About the campaign

Although our strategy had to help persuade Capitec clients to use their Capitec account as their primary account and encourage new clients to sign up, our strategic approach was not just about telling engaging stories. It was also about data-informed content, agile content (being tactical and reactive by taking into account current events), and retargeting (finding customers where they already were). 

Data helped to give direction and find opportunities; creativity made the content different, authentic and valuable; and smart amplification created relevancy. 

Challenge

Capitec, a South African retail bank with 12.6 million active clients, asked DENTSU CREATIVE South Africa to create an innovative strategy that would support their repositioning from “Bank better. Live better” to “Simplify banking. Live better”.

Two main audiences had to be considered: current Capitec clients, who do not necessarily use their Capitec accounts as their primary bank accounts, and potential new clients. 

Our strategy had to help persuade Capitec clients to use their Capitec accounts as their primary accounts and encourage new clients to sign up. 

Solution

Audience insights was the starting point. Informed by proprietary research and Capitec’s internal analytics, we identified the audience for the campaign to be busy multitaskers who are addicted to their mobile phones, highly career-focused, looking for inspiration and not incredibly loyal to Capitec (they often have accounts with other banks).

Next, we identified the audience’s core need. To get to the place where (as per the new positioning) “simplify” would be the solution, we looked at the inverse: complication. 

Our solution needed to simplify life for our audience. 

Results

Over the course of the campaign 1.332 million new accounts were opened, an average of 222 000 per month (2.5% higher than normal). Approximately 104 500 account holders made Capitec their primary bank from October 2019 to March 2020.

• 1 332 447 new accounts were opened through the course of the campaign
• 104 500 account holders made Capitec their primary bank 
• 16.7% open rate achieved on mailers; the final mailer achieved an open rate of 3.25% (KPI was 10-15%)
• 3 180 000 emails were sent (about 230 000 per send)
• 530 000 unique opens of the mailer with a total of 33 623 total clicks 
• 1 529 493 total reach on Facebook
• 2 365 870 total impressions on Twitter
• 313 004 total impressions on LinkedIn