The Wise Ones: Emirates NBD Bank Combines Customer Data with Creative Storytelling

Dec. 17, 2020

In the United Arab Emirates, in a study conducted in Q4 2019 about evolving consumer behaviors in a data economy, over 48% people stated how they are more willing to share their data and have their data used by a company, ethically, if it makes their life more rewarding and easier.

Given the existing financial crisis where people have become more conscious of the value they get from the things and the experiences that they spend their hard-earned money on, financial prudence and literacy are not just a "nice-to-have" but an imperative in one’s life.

So, Emirates NBD, one of the leading banks in the region, has taken an untapped approach from a bank, using customer data ethically and meaningfully, by combining that data with creative storytelling, to show how people can spend and save wisely.

Starting out with a film series, titled “The Wise Ones”, the bank is transforming marketing in the Middle East – it’s not simply selling and promoting its products and services like other banks do, every day in the UAE. Instead, through the examples of “The Wise Ones” - its most active and benefitting customers - the bank is showing the benefits of its rewarding and beneficial products and services (that are far more advantageous versus its competitors) to people’s everyday lives.

And instead of typical testimonial advertising or heavy-handed educational content, the bank takes a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek approach to demystify financial prudence, by telling the stories through the lens of those who admire, envy or look up to the bank’s customers:

• The neighbouring grandma who is a TikTok influencer thanks to The Wise Shopper - the one who shops and gets great deals with the U by EMAAR shopping credit card.
• The young husband and wife who aspire to learn how to wield magic through their mobile like The Wise Sender - the one who sends money home, to his family, from his mobile, within 60 seconds, for free, at the best rates.
• The little girl who cannot, for the life of her, figure out the secret behind The Wise Vacationer - her best friend whose family travels all the time and stays in hotel for free (not paying for a room) courtesy the Marriott Bonvoy Mastercard World Credit Card.
• The neighbourhood housewife with a knife who envies her fit and healthy neighbour, The Wise Saver – the one who saves more by moving more with the unique Fitness Account.
• The businessman who wonders how his colleague - The Wise Planner - is managing education as well as extracurricular activities for his kids in today’s time of pay cuts and tightening purse strings (Hint: He uses a 0% Installment Plan and pays school fees in monthly installments!).
• And the young Arab fashionista who fangirls and positively desires the life of another woman she knows - The Wise Diner - who dines out at 5-star restaurants several times a week, with the Bon Appetit dining program that gives people 30% off across 2500 restaurants in the UAE.

Shot in 12 hours in 1 day owing to COVID-19 limitations, the films have two distinct parts in terms of mood and look, distinguishing “The Others” from “The Wise Ones”. As the fans speak about the smart people they know, we see teases of those people through cutaways. And then, when the reveal steps in and the music drops, we see an underwater shot coupled with “heroic” dolly zooms that reveal the bank’s real customers, the names of those real customers as well as the data around how they use a product to the fullest and make the most of life - a novel approach in banking and finance.

The soundtrack, titled, “The Wise Ones”, is an original soundtrack that has been composed for this series.

Promoted and shared via WhatsApp, Direct Marketing, Facebook, YouTube, IGTV and Instagram through a data-driven retargeting strategy, the films lead viewers to a website where people can explore more about how to spend and save smarter, but also calculate their spends and the savings as well as rewards they can get with Emirates NBD – that they’re missing out on today.

In an era of short-term wins and short-term marketing, “The Wise Ones” is a long-term platform. Along with the series of films, the bank is also doing personalized data-driven nudges to customers, direct marketing initiatives, more stories about new “Wise Ones” as well as encouraging more “Wise Ones” from its customer base to step up and be featured.

Within a week of the campaign going live, we are observing a correlation in the growth of its new customer base as well as development of its existing customer base. And the bank has received compliments and appreciation from competiting banks who have referred to the approach as “path breaking”, “brilliant marketing” and “setting the benchmark”.

Looking forward to some much-needed support from your platform (if you feel it’s worth it of course), for an approach that took a lot of effort and convincing, that we hope will help encourage others brands in the ME region and other regions to marry data with creativity more often.