Insight
The banking landscape in Australia has historically been dominated by the ‘Big Four’. A group of the biggest banks that act the same, say the same and are despised by most Australians. The situation is so bad that a massive 52% of people don’t trust their current bank. But ING DIRECT, the original online bank, is different. It is the black sheep of the banking category because people actually love banking with them. In fact, they are the only bank in Australia with a positive Net Promoter Score (NPS). This is driven by a unique emotional brand insight that sets it apart from the rest: ING DIRECT believe it’s banking products should help people spend their life well not just grow their bank balance.
This brand insight was the backdrop for one of the toughest marketing challenges an agency could face. “Show Australia that ING DIRECT is about more than just high interest savings but bring the brand proposition to life by helping them spend their life well.”
The success of this challenge was to be measured in three ways:
1. Brand experience though participation (50,000+), exposure (30% of Australia) and PR ($1 million +)
2. Increase brand consideration by 5%
3. Increase brand advocacy by 30% (tracked through NPS score)
Without a high street presence and people’s attitude towards banks at an all time low, UM had a big challenge on its hands.
Strategy
UM commissioned a bespoke research project to understand what was holding Aussies back from spending their life well and how ING DIRECT could help. The first thing discovered was that ‘spend your life well’ was seen as a big claim for a bank and they needed to ground it in the real world with smaller, more tangible help and inspiration. Secondly, people struggle to pursue their interests, hobbies and dreams because the everyday pressures of working life are holding them back.
The lunch break was identified as one of the most critical pain points with one third of all Australians now working through their lunch break and 25% of people even eating at their desks. (Source: Jupiter Research)
This sparked a consumer insight: Aussies are struggling to even start spending their life well because of the disappearing lunchbreak. The opportunity became clear. Break down its big brand claim and encourage people to start spending their life well one lunch break at a time. This would need to be bigger than just an advertising campaign but a social movement designed to get the whole of Australia inspired to use their lunch break again.
UM called this idea: Spend Your Lunch Well - a series of rewarding lunchtime experiences across the major Australian cities amplified through media partnerships, PR and social activations as well as bite size pieces of content. Before the launch, the issue of the disappearing lunch break was raised through a major PR release that drove people to an online hub where they could search a range of lunchtime activities, book their spot and invite their friends using Facebook. But it needed to do something even bigger to get it on the public agenda…
Execution
UM called upon the world’s most famous magician, Dynamo, to fly to Australia for the first time ever to highlight the plight of the disappearing lunch break and explain how ING DIRECT is helping. On morning TV he inspired people by passing on tricks and tips to millions as well as doing lunchtime performances live in front of thousands of city workers. This was followed up by 14 activations over the next three weeks across the areas UM knew would get people out of their office chairs:
Entertainment - Ran a nationwide Dynamo tour at lunchtimes, which even included a trip to the ING DIRECT call centre and head office.
Adventure - Gave people the chance to go rock climbing on a purpose built 20 metre high climbing wall. Also put on giant karate classes where a renowned instructor helped hundreds of people learn important defensive moves.
Food - The aspiring foodies of Australia were treated to a sushi making class from a top sushi chef.
Culture - UM encouraged people to take up art in a lunchtime and work together on a real life mural housed in Sydney’s iconic Martin Place.
But the best was yet to come. The last activation was the most ambitious with a leading musician coaching the public in song writing and co-creating a 3-minute pop song. To extend the campaign the agency created over 15 pieces of bitesized content as well as developing an ongoing customer reward programme so that even more Australians could get inspired.
Results
The campaign was a runaway success. Giving more Australians even more reasons to love the ING DIRECT brand by kick starting a national movement dedicated to spending your lunch well. Here are just some of the highlights:
Brand experience - Almost 20% of all city workers in Sydney and Melbourne attended an ING DIRECT Spend Your Lunch Well event, with a further 620,000 Australians being inspired by the bitesize content from the comfort of their own desks. And a massive 12 million people (52% of all Australians) were exposed to the campaign. The PR value alone equated to over $1.4m.
Brand consideration - In a mature category, consideration scores increased by 11% - an all time high for the brand and over double the original target. In fact, 1/3 of all people exposed to the campaign said they would switch to ING DIRECT.
NPS - The all important NPS score increased by 45% - extending further ING DIRECT’s lead as the most loved bank in Australia. With no products changes or additional advertising activity, the results spoke for themselves. The campaign showed that a bank really can help Aussies spend their life well starting one lunch break at a time.
Credits: ING DIRECT Marketing Department, Ensemble (experiential &branded content), Soap (digital agency), Droga5 (ATL creative partner), Reprise (search and social)