I read with interest Mark Choueke’s call for Marketing Leadership in this week’s Marketing Week. Mark and I have discussed this topic before and I am delighted that he is taking up a theme with which I have been concerned for a long time. However I would push even further than Mark suggests.I believe the future of marketing can be at the centre of a new approach to business that is built on balanced positive human outcomes. “Putting the human” back into business is where the leadership businesses, brands and marketers of the future will win.

I'm a Natwest customer of long standing, around 30 years in fact, ever since I took out my first bank account. Together with their stable mate, RBS, they have launched to much fanfare of posters and advertising their "Customer Charter - 14 commitments to make them Britain's most helpful bank". Yesterday in a comedy of errors I spent 25 minutes in a Natwest branch in London. So let's see whether my experience and those of my fellow customers matches up to their commitments:

This morning MBNA sent me a mailer to extol the virtues of their card proclaiming:"We're changing your credit card to offer even better value"How are they doing this? They are changing my terms so that payments pay of the highest interest rate balance first.

Yesterday I followed Lord Currie's keynote speech at the Reputation in Financial Services Conference 2010, in London, with some reflections on Trust in Financial Services.

This week Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland rolled out their Customer Charter and lots of marketing in support. Full page ads in papers up and down the country. According to these adverts they are now making 14 commitments to help them become "Britain's most helpful bank".

I've talked frequently on this blog about banking and how financial services companies should be engaging with their specific customer groups rather than broadcasting to the masses (see Engaging with the Web 2.0 consumer or Just how special and different are financial services brands?).We saw First Direct making a foray into the space when it started to externalise its social media commentary through First Direct Live. That was a confident move for a brand that knows it is good at service.

A video blog on Red Bulletin the great brand magazine from Red Bull packed full of branded content and innovative features.

Malcolm McLaren was the marketing genius that propelled the punk movement into the spotlight and amplified its effect on our society and consciousness. He did such a good job that even now we all still hold a visceral understanding of the feelings and motivations behind the punk movement.So how do you Punk your brand?