1.
Halifax - Halifax Student Current Accounts
Kathryn Ellis, Kristy Halpin and Charlotte Wolfenden
Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
Gold, Best New Learning, IPA Effectiveness Awards 2009
2.
Halifax – Halifax Student Campaign 2008
Principal Author: Kathryn Ellis - DLKW
Contributing Authors: Kristy Halpin - Halifax, Charlotte Wolfenden - DLKW
INTRODUCTION
The Challenge for 2008
Students are an extremely important target audience for banks. Current account switching is notoriously low, as most people
stay with the same provider for their entire life. Opportunities to capture new current account customers are few and far
between. Starting university is one of the few easily identifiable life events that spurs the need to open a current account.
Therefore the eight weeks from A Level results day to the end of Freshers' Week become an out and out fight between the
UK's high street banks to capture that year's new students.
In 2008 we set ourselves the ambitious challenge of improving our marketing efficiency by opening as many accounts as in
2007 with approximately half the budget. Combined with increased spend from some of our main competitors, this meant we
were faced with a share of voice reduced dramatically from 12% in 2007 to just 1% in 2008.
This paper demonstrates, beyond reasonable doubt, that by taking a radical approach to creative and channel planning we
improved the efficiency of our student current account marketing in 2008. By shifting over 80% of our media budget online,
and using a creative approach that distanced us from the mainstream “Staff as Stars” campaign, we opened 16% more
accounts than our most optimistic targets, and a staggering 99% more accounts than should have been expected based on
2007 performance. Despite being outspent by all our major competitors, we grew our consideration level substantially.
Increased efficiencies led to our best ever Return On Marketing Investment with an additional 90p per £1 versus stretch target
and an additional £2.36 return per £1 of marketing investment based on 2007 performance.
New Learnings
This paper is of interest not just because we were the first bank to move the majority of our student current account marketing
budget online. We have also made progress in measuring the results of digital campaigns in two ways:
1. The inclusion of a mainly online campaign in our tracking study moved us towards a measurement that captured the
brand effect of online advertising, over and above direct response.
2. Working with specialist content seeding agency Unruly Media allowed us to more robustly quantify the impact of content
Title: Halifax - Halifax Student Current Accounts
Author(s): Kathryn Ellis, Kristy Halpin and Charlotte Wolfenden
Source: Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
Issue: Gold, Best New Learning, IPA Effectiveness Awards 2009
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3. and viral spread on the bottom line. We believe such extensive measurement of the contribution of online branded
content has not been seen in an IPA paper before.
1.0 THE STUDENT OPPORTUNITY
1.1 Students are A Relatively Small Target Audience
The total student current account market is small. Each year CACI calculate the total number of new student current accounts
opened during August and September. Based on their estimates, from a total pool of new students eligible for a Halifax
Student Current Account in 2008, only a third were actually in the market to open a new account.
Figure 1 Ai
: Our Estimated Target Market 2008
The difference between these figures is a result of two key factors. Firstly, up to 68% of eligible students already have a bank
account before their 18th birthday, or year they get their A Level results.ii This could be either a savings or a current account. A
proportion will choose to stick with their existing provider, and not switch to a specific student current account, even if this is a
better option. Secondly, some students will simply choose not to open a current account within their first few weeks of study,
our campaign period.
1.2 But Students are Extremely Valuable
Only 6% of people switch their current account each year, and this rate has remained flat for the past decade.iii Once
someone chooses their first current account provider, they are generally with them for life.
Starting university is a key juncture in someone's financial life, and usually the first time they will require a current account.
They will need a designated account to receive the first payment of their student loan from the Government, often during their
first week of study. This creates a time defined window of opportunity – from A level results day in August to Freshers' Week in
September/October – within which banks need to capture as many of these new current account customers as possible.
This leads to an exceptionally cluttered environment with virtually all above the line communications ploughed into the period
between the end of July, and the beginning of October. Achieving standout is extremely difficult. Traditional logic would imply
that substantial share of voice during this time is essential to success.
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4. Figure 1 B: Monthly Spend on Student Current Account Marketing by All Major Providers
1.3 They are Also a Growing Audience
Fortunately for banks, the number of students going to university in England and Wales is growing year on year. The number
of students in the market for a student current account grew by 9.6% in 2008 from 2007, returning to levels close to those in
2006.
Figure 1 Civ
: Our Total Market 2006–2008
2.0 HALIFAX AND STUDENT CURRENT ACCOUNTS – A BRIEF HISTORY
Halifax is a relatively new entrant to the student current account market. We have offered current accounts to students for a
number of years, but only significantly promoted a specially designed product since 2006. Our four main competitors –
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5. Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and the big spender in this sector, NatWest – have a more established heritage within this
market.
2.1 Student Current Accounts Have Always Been Low Interest
When you receive confirmation of your university place the last thing on your mind is opening a current account – opening one
is simply a functional necessity.vi
In the past, competitors have introduced exciting short-term incentives in an attempt to inspire interest in current accounts;
they include free cinema tickets, music downloads and exclusive retail discounts. These incentives can help a student make
up their mind between two providers they essentially see as offering the same thing.
2.2. So We Took a Different Approach Right from the Start
At Halifax we believe in making our customers better off through great value products. That is why, since 2006, we have
significantly promoted the largest interest-free student overdraft – something of real financial value throughout a student's
entire time at university. We have maintained this competitive advantage every year since, up to and including 2008.
Figure 2 A: Student Current Accounts Comparison
Our focus on the largest interest-free student overdraft, combined with significant marketing investment, has led to the share of
market outlined in Figure 2B. As seen below, share of voice has been closely correlated with share of market.
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6. Figure 2 B: Halifax Share of Voice Versus Share of Market Over Time
3. 2008
Going into 2008 there were a number of challenges we needed to overcome.
3.1 NatWest was More Closely Associated with Our Key Product Benefit – the Largest Interest-Free Student
Overdraft – Than Us
The majority of students misattributed our core product differential, the largest interest-free student overdraft, to NatWest, the
market leader. It was a product benefit they had neither had, nor had communicated, for at least the last three years. The chart
below shows we still had some way to go in reducing this level of misattribution.
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7. Figure 3 A: Agreement with the statement “They offer the largest interest free overdraft for students”
3.2 Our Existing Campaign Did Not Appeal to Our Target Market
For the 17–19 year old student market we were a victim of our own success – a well known and highly successful “Staff as
Stars” campaign put us at a disadvantage.vii This age group was the most likely to be irritated by, and ultimately reject Halifax
advertising. In other words our mainstream advertising was working against us, rather than for us, for this specific target
audience.
Figure 3 B: Level of Irritation with Halifax Advertising by Age
3.3 Our Consideration Level Amongst Students was Still Very Low
A combination of these factors meant that we were currently the fifth bank to be considered by students, behind all our major
competitors.
Figure 3 C: Students Considering the Following Providers for a Current Account
3.4 We Challenged Ourselves to Improve Marketing Efficiency
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8. In 2008, we cut our marketing communications budget, which had to pay for advertising, direct mail and point of sale material,
to approximately half of what we had to spend in 2007. We believed we could reach a student audience more efficiently this
year, and we challenged ourselves to achieve this.
Media expenditure from some of our competitors had decreased in 2008 too. But our budget cut was so significant we were
now spending less on media than any of our four main competitors.
>The imperative for a high share of voice during our cluttered and limited window of opportunity has been established. A
reduced budget meant our share of voice plummeted from 12% in 2007 to 1% in 2008. Gaining cut through would be extremely
difficult, but we believed it was possible.
Figure 3 Dxi
: Offline Share of Voice 2007 Versus 2008
3.5 The Challenge for 2008
For confidentiality reasons we cannot reveal our targets for 2008 in terms of actual number of account openings, but we can
establish a percentage target based on historical figures. We aimed to open as many accounts as in 2007 with approximately
half the marketing expenditure. So, expected account openings will be expressed as a percentage of accounts opened in
2007.
To set a reasonable target for account openings in 2008 we use the Cost Per Acquisition from the previous two years.xiii As
2006 was our best performing year to date, in terms of marketing efficiency, a estimate based on that CPA would provide our
stretch target. But 2006 was a particularly efficient year due to the use of DRTV. Our CPA in 2007 was higher, but the media
selection was closer to 2008, so this would provide our conservative, and arguably fairer, estimate. An average of the two
years would provide a middling estimate.xiv
In addition we needed to take market growth into account. We have already established that the total number of students in
the market for a student current account grew by 9.6% in 2008. This percentage was added to each of our targets.
The table below shows the number of accounts we could expect to gain in 2008 based on our reduced budget and market
growth, expressed as a percentage of total account openings in 2007.
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9. Figure 3 E: Predicted 2008 Account Openings Based on Reduced Marketing Expenditure and Market Growth
But the value of a Halifax Student Current Account was the same in 2008 as in 2007, so to avoid a drop in revenue we needed
to open the same number of accounts during the campaign period. This could only be achieved through improved marketing
efficiency.xv
In terms of Return On Marketing Investment we can again set a stretch, conservative and middling target.xvi As before 2006
sets the stretch target, 2007 the conservative target and an average is our middling figure.
Figure 3 F: Expected Return On Marketing Investment 2008
Due to a lack of a baseline sales figure we cannot calculate true ROMI. The return is based upon total accounts opened, not
incremental accounts, which would be best practice. Our achievement will not reflect an improvement in total ROMI, but ROMI
over an above the return that could be expected based on historical performance.
4.0 HOW WE MET THE CHALLENGE
4.1 We Took a Brave Approach to Channel Planning (for a Bank)
Our hypothesis that we could improve marketing efficiency in 2008 stemmed from our belief in the effectiveness of digital
channels. We moved away from more the traditional media (radio, DRTV and UCAS mailings) we had used historically, and
that are competitors were still using. We took the brave move of shifting over 80% of our total budget and nearly 100% of our
media budget online.xix This would make us the first bank to undertake almost its entire student current account recruitment
activity online.
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10. Figure 4 Axx
: Proportion of Halifax Media Budget Spent Online Versus Offline 2007 and 2008
Our decision would significantly reduce our offline share of voice from 10% to 0%. But it made sense to concentrate our efforts
in the space our audience spent most of their time.
Figure 4 Bxxi
: Offline Share of Voice 2007 Versus 2008
Statistics from Hitwise xxii indicate that one of the first places students go when they receive their A Level results is a social
networking site. This is probably to share results, organise celebrations and see who else is going to their university. So in
2008 our advertising placements deviated from the usual financial sites. We targeted social networking and local listings sites
where university communities gathered.
We also used specialist seeding company, Unruly Media, to ensure our content was placed most appropriately at a micro
targeted level. We gained placements within the editorial on student listings guides like London Student, Don't Stay In and
Camden Guide, and youth video and game sites such as Daily Motion and VVC Funny. We also secured preferential
placements on mainstream social networking and video sites like Metacafe, MySpace TV and VEOH.
4.2 We Took a Brave Approach to Creative Too
A quick scan of successful student sites including The Onion, Kontraband, O2's Battle for the UK's Favourite University on
Facebook and Skins showed how important entertainment and engagement are for this audience.
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11. Figure 4 C: Successful Student Content and Sites
Creating content entertaining enough to be discussed and passed along would help amplify our reduced media budget. We
helped the process along by building in mechanics that made it easy for viewers to spread content, like forward to a friend,
easy embedding and social bookmarking tools.
4.2 The Creative Idea
The 2008 campaign positioned Halifax as “The Smarter Choice for Students” versus other madcap ways of saving money. At
the heart of our creative idea was a film where we told the ridiculous tale of Andy, a student who had tried to save money on
accommodation by turning himself into a mouse, so he could live in a cage in his best mate's dorm. It exaggerated the mad
things students do to get through university financially.
Centred around the “Be smarter about your money” line and the film telling Andy's story, the online campaign led all other
channels – from in-branch posters to direct mail. The simple media plan below shows the breadth of activity over the campaign
period.
Figure 4 D: Campaign Activity by Week
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12. The campaign was shortlisted for “Consumer Campaign of the Year” and won “Best Online Advertisement” at the 2009 Money
Marketing Awards.
Figure 4 E: Seeded Content
Film shows how nNew student Andy turns himself into a mouse to save money on rent.
Figure 4 F: Video Advertising in Situ
A shorter version of the film was streamed in advertising placements across the web.
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13. Figure 4 FA: Online Advertising
Standard format online advertising sSummarises the story of Andy.
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14. Figure 4 G: Microsite
All online activity drove traffic to the site where students could watch a longer version of the film viral and find out more about
the product. This landing page was the resolve to the story, begun in the seeded content and advertising.
Figure 4 H: Offline Campaign Activity
The offline activity above was also included in the total marketing budget for 2008, and took the “Be Smarter about your
Money” thought and visual through to branches, direct mail and press.
From left to right: Direct mail to existing Cardcash and savings customers aged 17–19, Independent press insertion in their
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15. annual student guide, In-branch poster
A single insertion in the Independent annual students supplement. Integrated with online work and contained a strong drive to
site.
5.0 A “BRIEF” RECAP
Figure 5 A: The Brief
6.0 RESULTS
2008 was our best year ever in terms of Return On Marketing Investment and total accounts opened – beating even our most
optimistic targets. We opened 8% more accounts than in 2007, with approximately half the budget. This equates to 16% more
accounts than should have been expected, even when matched against our best ever Cost Per Acquisition in 2006. Against
our conservative, yet fair, target our 2008 campaign resulted in an additional ROMI of £2.36 per £1 over and above 2007.
The remainder of this section will prove beyond reasonable doubt that our radically revised approach to communications
achieved all of the success factors necessary to meet our challenge, to improve the efficiency of our marketing
communications in 2008.
Our 2008 campaign was a success because it did all of the following:
l Generated interest and engagement
l Grew our ownership of the largest interest-free student overdraft
l Increased consideration of Halifax
l Motivated more students than in 2007 to open an account with us
6.1 Our Campaign Generated Interest And Engagement
Historically, we would only measure performance of online campaigns using direct response analytics. However, the 2008
student current account campaign marked the first time we added digital activity to our brand tracking study. We wanted to
assess how the campaign performed against traditional advertising measures like salience and consideration, as we believe
purely direct response evaluation fails to capture a great deal of digital's contribution.
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16. Expectations for stand out were low due to our dramatically reduced share of voice, but the campaign achieved high salience
scores. Many respondents felt that this campaign was different and unexpected for a financial services brand.
Figure 6 A: Advertising Salience
Tracking shows that opinion around the campaign was polarised.xxiii It captured imaginations and sparked debate, which had
the desired effect of fuelling the spread of our content. This was reflected in the qualitative comments viewers made upon
forwarding the video to friends.
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17. Figure 6 B: Forward to a Friend Email Comments
Despite being a low interest category our content achieved a significant viral uplift. 31% of the views were organic, which
meant they were a direct result of people passing on the film. Unruly Media were able to measure spread due to tagging
incorporated into the player in which the video was embedded in our initial round of paid for seeding. So this estimate of
organic spread is actually very conservative, as it can only measure direct forwarding and embedding of our content in the
Unruly Media player.
Even this conservative estimate is over and above the benchmark for similar categories. Due to the relatively new nature of
content as a marketing tool, it is hard to compare one piece with another. But using Unruly Media's experience and broad
client base we have attempted to do so below. The chart demonstrates that we were comparable to some of their most
successful “virals” for low interest categories.
Figure 6 Cxxiv
: Comparative Viral Uplift
6.2 Our Campaign Grew Our Ownership of the Largest Interest-Free Student Overdraft
A factor in our low consideration was that not many of our target audience associated us with the largest interest-free student
overdraft. During the campaign period, our association with this product benefit actually met NatWest levels for the first time.
The graph below shows how our campaign simultaneously grew our association with this product benefit, whilst the number of
people attributing it to NatWest declined.
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18. Figure 6 D: Students Associating Halifax with the Largest Interest Free Overdraft Versus Natwest Over the 2008
Campaign Period
6.3 Our Campaign Increased Consideration of Halifax
Along with the big spender NatWest, we were the only provider who grew their level of consideration in 2008 – all our other
competitors showed a decline. We went from having the lowest level of consideration, to battling for second place.
Figure 6 E: Current Account Consideration Pre and Post 2008 Campaign
Search behaviour provides another indicator that our campaign spurred interest and action. Google Trends shows a
significant uplift in organic searching for “Halifax Student Account” during the campaign period. We had inspired people to look
for our product specifically.
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19. Figure 6 Fxxv
: Volume of Searches for Related Search Terms
6.4 Our Campaign Motivated More Students than in 2007 to Open an Account With Us
Our main aim for 2008 was to open the same number of accounts as in 2007 with approximately half of the marketing budget,
so not to reduce the revenue we made. Referring back to our targets in section 3.5 we can see we achieved this and more.
Figure 6 G: Level of Actual Halifax Student Current Accounts Opened Versus Targets
We gained a total of 8% more new accounts than in 2007. In terms of our targets we opened 16% more accounts than we
hoped for in our stretch estimate and a staggering 99% more accounts versus our most conservative figure.The chart below
shows the dramatic uplift in applications as a result of campaign activity.
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20. Figure 6 H: Activity and Account Openings by Week
One of the most interesting aspects in this paper is our attempt to quantify the contribution of “viral” content to sales and
response. The video content generated a 4.49% clickthrough rate – above the 3.28% benchmark set by Unruly Media, based
on their total client base. Approximately 18% of clicks resulted in a completed application.xxviThe contribution of content
towards sales is rarely identified due to a lack of robust figures, but our desire for improved accountability across all aspects of
this campaign means we have made steps to estimate this figure here.
To re-iterate we can confidently discount the following factors that may have contributed towards the uplift in account
openings in 2008:
1. It was not attributable to improvements in our product, as we have significantly promoted the largest interest-free student
overdraft for the previous two years. There were no added incentives in 2008.
2. We have firmly established that the increase was not due to an increase in marketing expenditure. Our budget cut was so
dramatic we actually became the lowest spender on media within our competitive set which reduced our share of voice to
1%.
3. Finally, we have accounted for market growth, in the slight increase in potential students incorporated in our targets.
6.5 All this Meant Massively Increased Efficiency in Marketing Communications
Despite a greatly reduced share of voice, we completely over delivered in terms of the share of market we achieved. We had
captured over 17.2% of the market with just 1% share of voice – maintaining our share from 2007.
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21. Figure 6 Ixxvii
: Halifax Share of Voice Versus Share of Market 2008
The campaign drove down the Cost Per Acquisition by 55% xxviii from 2007 which indicates the hugely increased level of
efficiency.
Figure 6 J: Cost Per Acquisition 2007 Versus 2008
In calculating Return On Marketing Investment we will look at the difference between total net profit in 2007, and that made in
2008. This will represent the return in 2008 over and above the level in 2007. The final ROMI will underestimate the total
contribution of communications, but it will result in a ratio that attempts to quantify the impact of improvements in efficiency on
the bottom line.xxixReferring back to the ROMI targets in Section 3.5, we see that even based on our stretch target we have
overachieved; with an additional 90p generated for every £1 of marketing expenditure. Year on year, versus our conservative
2007 figure, we had generated an additional £2.36 per £1 spent on marketing.xxx
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22. Figure 6 IA: Improvements on Return On Marketing Investment 2008
This meant that 2008 was conclusively our best year yet in terms of Return On Marketing Investment.
SUMMARY – WHY THIS PAPER IS IMPORTANT
This paper demonstrates that we achieved dramatically improved efficiency in our marketing communications through radical
refinements in channel planning and creative approach. We led the way by being the first bank to shift almost its entire student
current account recruitment campaign online.
We have also outlined metrics and an approach, which can be built on by other industry professionals, in their quest to
examine the brand impact of digital, and quantify the contribution of branded “viral” content within an integrated campaign.
ENDNOTES
i. UCAS (2009) Applicant and accepted applicant regional analysis, home and overseas over six years. UCAS Data Tables
2008 Academic Year. UCAS figures for 2009 cover admissions in 2008.Available w:
http://www.ucas.com/about_us/stat_services/stats_online/data_tables/abusregresidence/abusukreg/
ii. Forrester Consumer Technographics Young Consumer Study June–July 2006. Omnibus research based on 7,215
European young internet users aged 12 to 24. Available from: www.forrester.com
iii. Datamonitor (2008) UK Current Accounts 2008. October 2008, DMFS2271.
iv. UCAS (2009) Applicant and accepted applicant regional analysis, home and overseas over six years. UCAS Data Tables
2008 Academic Year. UCAS figures from 2009 cover admissions in 2008. Available from:
http://www.ucas.com/about_us/stat_services/stats_online/data_tables/abusregresidence/abusukreg/
v. A. Hoole. D. Bester, K. Harding, P. Sturniolo, A. Thomson and P. Kirk (2006) outline a hierarchy of student needs when
starting university in their paper, BBC – 50 Pints or a TV License? IPA Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration & Gold
2006. Available from: www.warc.com
vi. A. Hoole. D. Bester, K. Harding, P. Sturniolo, A. Thomson and P. Kirk (2006) outline a hierarchy of student needs when
starting university in their paper, BBC – 50 Pints or a TV License? IPA Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration & Gold
2006. Available from: www.warc.com
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23. vii. R. Warren (2002) HBOS plc (Halifax): Taking on the High Street Banks by Communicating like a High Street Retailer. IPA
Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration 2002. Available from: www.warc.com
viii. For confidentiality reasons we cannot share actual account opening or Cost Per Acquisition figures in the published paper.
They are used in calculations for the judges in the appendices.
ix. Chart with exact budget reduction included in appendix for judges for confidentiality reasons.
x. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to
direct mail and point of sale material.
xi. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to
direct mail and point of sale material.
xii. Calculations for these targets with actual CPA, budget and accounts opened are included in the appendix for judges, but
for confidentiality reasons will not be included in the published paper.
xiv. We accept that to calculate a target in this way assumes accounts opened each year will fluctuate directly in line with
marketing expenditure. Of course this is not true, as there would be a baseline of accounts that would be opened in the
absence of any marketing. However, as we have not had a year where we have maintained the same product and not
conducted any marketing at all, we cannot accurately quantify our baseline sales. We have also not performed a regional test,
or had the benefit of econometric analysis to accurately account for natural acquisition. But as this paper is based on proving
our efficiencies, we will take these targets as our baseline. The percentage of accounts opened over and above these realistic
estimates will demonstrate improvements in efficiency.
xv. Actual figures for account opening targets are needed to calculate ROMI, and are included in the appendices section, only
available to IPA judges, for confidentiality reasons.
xvii. For confidentiality reasons we cannot publish total account opening or profit figures in the paper, but they are supplied in
the appendix for judges.
xviii. R. Warren (2002) HBOS plc (Halifax): Taking on the High Street Banks by Communicating like a High Street Retailer. IPA
Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration 2002. Available from: www.warc.com
xix. The difference in the total budget and media expenditure figures is because the total budget includes expenditure on direct
mail and point of sale material.
xx. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to
direct mail and point of sale material.
xxi. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to
direct mail and point of sale material.
xxii. H. Hopkins (2006) UCAS Website Visits Soar Yesterday. 18th August 2006, Hitwise Intelligence Blog Update. Available
from: http://weblogs.hitwise.com
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