Insight
Ethnographic research and one-to-one interviews with customers revealed something very insightful. Current accounts offer a daily, but entirely transactional and ultimately meaningless experience. Savings accounts, on the other hand, symbolise something personal and special.
For many, the memories of receiving their first savings book, provokes a sense of nostalgia, evoking happy memories. From childhood to adulthood, the savings book is a physical reminder of events that have shaped their lives, from their first job to their first car or their first child. Each savings book tells a story.
An innovative engagement strategy, inspired by this insight, would differentiate TC Bank in an emotionally powerful way.
Strategy
In this digitally-transparent era, people no longer accept what a brand has to say about itself. Instead, they value authentic experiences. Therefore, instead of relying on mass, impersonal promotions to convert customers, the strategy engaged at a deeply personal level.
Despite the highly charged, personal stories captured within the pages of a savings book, they all look the same. No matter the bank or the customer, all saving books are plain and ordinary.
Transforming the humble savings book into a ground-breaking media touchpoint, the first personalised savings book in Asia would be created. A brand new media touchpoint in an otherwise established, but dull category, lacking in innovation.
The TC Savings Book was the perfect asset to deliver an unforgettable experience at minimal cost.
Execution
The design of the savings book, was put completely in the hands of the consumers, by giving them the necessary tools to create an utterly unique and meaningful savings book.
But for this DIY initiative to be a success, customers needed to be captured quickly and kept engaged throughout. The user experience needed to be fun, easy and fast and executed flawlessly across the two most influential touchpoints; online and in store.
A special TC Bank branded microsite was developed. The process was simple and user friendly, with consumers prompted to upload a photo that captured an important moment in their life and then choose colours, graphics etc. to personalise it further.
Facebook helped drive excitement and traffic to the TC DIY Savings Book site. Through the official Facebook page people could share the personal stories connected to the artwork. This forum for exchanging memories, encouraged others to comment on the stories they had read, share their own memories and go to the microsite to view the artwork and create their own savings book.
To ensure footfall into the other key Touchpoint (the bank itself), two things were done. Firstly, at every branch DIY branded stations were set-up so ‘walk ins’ could access the microsite, and design their own bank book within minutes.
Secondly, the personalised savings books were only available for collection in store, creating an opportunity for TC Bank to engage with customers face-to-face.
Results
• 15% additional growth of new savings customers in just one month
• More than 12,000 personal saving book stories were posted on Facebook in just under three weeks
• Over 10,000 personalised bank books were download on the microsite
• Delivered over $3m of earned media value (the cost of the campaign was less than $1m).
• On average consumers spent 3 mins with the brand online and a further 15 minutes in-store, when picking up their new savings book
• The one month campaign was so successful that TC Bank has made the DIY savings book a permanent feature.