New Zealand’s Kiwibank has launched a gaming-styled online
campaign that is hosted on a bespoke YouTube channel and is likened
to a ‘spy film’ to encourage consumers to switch to the bank.
The campaign is built around a
loose narrative of an elite team within Kiwibank called ‘Green Ops’
whose mission is to help rescue customers from bad banking
experiences.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Kiwibank head of brand and
marketing communications Nicky Ashton, said: “It’s kind of like
Get Smart meets the Bourne Identity’.
“The Kiwibank ‘Green Ops’ team goes
around making it easier for people to switch to Kiwibank. Just one
signature and Green Ops will deal with the rest.”
Visitors to the online ‘Green Ops’
channel are encouraged to click though to a website to begin the
switching process throughout the video.
The channel also features
interactive elements to allow users to share their experience with
friends via various social media platforms, such as Facebook.
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By GlobalDataAshton said the ‘gamification’
approach of the website aims to provide a richer and more engaging
experience for consumers.
“Kiwibank needs to stand out from
the competition, so it is our job to continually find new ways to
connect with new customers,” said Ashton.
Kiwibank officially launched the
bank switching initiative on 15 August.
It also implemented a two-week
‘teaser’ version of the campaign on the radio, using outdoor
advertising and on the home page of the bank’s website that began
on 1 August.
Ashton told RBI: “The campaign has had a really
strong start, and we will be judging it against our historical
switching numbers for earlier campaigns.”
Kiwibank’s parent company is New
Zealand Post. It was launched in 2002 and has more than 700,000
customers
Commenting on the importance of
social media, compared to traditional forms of advertising, Ashton
said Kiwibank has been increasingly using both Facebook and
Twitter, particularly over the last few months, said Ashton
Ashton said: “We use Facebook and
Twitter to create an ongoing conversation with customers about our
campaigns, activities and community events.
“For instance, to inform people in
earthquake-damaged Christchurch that we had teamed up with partners
to offer free soup at sports grounds around the city during winter
or to promote our recent offset home loan launch.
“One of the most interesting observations has been the way that
our own customers come to our defence should someone criticise us
online – thus proving that social media can self-regulate without
any intervention.”
