Standard Chartered launches first India-specific campaign

For the first time, the multinational bank has launched an India-specific multi-media campaign.

In a bid to reassert its value proposition in the country, multinational bank Standard Chartered has rolled out a campaign, titled 'Jaisa naam waisa kaam', that emphasises how people's names often don't match up to their personality or action, unlike Standard Chartered. It also draws attention to the tangible rewards customers get when they bank with Standard Chartered.

What's interesting is that this is the first time the bank has created an India-specific campaign since its operations began in India in 1858. The bank's earlier commercials in India were part of its global campaigns.

The 360 degree campaign has been conceptualised by TBWA. Apart from two television commercials, outdoor and branch level (Stanchart has 99 branches across 42 cities in the country) activities, the bank has heavily used the digital medium to promote the campaign.

Explaining the need for a campaign now, Sanjeeb Chaudhari, regional head, South Asia and global head of marketing, consumer bank, Standard Chartered, says that there is never a right time to talk about the value proposition in consumers' mind. "This is the first time we have communicated all our banking privileges - for Priority and Preferred Banking consumers across all media - both online and offline. Besides communicating our clear value proposition offering a fantastic customer experience, the campaign also states how we provide rewarding tangible benefits to our customers; a savings account that actually saves," Chaudhuri says.

The campaign also focuses on building a relationship with new customers and reiterating its promise to existing customers by quantifying value to its products, Chaudhari adds. However, this does not mean the bank will henceforth do only India specific campaigns. Chaudhari clearly states that both global and Indian campaigns will co-exist. "The current campaign is a direct one encouraging people to upgrade to preferred banking, while the global campaign talks about the overall businesses of the bank," he explains.

Considering most target customers spend a lot of time online, it was only logical for the bank to use the medium to reach out to them. "I come from an FMCG background and in my experience, a campaign cannot be just TVC and outdoors, a large part will have to be online," he says. The online campaign is being handled by multiple groups including the bank's in-house team, which manages the digital media including its website, Facebook page and a social site called India Food Explorer - owned by the bank.

With its banks located in Tier 1 and 2 cities, Standard Chartered's target consumers are professionals, self-employed, affluent and emerging affluent people from within and outskirts of big cities. Apparently, the bank focuses on psychographic targeting rather than demographic targeting.