Citibank: DIL VS BILL

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: CITIBANK
Agency: MEC
Category: Financial Products & Services
Business Group Head: Mohit Sharma (MEC)
National Director: Karthik Nagarajan (Group M)
Business Group Head: Sheetal Goel (Group M)
Business Director: Abhita Anand (MEC)
Business Manager: Kanika Upadhyay (MEC)
Business Executive: Nikhil Uniyal (MEC)
National Director: Ritesh Singh (MEC - Interaction)
Business Head: Shweta Singh (MEC)

Effectiveness
The campaign yielded staggering business results. We were able to overcome subdued shopping sentiment and post handsome results. 85% jump in EMI transactions; 80% in EMI value over same period 2011Consumer brand preference up by 26% over previous quarter#DilVsBill was a top-10 trend for 53 straight hours (36 hours at number 1)Chosen one of the top-8 most inspiring Twitter campaigns in India in 2012 (by Lighthouse Insights)

Execution
Awareness Phase To extract maximum juice from our modest investments, we placed the Citi EMI Privileges ads next to category advertising (electronics, jewelry, etc) - on Print, digital display, outdoor and shopping outlets. The high contextual relevance of our ad placement helped create awareness disproportionate to our media spend. Experiential PhaseGiven our target’s penchant for shopping and social media, we integrated the two. To polarize public opinion, we sparked off the Dil (heart) vs Bill debate on Twitter. We used Skyvertising to provide regular updates on the results of the Twitter debate. Skyvertising is a technology that pushes out custom-shaped helium clouds into the sky. Clouds in the shape of the heart and the Rupee symbol, shopping bags, the Citi logo and ‘EMI’ were released depending on the results.

Strategy
Much like everywhere around the world, the Indian growth story came under severe pressure in 2012. Citibank Credit Cards faced a major challenge – softening consumer preference scores. Our objectives were two-fold – 1) Shore up brand preference and 2) Deliver strong business growth in the festival season. In the period leading up to Diwali – India’s biggest festival, Citibank decided to focus their credit-card communication on EMI Privileges, a feature that eased the burden of shopping by enabling payment in equal monthly installments (EMI). The target was a Citi cardholder - salaried males who had become acutely value-conscious and were either postponing or downgrading their purchases. The EMI Privileges campaign was predicated on a simple insight: Shopping is a perennial conflict between between desire and affordability – a conflict that could compromise the joy of shopping. Thus was born, Dil (heart) Vs Bill, a colloquial interpretation of this dilemma.