Interview- Shifting Challenges To Opportunities Is The Concept Of EG-Bank’s Marketing Strategy Since Covid-19 Outbreak

Nelly Mahmoud, Chief Communications Officer, Head of Youth Beyond Banking and Financial Inclusion at EG-Bank stated in an interview with CMOs Magazine the marketing strategy the bank has followed since coronavirus pandemic outbreak, which includes four main pillars enabled them to break the traditional barriers related to banking services promotion.

She also highlighted EG-Bank’s responsibilities towards youth, in addition to the challenges that face banking sector when it comes to marketing, as well as key points that every marketer should pay attention to for a successful marketing plan and many other issues were discussed during the following interview…

• A banking brand is not just a logo or tagline but a whole system which needs to be activated externally, internally and within society.
• Youth represent about 50% of our customers, which never happened before targeting this segment.
• Launching “Mint” aims at supporting youth aged between 16 and 35 in everything concerned with entrepreneurship.

How Covid-19 impacted on EG-Bank’s marketing plans in 2020? And what are the main features of bank’s marketing strategy for 2021?

Shifting challenges to opportunities is the concept we have adopted since the beginning of Covid-19 outbreak within a marketing strategy based on four main pillars which are:

1. providing unique value internally (to our human assets and internal culture) externally (to our clients and potential clients), to our shareholders and to the society where we operate in, through challenging the status quo and focusing on detecting the gaps in order to bring new opportunities and set new daring trends.
2. Introduce new concepts, services and products and tap on new segments through collaborations and partnerships (a strong pillar of sdgs).
3. Remote services adoption and adaptation within our business model and approach.
4. Focus on our goals and strategy to constantly grow and enrich our model and winnings.

How COVID-19 changed EG-Bank’s thinking approach regarding goals and perspective?

Returning to our main pillars, previously referred to, pandemic moved all of us to think more thoroughly and realistically, as we realized that we have no alternative but partnerships in order to enhance our services to reach new segments of audiences in a way that is proportionate to current conditions. We actually partnered with a number of start-ups and entrepreneurs, in this regard.

We also adopted the concept of client awareness and communicating with them digitally, in keeping with digital transformation strategy, through directing them towards remote banking. For example, when Central Bank of Egypt launched the initiative of deferring loans installments, we allowed clients to apply for deferral via our website without having to visit a branch or even making a phone call.

And like all other banks that tended to focus on digitalization, we also offered new services such as communicating with clients through WhatsApp as a new medium that makes our services more accessible for current and potential clients and accelerates the process of providing online banking to them according to their preferences.

Thus, we were recognized by Google as the only bank from Egypt that has taken effective steps to communicate with current and potential clients through remote channels during this exceptional period of time, as a result of our rapid movement – from the very moment of COVID-19 outbreak – towards one of our main pillars revolving around detecting gaps and unique aspects in order to bring new opportunities.

This is for external communication… what about the internal and society, as well?

Actually, our efforts have not been limited to external communication only; but we also focused on both internal communication and community. As we consider our staff members as our ambassadors outside the bank, we communicated and interacted with them from the outset through integrated outreach program, not only for guiding them toward safety precautions at work, but also for how to take care of their families during the lockdown and many other programs that address them in human terms, which doubled our staff members’ satisfaction.

At the level of society, we thought there was a chance for us to support youth and we are known to have been like that since we reintroduced our brand in 2016 which was not only a change in logo or brand name but extended to the full system with a view towards supporting youth and their skills, keeping pace with financial inclusion plan of Central Bank of Egypt which pay attention to it year after year, noting that we were among the first banks to create youth support based DNA, since 2017.

From the first moment after re-introducing its brand, EG-Bank targeted to be one of the top 10 among 49 banks in Egyptian market within three years, backed by a “Push Strategy” whether for customers, society, entrepreneurs, or the ecosystem; before shifting to a future pull strategy to benefit from.

Have you (EG Bank) recently launched any initiatives to support youth?

We have recently launched an initiative in collaboration with 15 partners to support freelancers through dedicated platform titled as “Ma’ Al-Shabab” to showcase and market their work, as well as offering them added value, raising the morale, and reviving the spirit of positive thinking in the current circumstances.

Offering training opportunities for free was a part of our awards to youth in this initiative, through our current partners in the field of freelancing education, such as “Al7arefa” and “Freelance Yard”.

• We were the first local bank to make a complete brand introduction, in 2016.
• We’re recognized by Google as the only bank from Egypt that has taken effective steps to communicate with current and potential clients through remote channels during the pandemic.

Regarding Banking Sector, What are the key points that marketers should pay attention to when setting up a successful rebranding plan or re-introducing their brand as EG-Bank did?

Let me indicate that what we did in 2016 was not a rebranding as it had not follow an acquisition then, but we describe it as “Complete Brand Introduction” and we were the only local brand to introduce such experience.

Here is must be emphasized yet again that a brand is not just a logo or tagline but a whole system which needs to be activated on three sides (Externally, Internally, and within Society) and none of them should be ignored; otherwise, your strategy will not succeed.

To what extent could “EG-Bank” utilize a new thinking in its marketing approach to achieve goals?

We have followed different approach in marketing for three years, during which we could break down the traditional barrier of marketing in banking sector, as banks in Egyptian market have long been discreet about ideas and concepts they promote as well as tone of voice used for marketing, while EG-Bank was the only bank which believed that consumer needs a bank which talks to him in genuine way that touches his ideas and convictions.

All of this led us to launch the most popular campaign of EG-Bank “محدش بيعمللك حساب..احنا عملنالك بنك” which had considerable success as our sales have been doubled over two years since launched. This remarkable success was due to the genuine way we talked to our targeted audiences through, away from the traditional “We are the best” campaigns that target them.

We were also the first bank to provide TV program for entrepreneurs in 2017, with the aim of communicating with youth and society. Not only were we the founders of it, we also implemented the content and ideas, selected the jury included Wael Al-Fakharani, Ayman Ismail, Nevin Al-Tahry, Khaled Ismail , Dina Al-Mufti, as well as concluding partnerships with both “Endeavor” and “138 Pyramids” companies.

Among our unusual trends was the launch of our youth-dedicated platform “Mint”, our brand subsidiary, at the end of 2017.

Could you tell us more about “Mint” Platform? And how its idea came about?

It is a fact that any marketer should always pay attention to research because it illustrates pains, gaps and points of uniqueness that can be exploited in marketing, and we in EG-Bank found, through our research findings, that there are barriers separating youth from banking, the most important of which is what we mentioned previously which is that banks don’t speak language of youth. Thus, we decided to launch “Mint”, a subsidiary of “EG-Bank” with a separate brand name.

According to our research, awareness of that brand among young people is increasing year after year which confirms our success in achieving our goal from the platform. Now, youth represent about 50% of our customers, which never happened before targeting this segment.

Actually, we were the first bank provide such platform for youth aged between 16 and 35 to support them in everything related to entrepreneurship. We set up business incubator 3 years ago which embraces 10 to 12 projects in each field and  has graduated more than 64 entrepreneurs or startups. The platform also includes training programs, skills development programs, financial awareness for school and university youth, in addition to workshops for young graduates in various fields. Such services have not been provided by any bank over the last 10 years, at least.

Are there any future plans concerned with supporting youth?

Actually, we have a variety of youth-dedicated programs which are being expanded every day, in alignment with the state and central bank heading towards financial inclusion, which gives us confidence that the path that we chose from the beginning was correct and in line with this trend that is represented by a large part of youth.

From your point of view, what are the challenges that face banks when marketing their services?

I think that a large part of the challenges is due to policies or directions that banks put themselves and don’t believe they can overcome. Therefore they need to break this barrier and realize that selling financial products needs to gain your customers trust and to be smart along with having a modern skin.

• Advertising budget allocated for Ramadan has been directed to social media.

As an important season for advertising, how did EG-Bank get ready for Ramadan?

Let’s agree that TV viewership is constantly declining compared to Digital which is progressively growing, especially among new segments that we never been able to reach via any other medium. That’s why we are heading currently to introduce reliable content targeting our current and potential customers all over the year, not just Ramadan, in order to gain their trust in our brand. So, this Ramadan, we will direct our advertising budget to social media.

Let me explain that when we went to TV before, we had a specific goal and achieved it, but now it is better for us to be present throughout the year. Actually, your campaign success is not only about the medium you use, but there are other factors such as the purpose of advertising, where your target audience is located, how to reach them, and what are the effective channels that can achieve your ROI. In short, you have to ask yourself “why would I pay so much if I could reach my goals with less money?”