ING Direct credits its clean but eye-catching imagery with setting the company apart

Generally sober and muted places, banking institutions — even those online — aren’t commonly thought of as hotbeds of flamboyance.

And then there’s ING Direct.

Even if you’re not one of the 7.1 million U.S. customers who’ve signed on with the online bank since its September 2000 launch, you’ve probably spotted the brand’s peppy orange ball on TV or in one of the company’s direct mail pieces. Like the red bull’s-eye of a certain big-box retailer, the ING Direct ball is cool, eye-catching and memorable — which may account, at least in part, for why the company is now the 16th largest bank in the country.

John Owens, head of U.S. marketing for ING Direct, certainly thinks the brightness of the campaign has helped. Though many marketing departments today seem to emphasize hard numbers over creativity, ROI over imagination, Owens insists that creativity and good design remain central to the marketing mission at ING Direct. Even the resumes of job applicants, he explains, are filtered according to whether they reflect a creative sensibility in step with the brand’s image.

What is the brand’s image? Owens describes it as simple but innovative. ING Direct is unlike most other banks in that it doesn’t have any brick-and-mortar retail locations. Its services are streamlined, centering around two offerings: savings accounts and mortgages. To some, it may seem like a rather basic operation.

But Owens says that ING Direct’s products and services come with an innovative philosophy: The banking experience should be easy and accessible to the average person. Thus, the brand’s customer communications — whether online, on the phone or through direct mail — are straightforward and aimed at the mainstream consumer. “We like to say we are for Main Street, not Wall Street,” Owens says.

For Tim Calkins, clinical professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, this clear sense of identity is half of the formula behind ING Direct’s leap to the top of the banking industry. The brand’s good sense of design, Calkins explains, is the other half. “Other banks have so many products it’s hard for them to stand for one thing,” Calkins says. “ING Direct’s brand positioning is very clear. What the brand offers is simple and direct. Then they took that idea and incorporated it into their design element. They are very consistent and very on-message all the time.” Calkins points out that other brands seem to be making an attempt to imitate ING Direct’s strategy, playing with bolder colors and more direct messaging.

Owens breaks down his brand’s design strategy like this. The bright orange ball — a ubiquitous visual element in ING Direct’s mail — is a very deliberate attempt to convey the brand’s message of simplicity and innovation. Orange (which happens to be the national color of the Netherlands, the home base for parent company ING) is a bold and unusual choice of hue for a bank, signifying the brand’s unconventional approach. Meanwhile, the shape reflects simplicity. “A ball is the most simple structure in the world,” Owens says. “It’s got no beginning, no end, no rough edges.”

In Owens’s experience with ING Direct, a direct mail piece featuring uncluttered designs can lift ROI. “Given how much people get in their mail today, the less ‘stuff’ you put on your piece, the more likely you are to boost response rate,” he says.

He adds that ING Direct went through a process of trial and error before settling on this insight. The marketing department experimented with different styles of direct marketing, including mail pieces that feature the face of “Jeff,” the character who stars in its TV advertising. But the response rate has been strongest, Owens says, when the direct mail has as little distracting detail as possible. Banks tend to include imagery of individuals or families in their marketing, but Owens says consumers are too likely to get distracted trying to evaluate the faces. “People end up saying, ‘This person is either like me or not like me,’ and most of the time it’s [the latter].”

For Owens, good design is ultimately a lot like good photography: “If you focus on your subject and keep the background simple, you end up with a better picture.”

Little wonder then that the ING Direct marketing department is asking consumers to keep an eye on the bright orange ball.