Challenge

Retailers and service providers in Russian cities are often strangely located.

Only 20% of new ventures survive their first two years and data shows that infrastructure often doesn’t meet local needs.

Sberbank Neighborhoods was a campaign created to improve local communities by increasing the number of shops and services in local areas.

Solution

Sberbank used empty windows, billboards and geo-targeted online banners to ask locals which shops and services they wanted to see in their area.

These responses initiated a customised communications campaign targeting suitable existing businesses, as well as entrepreneurs wanting to launch new businesses, with offers for business loans.

The campaign ran hundreds of outdoor ads, more than 3,000 unique online banners and thousands of ads targeting small businesses. With each response the algorithm learnt to offer better choices for both locals and businesses.

Results 

The campaign generated nine times as many small business responses than traditional loan advertising campaigns.

Three times as many customers took out loans for business development than from traditional loan campaigns.

The campaign was 30% more efficient than traditional campaigns in terms of costs.

Sberbank has been approached by major Russian real estate developers to collaborate for better infrastructure planning in residential areas.