Financial marketing

Is your financial business OOAK?

5th May 2017

If you spend any time on eBay, you’ll find that you’re besieged with acronyms of varying opacity. Whether that is MIB (Mint In Box), BNWT (Brand New With Tags) or the slightly less savoury GU (Gently Used), a whole new lexicon has opened up.

Eventually, you may run across the term OOAK, an abbreviation that stands for “One Of A Kind”.

There are three ways OOAK is used:

• A completely original one of a kind item. Nothing like it will be made again by that artist. It is truly an original piece.

• The second form of OOAK is often used to describe pieces that are hand-crafted in some way.

• OOAK can also mean that the design of the item is unique.

The financial services market is crying out for more OOAK thinking.

Ask ten BDMs what their firm’s USPs are and at least half of them will trade generalities, such as they ‘believe in fostering long-term relationships’ or that they ‘demonstrate genuine flexibility in tailoring facilities to meet their customers’ needs’.

The financial firms that will last in this new landscape will have to be remarkable but robust, ripping up the rule-books whilst conforming to regulation and crushing conventions whilst being compliant.

Now, that demanding environment compels both clients and agency to be OOAK.