"We try very much to stay on the edge of all kinds of new technologies, and when we saw the Internet and television and telephone starting to converge, we thought let's try moving programs to these new mediums." - Marc Cootjans

On the one hand, Rabobank in the Netherlands is a modern, fast-growing, bank with 50 percent market penetration in its home country that takes pride in challenging convention and looking for new opportunities. On the other hand, with a history that dates back more than a hundred years, deep roots in agriculture, and a branch in virtually every town, it has prided itself on a reputation as a respected, comfortable community bank, with strong bonds to local neighborhoods.

The bank blends those two personas by continually looking for cutting edge technologies that will help it strengthen its original mission of maintaining close bonds with its customers. That mission led the bank to Windows Media Center. Powered by a Windows XP-based computer, Windows Media Center allows users to use a remote control to access familiar Microsoft programs or interactive digital content from a menu system viewed either on the computer monitor or the TV.

“We try very much to stay on the edge of all kinds of new technologies, and when we saw the Internet and television and telephone starting to converge, we thought let’s try moving programs to these new mediums,” said Marc Cootjans, executive vice president responsible for the private client business, which in this case refers to the mass retail market with over 9 million customers. “We are not sure what will succeed or what is the best way to attract new customers and keep existing customers happy, but we decided to try as many things as possible and adopt a trial and error approach.”

The bank began by looking at the services that were most popular on the Internet said Marco Mur, project manager for streaming video realization on direct channels, including the Internet, email, mobile phone and now TV.

“Internet banking payments, mortgage information, getting account balances, these were the things that customers were performing on the Web site so these were the first things we wanted to do on TV,” said Mur.

So far, there is a small group of customers using the interactive TV service, mainly because the percentage of customers who have Windows Media Center hooked up to their TVs at home remains small, said Mur. Approximately 1,000 customers are using the service online each month, but the bank is talking to cable companies about finding ways to expand access to television banking content.

“Our main goal is to learn what works and what doesn’t work,” said Cootjans. “TV banking has not yet taken off, but in one or two years when it really starts flying, by then we have to be ready and know what works.”

At this point, the bank is still exploring the different preferences customers have for interacting with content via the Internet, the television screen and the small screen of the mobile phones.

Aside from the different screens, the tests of content on television will explore how users process information in different frames of mind – in the lean-forward, sitting at a desk mindset, versus the lean bank mindset that television presents.

“Windows Media Center delivers content to users in the living room where people spend a lot of their time,” said John Reynders, a Microsoft enterprise strategy consultant who works on the Rabobank account. “To be an integral part of the TV experience enables the Rabobank to be in a strategic central part of every household. This is of strategic importance in a time where people do not tend to visit bank offices very often anymore.”

In addition to interactive banking programs, the bank stepped up efforts to produce digital programs that can run on both the Web site and the digital television channels. Using Microsoft technology, it can produce the content once, for distribution to both mediums. The bank started with broadcasts three times a day of investment news. Then it added content related to sporting events – in particular live broadcasts of the Tour de France, which is very popular in the Netherlands, and to which Rabobank has strong ties, as it has been a longtime sponsor of one of the premier Dutch teams.

Alongside the Tour de France broadcast, the bank promoted mortgages, and found that it generated significantly more interest at significantly lower costs that it would have had it paid for traditional television advertising.

In the next phase of its digital content program, the bank is in pilot with several communities to help produce local community programs that can be viewed on the digital television. This content will be available only on digital television and not on the Web site.

“Rabobank grew up as a bank in every city and village in the Netherlands,” said Cootjans. “Historically, people came in and talked to the employees. With the Internet booming, the amount of [branch] visits is declining. This is a way to maintain being close to the community by helping them with community TV.”

www.rabobank.com