Summary
The 3 films under our launch campaign #ComeHomeWithKotak recorded over a million views and impressions. While the amplification campaign, #CarnivalOfReasons also garnered an overwhelming response from the audience and recorded 44.6K+ Engagement, 2M+ Reach, 3.26M+ Impressions. Influencers played a key role in driving this campaign and contributed to a total reach of 2,36,128.
Challenge
- While India's Housing Finance market garners over $20 trillion, there are many giant players known for being the go-to Home Loan providers. - Private banks are always known for charging exorbitant interest rates on Home Loans and Kotak Mahindra Bank's name stood low in awareness and consideration for this banking product. While India's market was still recovering from the business drop due to Covid-19 and a financial moratorium allowed by the Govt. of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank took a bold step, to shatter the market and occupy mind-share with a simple, yet direct campaign backing an unbelievably low-interest rate. - An Omni-channel campaign was designed to put forth the un-believability of such a low rate from Kotak and introduce the Home Loan rate as the number 1 reason out of all the varied reasons customers had, to buy a new home.
Objective
- While India's market was still recovering from the business drop due to Covid-19, we needed a campaign that helped us garner the maximum profits. We had the following clear objectives in mind: - To surprise the market by establishing Home Loan rates as low as 6.75%* p.a. coming from Kotak - To drive month on month sales growth up by at least 20% on account of these lower interest rates - To drive awareness and consideration for Kotak as a Home Loan provider as well and establish Kotak as a major player in the Home Loan market across the country.
Strategy
- While everyone was consuming extraordinary content during the lockdown, 3 short yet appealing films were shot and created in the launch phase each trying to portray the need for more space or better homes and encouraging the audience to #ComeHomeWithKotak. The three videos were hosted across Kotak's social media handles. - From the video series, the audience was engaged using gamification elements that recreated an offline carnival where friends and family can play, guess and win. The amplification campaign had fun-filled activities that engaged the audience through GIFs, puzzles and interactive posts. - Along with the carnival, the brand also launched an AR filter that listed fun and quirky reasons for moving into a new house. For a wider reach, we also collaborated with various influencers who recorded some spontaneous reactions to the filter.
Data
- As on 31st December, 2020, Kotak Mahindra bank had a national footprint of 1,603 branches and 2,573 ATMs and is the 2nd most valued Private Bank brand in India. However, the Bank's focus had always been on building a big customer base with great rates being offered on Savings accounts, completely digital 811 banking accounts and other retail liability products. - In line with this business strategy, Home Loans were never advertised in a mass campaign. Kotak ranked 9th in terms of its Home Loan market share, lending only to the most worthy and thus achieving very low delinquencies in their loans, maintaining an interest rate 5-10 basis points higher than key competitors - However, with the onset of November, Retail assets- the lending side of the business had taken a big hit with rock-bottom disbursements due to Covid-19 and a moratorium ( interest-free loan deferment) announced by the Govt. of India. The business needed a hero product to rise up and lift the sales
Solution
- Keeping in mind the average attention span on social platforms, we started the campaign by creating 3 byte-sized videos. Using data, we picked the most common home-buying reasons and targeted them to reach the right audience, based on location, age and interests for better results. - The stories narrated how the new interest rate helped 1. Bruno get a home with a dog park, 2. Let Chutki cartwheel comfortably 3. And let Sharmas live peacefully in their high-rise apartment. - With the recent increase in Social media usage, we introduced the #CarnivalOfReasons with an interactive AR filter and engaging posts that listed fun and quirky reasons to buy a house. - We engaged potential home buyers and drove consideration amongst the fence-sitters and also gave the audience multiple reasons to rejoice. - Both launch and amplification helped us garner active participation from the audience with enthusiastic DMs and comments.
Results
The 3 films under our launch campaign #ComeHomeWithKotak recorded over a million views and impressions. While the amplification campaign, #CarnivalOfReasons also garnered an overwhelming response from the audience and recorded 44.6K+ Engagement , 2M+ Reach, 3.26M+ Impressions. Influencers played a key role in driving this campaign and contributed to a total reach of 2,36,128. While the social media campaigns helped us achieve impeccable reasons but also drove impressive conversions in the marketplace. The business objective was a 20% jump in monthly sales (disbursement), Kotak monthly -sales of Jan 20 and Feb 20 stood at 300% of what it was in Oct 20 (pre-campaign). Open market research as well as a survey with existing customers revealed the true impact of the campaign. Open Market: 1. Unaided recall/ Spontaneous awareness – Kotak went from Rank 5 to Rank 1, leaving behind every big Home Loan player known in the country 2. Aided recall – Moved from Rank 6 to Rank 2 3. Consideration – Kotak moved from Rank 7 to Rank 2 with this span of 5 months
