2011 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

In the UAE, eating out is almost a national pastime. But Standard Chartered cards were low on dining spends, despite a 15% Cashback at all restaurants. The brand just wasn’t top of mind when the bill arrived. Our challenge was to entice existing cardholders to increase their dining spends and attract acquisitions. Other banks were screaming tactical offers through print ads - a one-way flow of information. We knew our customers were active in the digital world, but no bank had engaged this audience in an interesting way. Our recipe for success: start a dining conversation to show value in our cards. UAE Food Explorer - a community by the foodies, for the foodies. It challenges people to discover new flavours in the dining landscape.

Success of the Campaign

From being a non-player, UAE Food Explorer helped Standard Chartered cement their presence in the dining space and communicated the 15% cashback offer to an interested, engaged audience. It has paved the way for future offers and reinforced the brand promise of being ‘Here for Good’. In just 4 weeks, monthly Standard Chartered card dining spends increased by 17.2%. Inactive cardholders spent 27.6% more on their card. Acquisitions increased by a whopping 25%. The average time spent on website was 2.40 min. (Nielsen industry average: 56 secs). Over 80 new restaurants offered deals while 417 users wrote reviews (and counting). Thousands joined the community on Facebook and Twitter... that’s growing with every bite!

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

We leveraged our limited budget ($32,346) on channels that would connect with people where they spend most of their time: online. To kickstart the grassroots movement, we sent 2 bloggers to 90 restaurants in 30 days. Reviews were posted to the site, Facebook and Twitter, with bills highlighting the 15% Cashback. It was a culinary adventure that inspired the community to write their own rewards. Foodie conversation lit up across social media and brought people from this tremendously diverse population closer. Online polls with delicious prizes boosted participation. Contextual ads drove traffic. Videos defined exploring. Radio contests had winners joining the Food Explorers for dinner. Foodies met at local ‘Eat-Ups’. And we published the region’s first crowdsourced dining guide filled with passionate reviews, making it a trusted resource and marketing tool for prospective customers. Soon restaurants started contacting us to make deals.