I am a customer of USAA, a diversified financial services company. Their promotional activities are geared towards new customer awareness and acquisition, but in this they are explicit about what customers they want – only military, prior military, and their families. But some marketing is geared towards existing customers, likely in an effort to communicate the firm’s top customer service rankings while hoping to cross-sell.
USAA has made several large TV ad buys recently, notably during NFL games this year. Traditionally, they have been pretty quiet with regard to advertising. It’s likely that even though have been highly successful pursuing a niche strategy, they believe they still have room to grow. I think their PR approach has been appropriate given the customer they are targeting.
