Don't be like papa: Why OCBC is pushing the boundaries on father-son dynamics

OCBC Bank Malaysia's latest marketing campaign for its premier banking initiative, Premier Life Goals, features generational differences chronicles the tensions between a father and a son.Done in collaboration with Leo Burnett and ThinkTank, the video titled "Don't Be Like Papa" tells the tale of the disputes between a father and his son as they both think of the latter’s higher education choice and what might really aid them in meeting each one’s objectives. The campaign will run on print and digital until next year, and was launched near the end of 2018 as parents and children would begin planning their higher education options during this period.In an exclusive interview with A+M, Lim Wyson, OCBC's head of consumer financial services, said the bank hopes to create brand affinity and more awareness in terms of what OCBC's premier banking stands for. According to Lim, the bank embarked on this campaign with "very clear objectives" in mind."This campaign is not about selling a product to the audience. Instead, we wanted to communicate our approach of putting our customers’ needs ahead of anything else in our advisory; and we chose to tell this story through the lens of a father-son conflict," Lim said.From OCBC's consumer research insights, the bank knows that Asian parents value education highly and their children's education is one of the most challenging life goals for them to navigate through. The bank also saw this decision as a highly emotional one as both parents and children grapple with the unknown future, which is further aggravated by the speed in which careers and education courses are evolving in response to market demands."It is this point of tension that we chose to address head-on, which we believe will lead many to ponder more deeply as they make those tough decisions. And this where OCBC comes in with the Premier Life Goals as a tool to assist them," Lim said. Premier Life Goals offers consumers a multi-pronged approach to future planning featuring retirement, wealth transfer and child education.Besides education, OCBC also found that the theme of family resonated highly amongst its target audience, and is often the impetus for consumers to start serious financial planning. According to Lim, this correlates with its internal data the financial planning often starts at the age of 40, even though the bank advises consumers to start earlier as it offers more runway for their wealth to grow and achieve their life goals.While Lim declined to comment on the amount invested in this campaign, he said that the campaign is "one of the top priorities" for the bank. While having a big budget might help brands "to a certain level", Lim believes that if the story is well told, companies do not require big budgets to spread the word."There are three key ingredients necessary in great storytelling. Firstly, invoking an emotional response by addressing the resonant point in consumers, which we believe we have achieved from the numerous positive responses from people who have seen the video. And we were confident of achieving this as our story was built on strong consumer insight," Lim said.The second ingredient is brand context - does it have a legitimate space in the communication? Rather than hard sell OCBC products, Lim said the brand aims to play an active role in being the enabler to help customers achieve their life goals. Lastly, the third necessary ingredient, according to Lim, is the moment of truth."When a premier customer speaks with our relationship manager, they will get to experience a structured and comprehensive conversation around their life goals," Lim said. While brand campaigns might look more or less the same, at the end of the day, the delivery of the brand's promise throughout the customer journey is what makes it different, he added.Meanwhile, Leo Burnett's group creative director En Iska Hashim said the agency wanted to bring to the fore the reality that hard decisions need to be made amongst family members. "This is portrayed in the tensions between a son and his father when trying to reach a firm decision about the son’s future,” he said.