KMB's campaign with Subbu highlights 6% PLUS!

In October 2011, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the deregulation of the basic savings bank interest rate. Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) seized the opportunity to offer a higher rate of interest of 6% on savings deposits over Rs. 1 lakh and 5.5% on savings deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh, versus the 4% that all banks offered until now.

In this light, Adgully caught up with, Karthik Marshan, Executive Vice-President & Head, Group Marketing, Kotak Mahindra to know about the new ad campaign devised for the same and how banking with Kotak increases customers’ savings.

Speaking about the thought and the motive behind the campaign, Marshan said, “We created a compelling marketing campaign – outdoor, electronic, print and digital educating people on the merits of 6% interest on savings balances, featuring the popular ‘Subbu’ - played by versatile Bollywood actor Vinay Pathak. The new campaign highlights the bank’s disruptive interest rate offer, but also reinforces it with a host of attractive value added services and adaptation of technologies and processes that make banking convenient and seamless. These are drawn from customer insights which highlight high affinity among SB customers towards factors that fetch them higher returns - direct returns via higher interest on SB balances and indirect returns via savings made through value added services.”

Advertisements in the new campaign feature ‘Subbu’, as an easy to relate, next door character, who epitomizes smart money management, which is at the heart of KMB’s customer value proposition. “In the ads, ‘Subbu’ in his inimitable style brings to life the premise that ‘a rupee saved is a rupee that earns up to 6%’, denoting profitability and convenience for the customer who chooses to open a SB account with Kotak Mahindra Bank. The campaign does this by drawing attention to how banking with Kotak Mahindra Bank increases customers’ Savings Bank kitty by helping them spend smart and save smart”, he added.

Marshan states that both campaigns - the first Subbu series and the new 6% PLUS (also featuring Subbu), have worked very well for them. “Our customer base has increased significantly from the time we started offering higher than normal interest rates on our SB accounts. Further, our existing customers too have increased deposits in their savings accounts with us to avail the benefits of 6% p.a. interest rates and our value added services, thus making banking a more pleasurable experience for them. Our Savings Account deposit base has gone up significantly by 68% year-on-year, as on June 30, 2012”, he said.

Specifying the benefits that customers would receive from these new features, Marshan said, “ There are various value added options such as home banking, cash back, Just in time payment, etc. that help customers spend smartly as well as save smartly. The indirect returns through savings accrued through smart usage of these value added services could take up the net gain several notches above 6% and affords customers enormous flexibility to manage their monies smartly.”

Keeping in sync with the growing complexity of the consumer demands, KMB has also adapted newer technologies designed to make banking more convenient and seamless. A customer can now open a Savings Bank account with just a few clicks, saving himself the trouble of visiting the branch. With Home Banking, customers can open an account in a few minutes with assistance from a Kotak Bank officer using a specially programmed Tablet PC. Both Doorstep and Online modes of account opening make the process almost paperless and instantaneous.

Marshan also told us that the new advertising campaign is a pan-India national campaign covering all geographies. “We see growth coming not only from the top-8 metros but also from the emerging Middle India.”, he added. Declining to share the actual figures, Marshan informed that they have worked to make it look like a Rs 100 crore campaign!

Shedding light on the various activities done on the digital front for the campaign, Marshan said, “We have used digital across multiple platforms - Online, Mobile WAP & Apps to reinforce the message to the core audience. In the social space, we invited people to share with us their tips on Smart Saving via FB & Twitter. Considering that we are traditionally a nation of savers, we have some very peculiarly India smart saving tips that we apply in day to day life. The intent was to bring those out in the form of user generated content & publish a book on the same”.

Given the current financial environment, spelling out some of the key strategies and plans for growth in the next one year for KMB, Marshan said, “The response for our offering of 6% p.a. interest rates has been very encouraging with a 68% year-on-year growth, as on June 30, 2012, in our Savings Account deposits. Gauging by the response received so far, we are confident of maintaining our growth trajectory.” | By Ankita Tanna [ankita(at)adgully.com]