SBI unveils an innovative advertising campaign

The State Bank of India (SBI), India's premier bank, has unveiled an innovative advertising campaign, which was conceptualized and created by Interpublicity Advertising Agency (Interpub), to facilitate greater public awareness of financial products and services. The first-of-its-kind national campaign leverages concept branding and establishes SBI as thought leader.  

Interpub, a full service communication agency founded in 1964, created a series of advertisements (ads) with the intent of addressing a specific target customer profile and ensuring a better understanding of the various aspects of financial and banking instruments. The ads don't endorse SBI directly, but inform the common man (especially in small towns and cities) about the Do's and Don'ts pertaining to routine banking facilities such as ATM, Netbanking, Net Shopping, credit cards, debit cards, mutual funds, etc. The challenge for the advertising agency, Interpub was well defined: create communication that would not only target specific issues but also encompass a wide range of audience.

While one ad talks about the fact that "The best place to keep all your savings? In your pocket?", another one quickly points out that "Credit Card offers both: advantages and problems! And thankfully, you can select either". While one ad illumines that "You can't predict the future but atleast you can plan for it", the other extols, "Leave behind not only your memories. Leave back your wealth as well."  

Talking about the strategy, Mr.Yogendra Gouti, Managing Director, Interpub, said, "Research showed that SBI customers had several unanswered questions about various facets of banking. The overall aim was to cover a wide section of the population while also delivering the targeted message in a clear and communicative manner. We are proud to have created an ad campaign that communicates with all the professionalism and seriousness that reflects the SBI's intent and purpose."

The campaign has its origin in the fact that customers from different socio-economic classes always posed lots of questions to SBI. For e.g., How safe is Net banking? What is CBS and what are its uses? Is nomination important? Questions galore but not many customers had the answers. SBI initiated its efforts of getting a solution with the aim of providing clarity and to establish its role as India's thought-leader in banking. What emerged is a series of eye-catching educational ads revolving around the "Pure Banking, Nothing Else" theme.

Interpub started off with a far-reaching market survey, which was conducted with respondents skewed towards the small cities and towns. Revealing facts were thrown up --- Like the existence of "knowledge pockets"; i.e., specialized and in-depth familiarity about certain topics but total lack of in-depth awareness about generic topics. This meant that consumers had "zoned in" on topics that they considered "important" while ignoring topics that they considered "not as important". This resulted in lop-sided knowledge and a risk to overall financial awareness. For e.g., a shopkeeper would be familiar with details of small business loans but would be unaware about the importance of a nomination facility on his savings account!

Interpub felt that the need was for communication that would address the different issues while also being relevant to the varying target audiences. The aim being to create a well-rounded knowledge base so that people would be better able to leverage the financial opportunities available while also creating an overall enhanced fiscal behavior pattern. The campaign would have to translate into a better understanding of financial tools and also infuse background knowledge of the operating conditions of various financial bodies.

Topics short-listed by the agency and SBI ranged from credit card payments to building up ones credit record; Maintaining security while banking via the computer to enhancing loan eligibility. A wide variety of ads touched upon the entire gamut of subjects and harnessed the potential of clear, concise communication in an impactful and relevant manner. Each ad was created with the specific intent of addressing a specific target profile. A clear course of action was provided and physical retention devices were inbuilt into each ad.

Sourced From: Molecule PR