Banking App designed for Social Media

We're very excited with the launch of our very first banking application specially designed for Facebook and its called BBVA Link.  Initially launched in Chile so we can learn from the process.

Here'e the tutorial in Spanish that explains the main functionalities.

Having lunch today with LinkedIn

I had lunch today with LinkedIn executives Laetitia Maur and Henry Clifford-Jones.  I'm a huge fan of LinkedIn's positioning in social media and here at the office we're learning and testing ways to reach and leverage the power of this global professional community.  I found this video on Laetitia's profile that pretty much sums up our conversations today...

BBVA Wallet Digital Campaign

I very excited that we're launching this weekend in Spain our new BBVA Wallet Digital Campaign  - an app that allows BBVA mobile banking customers to pay with their smartphone at any venue with a contactless terminal.  I've been using the service for the past five weeks and I enjoy the freedom of just using my iPhone at my local supermarket, Starbucks, cab or movie theater.  I've also had to explain the service to a few merchants, which gives me the opportunity to see their positive feedback.

So far, it's fascinating to see the pace of adoption.  Hundreds of customers are downloading the app on a daily basis.  The technology in mobile banking is one of the most exciting things in my marketing role at BBVA.  More to come...

Celebrating 5 Million LigaBBVA Facebook Fans !

One of the most exciting social media initiatives we manage here at BBVA is the LigaBBVA Facebook Community.  We have a dedicated team that works day in day out informing fans from around the World everything that goes on in, what many soccer fans will say, is the best league.

Well, today we're celebrating 5 Million Fans, a fantastic global community with one thing in common.... a passion for LigaBBVA.

Finally using my smartphone as a debit card... and doing some research along the way

In the past two weeks, I've been using our most recent innovation - BBVA Wallet - as a substitute for my debit card at the drugstore in front of our office building here in Madrid, to the local Starbucks, to the tapas place I sometimes go for lunch.

The other night walking back from the gym I stopped at our neighborhood supermarket El Corte Inglés.  As I pulled out my phone to pay for the bill, the guy working at the cash register started talking to me about how he was also a BBVA customer and that he downloaded the app as well and was testing the service.  I immediately took the opportunity to do a little personal research asking him all sorts of questions about payment behavior at the check out.  Now I want to talk to him every once in a while to see how people are reacting to the new service.  Being someone who interacts with so many shoppers during the day, without knowing it, Pablo has become a wonderful resource for me to better understand customer behavior when it comes to mobile banking adoption.

I'm very excited with this launch, initially in Spain and working this week on the campaign created by DDB.

BBVA #2 Branded content on YouTube in Spain in 2013

Our BBVA Anywhere Banking Campaign - featuring NBA Stars Kevis Durant and James Harden and LigaBBVA Stars Iker Casillas and Andres Iniesta - is the second most watched branded content on YouTube in Spain in 2013 according to El Publicista

http://www.elpublicista.es/frontend/elpublicista/base.php

Sacrificing personal space, overemphasizing common areas

London, last leg of our year-end Family holiday.  Yesterday, we arrived at the Citizen M Hotel Bankside.  Cool check-in process all automated, borrowing a chapter from curb side check-ins at airports or ATMs.

What I thought was very interesting was the pod bedroom concept, which I had already experienced at the Pod 51 Hotel in NYC.  More and more, I seem to see a trend in urban boutique hotels that are sacrificing personal space and overemphasizing on the lounge experience that fuses canteen-style dinning, bar, working stations with Mac computers, with a fantastic attention to design that feels very socially inviting. It reminds me of how Virgin Atlantic re-conceptualized airport lounges decades ago and created a new industry standard.

I wonder if this hotel movement has any correlation with so many news articles I've been reading on how families are leaving suburbia for smaller living space in more centrally-located urban locations to be closer to work and study but also taking advantage of many urban renovation projects.  Speaking to friends from around the World, I keep hearing that many don't actually need such a large house in a place that requires commuting by car everyday, taking out the SUV just for latte.  High street versus suburban mall.  Running through century-old parks versus treadmill in the two-car garage.

This is exactly what happened to our Family this year.  We moved from a large house in a Sao Paulo suburb to an apartment with half the living space in Madrid's downtown that allows us to walk to the wonderful Retiro Park, Mercado de La Paz or the Prado Museum.  Sacrificing personal space to be able to live close to fabulous common areas.

It's another example of Adam Morgan's 'Sacrifice and Overcommit' principle from his book Eat Big Fish.  Make sure you obsessively focus on the things you really value, or in business, on the things you can execute better than anyone else and de-emphasize the rest.

Coming to think of it, what a nice thought as we move into 2014.  London is always so inspiring...

Nintendo Audio Guides at the Louvre

Yesterday at the Louvre Museum in Paris, it was interesting to see how the Nintendo brand is exploring new applications like audio guides for museum visitors.

What brand showed up on my ski holiday?

I'm enjoying our family ski holiday in Baqueira-Beret, Spain.  It was fun to see one of my favorite brands sponsoring the resort's main ski gondola.  Just a smart and playful way for Audi to communicate its Quattro technology to a target demographic that loves mountains.

...but well dressed

During Christmas shopping this week, I found this store window that in just a few words says a lot.  As we gradually move out of an economic crisis and people look at 2014 with a lot more optimism.... a little sentence that reminds as that a bit of fashion is always good.

Happy Holidays!

Turkey's iGaranti on The Most Contagious 2013 List

By far the coolest and most comprehensive mobile banking application I saw this year was Turkey's iGaranti, launched with 23 financial functions into one very powerful app.  So, I wasn't surprised (yet extremely happy) to see that it was featured in The Most Contagious 2013 List.

Garanti in Turkey, is one of those banks that is leading a true revolution in digital banking.

Mashable's 10 Startups to Watch in 2014

Our DDB Spain Planning Director, Samanta Júdez, is one of those wired and very passionate professionals who's constantly telling me about trends and topics I should keep an eye on.  This week, she sent me a link on Mashable's 10 Stratups to Watch in 2014.  It's interesting to see how there are a few mobile banking apps that made this year's list.

Happy holidays!

Partnering with the World's #1 Restaurant

Today, I'm here in Mexico City to communicate BBVA's partnership with El Celler de Can Roca - 2013 Best Restaurant in the World.  Next year, will will take the three Roca Brothers, Joan, Josep and Jordi, plus 20 of their staff members, to tour Lima, Bogotá, Medellin, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Houston and New York providing unique dining experiences to our clients.

During the tour, the Roca Brothers will be working with local producers to identify ingredients that can be added to their future menus.  We will also work with local culinary schools to find talent that will work on the tour and spend four months in training at the original restaurant located in Girona, Spain.

Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity of dining at El Celler de can Roca and it was breathtaking, a wonderful combination of phenomenal food and engaging storytelling from Joan on the whybofneach dish, to Josep on the selection of wines, to Jordi on his desert creations....  an experience like no other.

There's a lot in common between private/corporate banking with the world of fine cuisine:  customer experience, attention to details, constant reinvention, catering to specific needs.  This is the beginning of an exciting new platform for the bank, adding to our global sponsorships of LigaBBVA and NBA.

Corporate Responsibility Initiative "Yo Soy Empleo"

This week, we're airing here in Spain a new campaign communicating one of BBVA's key corporate responsibility initiatives, called Yo Soy Empleo - a program that rewards small businesses with € 3000 for each new hire.  The objective is to generate 10,000 new jobs in Spain.  

This campaign, created by DDB Spain, brings together a few of the employees and business managers who benefit from the program to share their personal stories.

TEDx Day in Madrid!

I'm spending the day listening to inspiring stories at TEDx Cibeles.

I loved a presentation by Swedish Designers Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin on their breakthrough Invisible Helmet.  I had a chance of talking to them afterwards.  A wonderfully well-exectuted idea based on a relevant consumer need... and it saves lives. The beautiful intersection of design, technology, fashion, innovative thinking and impotantly, execution.

Pure inspiration.

Things that you no longer need because you have a smartphone

Check out Buzz Feeds's list of things you don't need because of smartphones.  Strange but not surprising that banks are not on the list.  It makes me realize that there A lot of cool mobile banking applications that we're working on that need to be launched, communicated and disseminated to change perceptions.

Our new BBVA Compass Campaign airing in Houston and Phoenix

Our BBVA Compass Anywhere Banking campaign, with NBA Stars Kevin Durant and James Harden currently airing in the Houston and Phoenix markets... heating up the 2014/15 Season.

BBVA's First Global Campaign - BBVA Anywhere Banking

After four months of hard work,  we've launched BBVA's first Global Advertising Campaign under the 'Anywhere Banking' concept with NBA Stars James Harden, Kevin Durant and LigaBBVA Stars Iker Casillas, Andres Iniesta.

Anywhere Banking is BBVA's new platform featuring a wide range of financial services designed to make people's lives easier, available anytime, anywhere on mobile phones, tablet, computer devices or in ATMs around the World.

The campaign, created by DDB Spain and produced by Madrid-based Tesauro, is based on the insight that great athletes do amazing things look easy.  It's on air in Spain, Portugal, U.S. and in a few days in Turkey.

I hope you enjoy it.

Computerworld: It's time digital banking teams took games seriously

Who said online banking can't be fun?  Interesting article in Compterworld on the rise of gamefication as a way to enegage online/mobile banking customers.  The article mentions BBVA Game, a wonderful initiative led by one of the most inspiring marketing guys in the Company, Bernardo Crespo.

Computerworld Malaysia - BLOG: It's time digital banking teams took games seriously

Omnichannel: The New Normal for Retail Banks

Interesting article in Banking Technology, by Alison Wilkes, on a subject we've been discussing a lot these past months....

Omnichannel: the new normal for retail banks

Making Of - BBVA's First Global TV Campaign

This has been an exciting week here at the office. As we prepare for the launch of BBVA's first global advertising campaign later this month, we released this Making Of Video to the press here in Spain. The buzz generated by the local TVs, online and in the press show a lot of interest for our campaign which brings together LigaBBVA Stars Andres Iniesta and Iker Casillas and NBA Stars James Harden and Kevin Durant. More news on Sept. the 20th...

Transformations in society require more innovation in banking

New video on how transformations in society are forcing companies around the World to put more focus on innovation. Here at BBVA, we're committed in continuously developing innovative banking products and services for a new way of banking. More to come...

LigaBBVA is the most followed banking Twitter account

Here at BBVA, we're celebrating a milestone in our LigaBBVA social media strategy:
1 Million Twitter followers! 

Read article published in Visible Banking by Christophe Langlois, who tracks 3,000+ Twitter accounts in the financial space (banks, insurance, cards, payments) and reports that the LigaBBVA is currently the most followed banking Twitter account in the World.

Three great examples of the farmer to table movement

Everytime I travel, I try to visit a local market.  Since the beginning of the summer vacation, my wife and I have been to three wonderful markets in the past ten days.  Mercado de San Anton in Madrid, Marche de Vieux Port in Quebec and the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto (video below).  With the growth of the farmer to table movement all around the World, cities are renovating, celebrating and converting their markets into cultural centers.  It's a great way to get a pulse on a city's culinary vibe.  There's always something new to learn from talking to local vendors.

Immortal Fans

A few weeks ago at work, this video inspired us and opened a debate on how we need to evolve our sports marketing sponsorships.  The challenge for any marketing organization today is how to bring more social responsibility in the things we do, in the way we engage with our consumers, in the positions we take.  Not an easy task but certainly one that brings more purpose to our role in society.

Sport Club Recife, a Brazilian professional soccer team, has launched a program called Importal Fans which is a wonderful example of how you can combine the passion of sports with a true social movement that transcends the sport itself. 

Inspirational.

My First Two Months On Public Transportation

For the past 13 years, I've lived in a house in the suburbs.  So obviously, a car has inevitably been part of my daily routine.  For two months now, I've been living in downtown Madrid using public transportation to go and come back from work and also using a bike on the weekends to explore the city's many parks.  It's been liberating.  Many articles have been written on how more efficient and eco-friendly public transportation alternatives will increase the quality of life in our metro areas.  I couldn't agree more.

The other day, on my morning commute, there was this ad inside the bus for a new car sharing service in Madrid called Bluemove "Your Car When You Need It.":  another move in the right direction.  Do all of us actually need to own an automobile or will the car sharing movement transform old habits?

Title Sponsorship of LigaBBVA - the World´s best soccer league

This week, we finally announced the renewal of our title sponsorship of la LigaBBVA - the first division Spanish league - for the 2013/14 Season.  These past weeks, my team and I spent a lot of time working on the details of this sponsorship so it certainly feels great that we have finally announced it and we can now move into finalizing the activation plans.

Here´s the video that was used in this week´s press conference.  It shows why, for many soccer fans from around the World, this is the best league.  The numbers tell the story.

How can you rationalize shopping in tough economic times...

"I´m not a shopaholic.  I´m helping the economy."

Sponsoring the NBA 3X Tour in Madrid this weekend

The NBA 3X Tour is a grassroots initiative for kids around the world to immerse in the excitement of street basketball.  Here at BBVA, we are a proud sponsor of th NBA 3X Tours
in Europe and Latin America. This is the event that is taking place this weekend in downtown Madrid, where 140 teams have signed up for 3 on 3 basketball.

Corporate sposoring of the big leagues is great, but there's something very special in supporting grassroot initiatives like this one, just providing the means for kids just to hav fun, compete and celebrate outdoor sports.

Bringing together stars of two great leagues

BBVA - as the Official Bank of the NBA - and title sponsor of the World's best soccer league La LigaBBVA, brought together Spanish legends Casillas and Iniesta to watch Game 1 of the NBA Finals in Miami this weekend.

Mashup-upnin the  wonderful world of sports...