2021 Bronze Financial Services

Agency: McCann Central

Client: Barclays UK

Campaign Name: Trust Anchor: driving digital adoption amongst the ultimate resistors

Campaign Overview

Barclays UK was on a mission to get mature, digital non-users to overcome their resistance to taking up mobile banking.

Strategy

This steadfast group of older customers lack confidence in technology, so the bank positioned App ID as an additional layer of certainty; the knowledge that no one can impersonate them.

The strategy challenged the two main reasons for resistance head-on: addressing their concerns and turning them into proof points.

It was a relatively small leap for these customers to use a single feature within the mobile app to verify an offline transaction, rather than making use of its full functionality.

Meanwhile, beyond demonstrating a relevant, real-world application for App ID, the bank needed to deliver an emotional appeal, showing it understood some customers wanted to continue to use branch and telephone banking.

Media strategy supported the approach by using the more traditional channels of press and radio to drive this less digitally engaged audience towards conversations in branch

Creativity

The campaign appealed to customers' sense of individuality, communicating that only they could verify their identity when in-branch or using telephone banking; it's a change for the better, which allows them to stay just how they like to be.

The creative idea was 'Only you can be you’. This neatly summed up the ID verification functionality, combining it with an emotional appeal to customers' own sense of individuality.

The copy brought to life those quirks and eccentricities that make each person unique, expressed in a warm, humorous way.

Imagery was carefully chosen to be representative of confident, happy mature people, directly looking to camera, demonstrating that App ID puts customers in control.

Results

App registrations increased by 20,000 in the first week of the campaign, exceeding target by 37.9%. This was the only time that 2020 digital adoption outperformed 2019, with 36,656 more app downloads in total. In addition:

• CPA of £44 vs. target of £66, exceeding plan by 33%

• Commercially, the campaign delivered ROMI 33% above plan

Awareness of the Barclays ID feature increased by 9% among customers in the target age group, with 7% more claiming to have used the app, and the same number expressing an improved perception in ease of use.

This was further evidenced by App ID registrations increasing by 34% in the four weeks after campaign launch vs. the six weeks prior - with the strongest week for app downloads across the whole of 2020 occurring in the week the campaign went live.

In branch, registrations to the Barclays app in the channel increased by 12% across the campaign period overall, despite footfall being down 13%.

Across telephone banking, the app registration rate via telephony was up 6% during the campaign period, despite calls being down 17%.

The Team

McCann Central - Joe Ivory, Senior Copywriter - Jamie Buckingham, Senior Art Director - Duncan Bancroft, Senior Art Director - Leon Deeming, Copywriter - Jo Jacques, Managing Partnetship, Business Leadership - Dan Caputo, Group Account Director - Katherine Smith, Senior Account Manager - Louise Doherty, Studio Team Leader - Hannah Dale, Production Director - Jon Philips, Production Executive

Contributors

OMD UK, Rorschach Radio, C3 Midlands, CM Brand and Digital Imaging Services (DIS)