Business Sense magazine
Back in 2009 we were asked to relaunch the bank’s magazine for business and commercial banking customers, Business Sense, to reflect NatWest’s new ‘Helpful Banking’ brand. Our solution was to create a publication, full of tips, wisdom and case studies that come direct from SME business owners, that our readers trust and relate to. And trust it they do: 83 per cent of recipients claim to have taken action as a result of reading Business Sense; and according to Deborah McClaren, owner at bank customer the Media Sales House, “As a result of the ‘Business Bootcamp’ piece, I have since won no fewer than five major new contracts!”
Specialist business guides
Keen to harness the popularity of the Business Sense brand, the bank has launched a number of branded communications for business customers under its banner. John Brown now publishes the Business Sense Startup Guide, Business Sense: Legal and Business Sense: Structured Finance.
Business Sense website and integrated email programme
Recognising the increasing speed of content consumption, NatWest identified a need for a more regular contact with customers, as well as reaching out to prospects. Our solution was a widget-based website in which the user can customise the homepage like a dashboard, dragging and dropping content sections to reflect what’s most important to them. Results indicate that this strategy has more than paid off, with a recommendation in The Good Web Guide and thousands of customers and prospects coming back to the bank through this portal. A monthly email marketing programme sends a tailored selection of key stories and links to customers, prospects and influencers across the bank’s core business and commercial groups, rewarding clickthrough with offers, free downloads and exclusive AV content.
Social media
As part of our social media offering, John Brown carried out a risk mitigation exercise, then planned, executed and curated a branded Business Sense presence on LinkedIn and Twitter. These enable deep links to bank-branded content to be posted, and gain regular retweets and blog postings from business leaders and customers, providing the bank with precious content stretch.
Pocket Money
Pocket Money is a print magazine for NatWest that uses quirky editorial, celebrity features, games and puzzles to encourage kids to start saving. Not only does it work, with 53 per cent saving more money in a bank account after reading Pocket Money, but it also engages readers with the NatWest brand at an early age.
RBS Goal Saver
RBS was looking for a digital extension of Pocket Money, so we created an engaging desktop app featuring a cartoon pound coin. Using this, young savers track when they add pocket money and calculate the date on which they’ll reach their savings goal. We know that this fun, educational savings solution works, as traffic to the site has increased by an average of 30 per cent month on month.
Private Banking
The BSME and APA award-winning Private Banking magazine is designed to drive contact between some of the country’s wealthiest individuals and RBS’s team of Private Banking Managers. It achieves this by looking ravishing and featuring top contributors such as Margaret Drabble, Stella Rimington and Paddy Ashdown. The aim is to inspire conversations between readers and their Private Banking Manager, and in this it exceeds even the bank’s expectations: 67 per cent of Private Banking Managers take the magazine to meetings with customers, and 44 per cent report that the magazine has stimulated sales-related conversations.
Business Agenda
Sent out to the CEOs of the UK’s biggest companies, Business Agenda from RBS has to be a cut above the rest to secure the attention of its audience. It achieves this by featuring insightful business news by the best name writers, in-depth profiles on the UK’s most innovative and exciting companies and masterclass features on the hottest topics. Not only is it proven to increase contact between readers and the Bank but it also gets its time-poor readership talking among fellow leaders, with 42 per cent stating that they’ve discussed it with colleagues.