Standard Chartered Bank, present in the country since 1858, has just launched its first India-specific marketing campaign. Sanjeeb Chaudhuri, Regional Head of Consumer Banking, South Asia & Group Head of Marketing at SCB, talks about the rationale behind this move and why India is a key market for the bank globally
Q] India has been one of Standard Chartered Bank’s biggest markets, one of its most profitable. Why is the bank only now coming out with a localized pan-India campaign?
We have great products and services and needed to communicate that to our customers and prospects more actively. Going forward, I think we will have a lot more marketing activities and communication. We want to be much more active with prospects as well as reassure our existing customers that the choice they have made, of banking with Standard Chartered, is a good choice.
Q] Most of StanChart’s campaigns have been on the theme ‘Think Global, Act Local’ with a stress on the positive impact on communities everywhere. Has this thought process changed?
Our consistent global and therefore India brand position for Standard Chartered is “Here for Good”. What we need to be very conscious of is that consumer banking or retail banking or credit cards is a relatively local business. So obviously what a consumer banking customer wants in India is different from what he may want in Singapore. The messaging may be different but the basic product is the same, some features may be different but the basic array of benefit packages will be the same. Our global segmentation for priority or preferred banking will not be different in India but the cues that we use will be obviously localized, as in the new campaign. In fact, the English is Hinglish.
Q] Your earlier campaign ‘Here for Good’ said “Can a bank stand for something?” The new TVC places specific emphasis on the name surrounding an individual/brand. What does it seek to convey about the brand?
The new campaign is about brand consideration, preference and action because we are talking of specific products and services. In the earlier campaign, there may not have been a direct call to action just because we advertised ‘Can a bank do something good?’… It’s meant to keep your mind thinking whereas in this case we want you to do something about it because it is a product which you can touch and feel. But it is part of the same brand funnel; one builds on the other.
Q] The new campaign focuses on Savings Account, for both existing Priority and Preferred Banking customers and new customers looking to open a savings account. Will you be looking at more campaigns for your other services?
Our campaign targets both existing customers and new customers and encourages a customer to buy into or continue with the relationship because banking is all about relationships. If you look at this campaign, what you are getting in addition to a savings account are tangible benefits. At the current moment, these are the benefits that consumers are asking for. Over time, consumers need change, their expectations change… so we will constantly review it. We do a continuous programme of research to find out what those needs and wants are and if we find that something else is more important or has become more important, we will play that up.
Q] What are the fundamental principles of your marketing strategy? What is your media mix?
We are not specifically targeting a certain age group, income group or a certain gender because the common interests and the psychographic segmentation is more important than typical demographic segmentation. So the media mix is going to be 360-degree campaign and focus on our customers, in cities where we have branches. A large part, say 30-40% will be online because a lot of our consumers now live online. So whether it is social media or paid media, we do a lot of advertising online. TV will be a large part, but we will also use Radio, Outdoor and Print as that gives you the reach. Over time, the ratio could change because we focused on realizing the different efficacy of different media vehicles. So if we find something is working better than the other, we have no issues changing the media mix.
Q] With many consumers shifting their banking online, what are the efforts made to connect with them? What has been the growth in online banking and which services are most popular?
Consumers want to bank online and within online, more and more want to bank on mobile, and this will increase. We are investing a lot of time, money, energy and focus on building our online and mobile platforms. We are constantly looking at what more we can add. In some markets, we can give detailed research reports to people who invest in the markets through the mobile channel and we can definitely do that in India. We believe basic investments in online and mobile are marketing investments and not investments in technology, because we are able to reach our customers better and a mobile phone is your biggest distribution channel. So strategically, mobile marketing of financial services, mobile reach of financial services is the big play across the world and India is no exception. I see exponential growth in online spends but I also expect the other media to continue to grow.
Q] How has the Standard Chartered Marathon helped promote the brand? What are the other customer initiatives that you have undertaken?
This year is the 10th year of the Mumbai Marathon. It has become big only in the last few years and we had the vision to say that we would invest in it long term. What is particularly encouraging is the enthusiasm it creates for people from all walks of life, many of whom are not even our customers or ever will be our customers. At the brand level, I am delighted that it strengthens our positioning for ‘Here for good’, while doing good for society. The marathon is a fantastic vehicle and we intend to continue. We do it around the world, 13 races across four continents and will constantly keep looking whether we can expand the number of cities. The other initiative is our sponsorship of Liverpool Football Club. Last year, we also sponsored the Asia Cup 2012 cricket tournament in Bangladesh.
Q] How important is India for StanChart in the larger scheme of things?
India is one of the largest markets in the world and the board as well as our Group CEO are personally committed to doing lots of things here. This is one of the oldest markets where we have been present, 150+ years… Unlike many other global banks for whom India is a new fad or flavour, Standard Chartered has been here forever and it is only getting involved deeper and deeper by the day. We are listed in London, Hong Kong and in India via Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) and this shows our commitment to India.
Q] You are present in over 40 cities in India with close to 100 branches. What is the contribution of Tier 2 cities?
Most of the branches we have launched in the recent past have been in the smaller cities. Among bigger cities, we opened a branch in Trivandrum last month, in Udaipur, Jodhpur we opened a branch between Q4 and Q1; it’s a mix.
Q] What is the USP of brand Standard Chartered in relation to other banks?
From consumer data, we see the brand values are ‘reliable, dependable, long term’; they give us a very strong platform to build. We take a relationship approach rather than a transactional approach – that separates us and distinguishes us. The fact that we are strong in the emerging markets where growth has happened in the recent past and will happen in the future too positions us very strongly.
Q] What are the challenges faced in the Indian market?
Any company in a country of India’s size has to deal with not so much the challenge but the opportunity of distribution. How do you reach your products and services to as wide a customer base as India’s? We have to constantly innovate, for example, on credit cards we have partnerships where we are able to reach out to many more customers through retail houses such as Lifestyle, non-banking financial companies such as Bajaj Finance… distribution is the name of the game.
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