw a heap of money at the problem.

4) Loss Leaders

Once the relationship is reset, banks will cut rates like crazy.

This prediction is that you will be able save money on all sorts of fees, rates, etc.

This tactic will get people on board because, well, who can resist an unbelievable rate, and second it will take the sales pressure off the employee teams as it will become incredibly easy to sell these reduced products despite the backlash.

It won’t last forever though. Unless regulated, bank fees and rates will creep up again, in new and innovative ways.

5) Drown Out The Noise

Expect articles littered all over the internet and coming to a newsfeed near you about how well Canadian banks have done versus American banks over the last 10 years, how Canadian banks “saved” us during the recession and in times of need, and how Canadian banks are respected and trusted around the world.

The backlash will continue until the majority of the population are tired of this buzz worthy story.

I predict this happening by the end of 2017.

Thoughts?

Remember I don’t condone the actions of banks or have a full understanding of the entire report at this very early stage.

The goal of this article is to convey how a Big 5 bank could and possibly should respond to these claims with minimal damage.

These are my predictions on how the major Canadian banks will respond from a marketing perspective. They are only predictions and not based on facts but on my experience as a marketer.

Comment below on whether you agree or disagree with any or all of these predictions and if you have thoughts on how the big 5 banks will respond to this PR disaster and how they will market themselves going forward.

Riaz Sidi is a Performance Marketing Consultant and Lifestyle Vlogger. You can see his thoughts in video format by visiting his YouTube channel Carving Your Niche.