Scotiabank
The Bank of Nova Scotia, operating as Scotiabank, is a Canadian multinational bank. It is the third largest bank in Canada by deposits and market capitalization.
Industry
— Financial services
— Retail
Branding to
— Articulate value
— Conquer new markets
— Expand an offering
Services
— Brand & value proposition strategy
— Brand naming
— Brand identity & visual systems
— Advertising & promotion
The Situation
Scotiabank had been an important player in the Caribbean and Latin America for over a century, present in over 27 countries and so ingrained they were often viewed as a local institution rather than a foreign (Canadian) bank. However, they clearly were seen as “My father’s bank” in relation to hipper, newer local competitors. This was a dangerous position to occupy when the region has one of the world’s youngest populations representing the future cohort of customers and their life-time value to the Bank.
Human catalyst
Banking is not just about where you put your money.
Our Solution
STEP 1: Yield Branding began by creating a Project Charter, identifying the roles and responsibilities for each group throughout the region and head office. We established a protocol for levels of feed-back, approval and engagement at specific stages of the project. This was essential to ensure we didn’t wind up with “too many cooks in the kitchen”.
STEP 2: The second phase was to gather market intelligence. A task force was sent to Trinidad to observe and record the media and social habits of the youth target audience. How and where did they congregate socially? Who influenced them? What media did they consume? How did they access the internet? How important was mobile? We engaged a youth marketing group from Canada specifically for this purpose and they were of invaluable help. Following this top level study we conducted rounds of discovery focus groups to probe youth attitudes towards life ambitions, banking and their financial future. We came out of this initial round with eight key drivers that we felt could power this young adult segment brand: Guidance, Service, Recognition, Respect, Financial Focus, Engagement, Potential, Seriousness.
These drivers were vetted with stakeholders and customers in Trinidad, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Peru to ensure they remained consistent with the values and beliefs of the individual markets.
STEP 3: With the drivers in hand we crafted some preliminary brand strategies or “straw men”. We looked for leverageable insights within the target’s relationship with banking, media choices, and their financial future. We broke down all the possible tangible and intangible attributes of the Scotiabank brand and assigned benefits to each. We examined the brand character and personality and looked for support to the beliefs. Out of the dozens of potential attributes we had to select and refine those that would connect with the youth target while still remaining true to the Scotiabank master brand. The Yield team comprised Spanish language nationals who ensured that the attributes were consistent with what they knew of the Latin markets.
STEP 4: Finally, we had three possible brand strategies that we put into quantitive testing. Each value proposition had key messaging attached to it.
Financial Friend – we get you are here to support and listen when you need someone to talk to.
Hooked up Banker – we can find you all the best deals, promotions, invitations to clubs.
Liberating Financial Guide – we see your potential to be the person you want to be.
This was soon adapted into Spanish as Scotiabank Sé+. Imaginar. Atrevete. Lograr. It is important to note the differences in the Spanish adaptation of Be. Research showed that “Sé+”, literally “know more” would be more compelling with the Spanish language markets due to their socially and financially advanced populations. The positioning line, “Imaginar. Atrevete. Lograr” literally meaning “Imagine. Dare. Succeed” was also bolder reflecting the more ambitious value systems in those markets.
STEP 5: Yield then faced the challenge of bringing the positioning to life creatively. The identity and branding system were designed to embody lifelines that would be woven through every element of our communications that included: TV. Budgets were extremely tight and the need to cross ethno-geographic boundaries was acute so Yield developed an animated concept that spoke to the dreams and aspirations of the target. For subsequent roll out, it could be re-voiced into Spanish or French or English with different intonations and inflections.
The Yield
Scotiabank delivered excellent business results in Trinidad: 1,500 new accounts opened in only two months, 43% aided awareness and a key partnership with Digicel. It was evident that the program could be successfully replicated to run in most Latin American and Caribbean markets and this convinced the Scotiabank board to approve the program roll out across the region into Costa Rica, El Salvador, Jamaica and Barbados as part of Phase 2.