Campaign Logic: Banking on simplicity

In its campaign, Airtel Payments Bank makes a simple claim: that it will make banking hasslefree

Brand: Airtel Payments Bank

Budget: Rs 15 crore

Agency: Taproot-Dentsu

Airtel Payments Bank, which commenced operations in January this year, has rolled out its first television campaign. Titled ‘Bank hai par alag hai’, the campaign highlights how it is different from banking as we know it and claims it will bring digital banking closer to the customer. The campaign has three television commercials (TVCs), which highlight the services offered by Airtel Payments Bank. These include opening of a bank account in less than three minutes, fixed interest rate of 7.25 per cent on savings deposits, and the facility of cash deposit and withdrawal at any banking point. In the first TVC, a girl is seen standing in a long bank queue and she seems exasperated with the lengthy procedure to avail of the bank’s services. She wonders aloud if there is a bank that could function like a shop providing immediate services. Next, we see her at a banking point of Airtel Payments Bank. In the second campaign, a girl is talking about the hardships that her father faces while withdrawing money that she sends him every month from his bank. Again the scene shifts to the premises of an Airtel Payments Bank branch where banking transactions are going on smoothly. The third TVC features a confused young man who struggles to remember the different interest rates on savings deposits. Airtel Payments Bank once again comes to his rescue--the voiceover says that the bank offers a fixed interest rate of 7.25 per cent on savings deposits, the highest in India.

“We want to communicate Airtel Payments Bank’s differentiated banking model that leverages Airtel’s vast retail network. Over 250,000 neighbourhood Airtel retail outlets will act as banking points and the bank plans to scale this up to 600,000 banking points in the coming days,” says Shashi Arora, managing director and chief executive officer, Airtel Payments Bank.

The campaign has been conceptualised and executed by Taproot-Dentsu. The agency was assigned the task to establish Airtel Payments Bank as a new service category from Airtel and build credibility for a non-traditional bank. An important task was to create awareness around how Airtel Payments Bank simplifies banking for a common man.

Agnello Dias, director, Taproot-Dentsu, says the TVCs were difficult to execute. “Since the protagonist and her/his environment were moving at different speeds, it had to be shot in three plates, sometimes four in order to get the desired results. That was technically interesting and challenging.”

The budget for the campaign is estimated at Rs 15 crore.

Who would be the typical customer of Airtel Payments Bank? The bank’s services are available across all 29 states of the country, aimed both at rural and urban customers. Airtel Payments Bank has roped in over two million customers since launch.