Live

Banks have had a tough time of in recent years. At the height of the recession, public opinion of the financial sector reached an all time low, and the blame for the financial crisis was laid firmly at the door of banking institutions.

In was in this difficult climate the First Direct needed to revitalise its image. When it arrived on the market in 1989, it stood out from competitors with its unique no-branch business model and visual-led marketing. As other banks started to offer similar services and adopt more innovative communications, First Direct had lost some of its unique positioning.

The main weapon in any First Direct’s marketing arsenal was its excellent customer relationships. The excellent rapport that First Direct had with its customers was to form the basis of its new campaign.

First Direct felt that the only way to communicate their unique message was to relay it in real time. Traditional advertising techniques would be dismissed by a public that was currently hostile to the financial sector. Given the trust that First Direct had in its customer feedback, they decided to let their customers do the talking for them.

The Live campaign harnessed the latest data visualisation techniques and social marketing concepts to express customer’s views. First Direct mind blogs, forums and social media comments for real-time data on what their consumers were saying. The effectiveness of the campaign would rest on its transparency, so positive and negative views about the brand were used.

A variety of data visualisation widgets were employed to display the unedited consumer feedback. These widgets were hosted on the firstdirect.com/live microsite, and were shareable across common social networking platforms. The visuals were also converted into live digital advertising on the London Underground.

The transparent attitude struck a chord with consumers. First Direct recorded a 240% uplift in responses for current accounts. Equally importantly, they recorded a 10% increase in brand differentiation, suggesting that First Direct had regained some of its unique status. In the wider banking sector, the Live campaign has led the way for the use of social media in the industry.