Direct mail case study: Making money matter to kids

Let’s face it, money is really complicated.

Plus, the numerous digital financial tools and information overload makes things even tougher. Especially for financially-savvy parents struggling to explain the basics of money to their little ones.

OCBC Bank saw this as a timely opportunity to refresh its OCBC Mighty Savers in the minds of parents. And to speak to kids in a way that would inspire them to be “superheroes” when it comes to savings. For the purpose of this campaign, it decided to focus its attention on parents of children who were between three to eight years old.

The bank then looked for a format that would appeal to kids so that it could take the often plain and boring topic of money and make it into a fun and exciting Superhero series. To make things interesting, without exceeding its budget, OCBC repurposed its OCBC Mighty Savers’ mascots into superheroes with unique superpowers and threw in a villain – Dr Greed – just to keep the kids’ attention.

The bank then transformed complex money matters into simple, yet captivating animated episodes. This was done by breaking down the essentials of nance into two simple video segments that kids could easily understand – “Give” and “Save”. OCBC scripted an engaging storyline with money advice and released them in a staggered manner, like an animated TV show.

To further engage the children, it also created a comic out of each episode and sent them out as direct mailers. Additionally, a colouring sheet and a unique sticker pack were available for collection to involve children with the bank’s stories. It also created bite-sized animated editions of the comic for social media to drive traction.

When Chinese New Year was around the corner, OCBC Bank also produced customised Ang bao packets that gamified the OCBC Mighty Savers characters. It built on that with a limited- edition Mighty Savers Coin Bank to get them started on their savings journey.

As a result of the OCBC Mighty Savers campaign, the perception of OCBC and Mighty Savers improved by 67% and 10% respectively, and the number of accounts and deposits were about 75% more than business-as-usual.

“For parents with young children, talking to kids about the value of money can be quite a challenge. Therefore, we needed to nd a simple, educational, yet entertaining way to do so. By augmenting an engaging creative concept for our Mighty Savers’ mascots, combined with a variety of children-friendly touchpoints that parents would approve of, GOVT Singapore helped us to create a great platform with this campaign for us to better connect with families and stand out from the clutter,” said Yvonne Low, CMO, consumer financial services Singapore, OCBC Bank.

Objective

OCBC Bank wanted to refresh its OCBC Mighty Savers programme in the minds of parents. It also wanted to speak to kids 
in a way that would inspire them to be “superheroes” when it came to savings.

Target audience

Parents of children who were between three to eight years old.

Results

The perception of OCBC and Mighty Savers improved by 67% and 10% respectively, and the number of accounts and deposits were about 75% more than business-as-usual.

The writer is Yvonne Low, CMO, consumer financial services Singapore, OCBC Bank. The Direct Mail Case Study is brought to you by Marketing Magazine in association with SingPost.