Exclusive | Banking effectively on OOH: YES BANK's Anindya Datta

In order to mark its presence, YES BANK has recently rolled out, first of its kind outdoor campaign utilizing  bus shelters, radio cabs and Mumbai & Delhi Airports and are going all out to make it a huge success. It is noteworthy that this is the first time that  airports have switched from HSBC to YES BANK and the campaign is widespread enough to paint both Delhi and Mumbai blue.

Apart from this aggressive OOH punch, YES BANK has also been fairly active in the social media space with campaigns such as the Saat Ka Sikander contest. Also the bank enjoys good brand visibility during marquee events like The Bengaluru Midnight Marathon, Corporate Masters Golf Tournament & The International Polo Cup. Ever since YES BANK’s retail focus from early this year, the bank has gone on to spruce up its advertising as well as marketing efforts to reach out to the retail customer.

The creative has been designed by their creative agency on record , Triton Communications, whereas Brand Connect, a specialist OOH agency, has handled the media buying duties.
Adgully spoke to Anindya Datta, CMO, YES BANK  who shared few insights about the initiative.  Following are some of the excerpts of the interview:
The precise focus of the campaign was to garner maximum visibility for the brand across multiple touch points. The primary message is to convey the superior 7% rate of interest on Savings Accounts. “The target audience for this campaign comprises of people residing in our Branch Service Area (BSA), financial decision makers and frequent fliers who regularly travel for business,” said Mr. Datta.

He further adds, “We mapped movements of inbound and outbound air travelers and decided to strategically communicate through touch points where travelers spend a good amount of captive time. So through their entire journey, they come across our advertisements on the aerobridge, baggage claim counters, in-transit lounges as well as on the radio taxis waiting to pick them up. It doesn’t end there, once they get into the radio taxis or through their personal transport, they come across our campaign on the bus shelters across Mumbai and Delhi that are located at strategic and key arterial roads and also close to our branches.”

It can be seen that basically, the dual objective of this campaign was to map the target consumers’ outdoor media exposure pattern which is of primary importance and to reinforce their superior savings interest rate proposition of 7%.

With regard to challenges they faced during their latest OOH campaign Dutta answered, “Like any marketing campaign we had our fair share of challenges. We were very focused on particular locations so availability of good quality sites coupled with meeting printing and installation timelines were critical. Moreover we wanted to ensure a uniform look and feel across all the bus shelters in Delhi and Mumbai. Since we took a step further and installed back-lit letter cut outs across most of the hoardings, it was essential to have a suitable post maintenance plan in place as well. Additionally since we are a Bank, we were deeply sensitive of the commercials and that too has been entrepreneurially navigated with specialized in-sourced media planning.”

In terms of expectations, the company expects to generate greater awareness for the YES Bank brand.  Already being visible with their advertisements through mediums like  print  and television, the expectation from the OOH campaign is to have a multiplier effect & greater recall value coupled with a strong reinforcement of the brand in their Branch Service Areas.

Sharing the unique elements of the campaign he said that they studied both cities well and identified key arterial routes where vehicles tend to stop for longer durations at the traffic signals. Their hoardings were strategically placed at these areas as well as in areas where a YES Bank branch was in the vicinity – primarily to encourage call-to-action.

With regard to other initiatives undertaken for the campaign Mr. Datta said, “Going forward our marketing initiatives will look at aligning with consumers’ media consumption habits. While we’ve been heavy consumers in the traditional media space, we are actively exploring the new media like online to tap relevant target audiences. Also, our experience with the Out Of Home space has been positive and we will probably retain the medium in the media mix, complementing our advertising in Print and TV.”

Shedding light on their social media strategies he said that being the 4th largest private sector bank in India, YES BANK has invested in various new age technologies and communications mediums and they consider Digital Marketing as an absolute essential for a 360 degree marketing plan. With increasing internet penetration he considers this medium to be one of the most important mediums, when ably complemented by TV, Print and Outdoor media vehicles.

Their online marketing initiatives have grown in the last year. They have used the medium extensively to reach out to NRI consumers for their Global Indian Banking product and for YES REMIT, their newly launched remittance product. High traffic sites pertaining to India centric information/personal finance sites like Moneycontrol etc are part of the plan mix. Search Engine Optimisation is also an important element of the online marketing strategy that is followed by YES BANK.

Also as a differentiated institution, Yes Bank has used digital marketing, including social media as an innovative tool to engage with their stakeholders and customers prospects. They are one of the first among the financial services players in India to get on to Facebook and Twitter. Over the last year they have made significant efforts to become more interactive on social media and this is reflected by their fan base on Facebook that has grown from less than 500 in early 2012 to over 55,000 as of November 2012. This exponential increase highlights the success of Yes Bank’s social media strategy as well as greater resonance of the brand.

While concluding, Dutta explained their strategies and coming up initiatives. He said, “Going forward our marketing initiatives will look at aligning with consumers’ media consumption habits. While we’ve been heavy consumers in the traditional media space, we are actively exploring the new media like online to tap relevant target audiences. Also, our experience with the Out Of Home space has been positive and we will probably retain the medium in the media mix, complementing our advertising in Print and TV.”