Summary
811 #DreamDifferent Credit Card Kotak decided to plug a gap in India's regular credit card base by rebuilding consumer knowledge and preference around the secured credit card category. To engage and convert this audience, Kotak launched a fully digital, lifetime free credit card designed for them through the 811 #DreamDifferent credit card campaign. Through the 811 #DreamDifferent campaign, Kotak successfully rebuilt the image of the secured CC category and earned a 27x increase in business.
Challenge
The number of credit card users in India in Dec'20 touched 60 million as per Reserve Bank of India's data. Yet, there were only about 3 credit cards for every 100 people in India, compared to 32 cards in the USA. Credit Card awareness and usage in India is very low as compared to other evolved global markets. Many Indians especially in non-metro and rural areas feel intimidated by the process of being selected for a credit card which requires a certain CIBIL score and other parameters. This deters most of them to look at a credit card as hard to get and hard to maintain due to high interest rates. Moreover, as young Indians realise their potential, they are challenging the norms by stepping into unconventional career paths. Both these bases were looking for a way to afford more and at the same time realise different aspirations.
Objective
At Kotak, we realised that the secured credit card category was untapped and downplayed by every other competing bank. The product category gave us an opportunity to reach customers who were either rejected, had low CIBIL scores, had no income documents or came from tier 2/3 cities and thus, were not targeted by other banks. The Aqua Credit Card was an existing secured credit card at Kotak. But to make our offering appealing, we realized it needed modifications to not just its features but also its branding. To this end, we launched the campaign for Kotak 811 #DreamDifferent Credit Card aimed at enabling behavioural change towards Credit Cards amongst an untapped and often overlooked target audience Our aim wasn't limited to just driving awareness about the advantages of a Credit Card tailor-made for them, we also needed to build acquisition by tapping into this overlooked base through relevant sales channels.
Strategy
The idea was to make a credit card easily accessible to an opportunity base of about 55 crores, who are currently rejected, or have a low CIBIL score, and are not targeted by many banks for asset products. The card was renamed to 811#DreamDifferent Credit card as we wanted to bring the benefits of a credit card to everyone in this day and age when most bill payments, shopping, and other transactions happen online. Our 811 brand helped us focus on inclusivity with a simple motto - "Everyone is Invited". Since our redesign and launch happened during the pandemic, we also knew that it was necessary for us to ensure the customer's safety by building a fully-digital, 100% contactless application journey for the 811 #DreamDifferent credit card. In order to build interest and foster a desire to sign-up amongst such a diverse audience, we also identified the need for our campaign to rely on a digital-first, targeted approach that aligned not only with their needs and interests, but also with geographically specific language and behavioural preferences.
Data
Through a series of online surveys, interviews and group discussions with our TG, Kotak had identified their key needs and wants, such as low interest charges, extended timeframes on interest free cash-withdrawals, more rewards for online spending, etc., in order to design a credit card that aligned with their lifestyle. To further optimize communication around the relaunch we took a highly segmented targeting approach by utilizing a mix of internal data and market research to identify 5 distinct audience segments such as customers who already had an eligible FD, customers of certain age & account balance but with no eligible FD, etc. Through our research we also identified the need to adopt a highly targeted, digital-heavy channel approach in order to account for the pre-dominantly younger age skew in our audience and catch their attention at relevant research/purchase moments.
Solution
With the Kotak 811 #DreamDifferent Credit Card, we wanted to address our audience's inhibitions & unconventional aspirations all at once. We realised that this base of untapped potential customers can also be provided a card that fulfils their needs. Launched in the middle of the pandemic, this digital-first, lifetime free card, was supported by a digital-heavy campaign. A notable first was the launch of our first ever influencer campaign for the 811#DreamDifferent credit card by roping in an eclectic variety of influencers from key audience interest categories such as dancing, gaming, photography, amongst others. These 13 influencers spoke about their journeys, their desire to chase and succeed at their passions and the role of the 811 #DreamDifferent card in enhancing their dreams, no matter how unconventional it was. We even initiated a special weekend campaign with various e-commerce offers on the card as people browsed for products over the weekend. This approach saw the most traction in multi-channel CRM supported campaigns like emailers, SMS, Push Notifications. To effectively reach audiences in non-metro & rural areas, we also leveraged the power of vernacular communication by releasing our campaign in 4 regional languages in addition to Hindi & English.
Results
The social media phase of the campaign reached over 1.3+ Mn people with over 4+ Lakhs people engaging with the content. The hero communication of the campaign was the #DreamDifferent video which garnered more than 1 million views. Overall, the social media campaign reached over 5 million people and our regional language communication pieces received a conversion of additional 14%. From a small base of secured card customers, this campaign rebuilt the image of secured credit cards and increased the customer base by 27X. The campaign contribution attributed by CRM campaigns like email, SMS, PN and interact banners, lead generation activity through ATMs and WhatsApp, contributed 43% of customers acquired.
