2014 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

This case is an effective example of how we made the UAEs leading banking brand more engaging for SME business owners via its content and experiences, and hence, made it the leading banking brand for those very SME owners. SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) are fueling a bright future for the UAE. Post-crisis, the SME segment is seen as more stable and secure, when compared with larger global corporates. With increased government and ministry support, SME owners’ confidence was rising, contributing to the business universe, to employment and hence, contributing 40% and above to UAE’s GDP. To engage SME owners, we needed to actvertise, not advertise and hence, increase their overall satisfaction levels. We had to talk about their success vs. our sales, about partnership vs. products and about knowledge vs. services. We observed that there was a massive gap in their content needs - they had a desire for inspiring content and empowering opportunities to help them learn and grow. They wanted to network with other SMEs. But the actual fulfillment from other financial institutions was falling short of their needs. There was nothing for them beyond a few articles and white-papers on popular business websites.

Results

SMEs. Small and medium enterprises. But is that all that they are? They work as hard as bigger companies. They offer service that is on par. They deliver products of high standards. And at competitive rates. They are the lifeblood of the UAE economy contributing to 40% of the country's GDP. Despite a challenging economy, their growing confidence is inspiring. That’s why at Emirates NBD, we believe that they deserve more. More support. More solutions. More connections.
To grow. To achieve. And to excel.
To us, small has potential. Small has energy. And small has the power to shape the future. So, to celebrate this renewed resilience and optimism of small business owners, we launched RISE - a dynamic platform for small and medium business owners inspiring and empowering them to persevere and progress in a challenging business environment.

1) We created a content-rich digital hub consisting of INSPIRING THOUGHT-LEADERSHIP ARTICLES for business growth, BUSINESS IDEAS, NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES, BUSINESS REWARDS and ONLINE FILMS... 2) The online films featured inspiring stories of our SME owners, powered by Emirates NBD’s solutions. 3) Online stories attracted people to the digital hub. 4) Print ads told their success stories across leading dailies and magazines (Arabian business, Intelligent SME, Robust RAK, Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Al Khaleeh, Al Ittihad). 5) Success stories of our SME owners were also featured on Radio and TV on Dubai One's Emirates 24/7. 6) To benefit them more, we also created unique networking opportunities: a) The Global Business Series, connecting entrepreneurs with UAE's leading business icons. b) The Intelligent Workshops, where we facilitated their understanding of relevant topics like corporate governance and social media marketing. c) The Global App Summit, where we looked for the next brilliant SME app.

By providing them with a stage to share their stories - and to learn and get inspired for more success, we’ve been able to win a lot of equity and trust within the small business segment. As SME owners in the UAE look for ways to innovate in order to progress, the RISE platform has provided us with the means to build a profitable business engagement channel for Emirates NBD. 1) Brand Index: +135%; Emirates NBD ranked #1 as a business bank. 2) Customer satisfaction: +21%. 3) Loan Book Size: + 254% vs. a +100% target. 4) SME deposits: +601% vs. a +300% target. 5) Total SME Revenue: +24% vs. a +15% target. 6) Trade Finance Revenue: +140%. 7) SMEs acquisition: +13% vs. a +10% target. 8) Net Profit: +28%. Additional success: a) +500,000 YouTube views (excellent for a niche segment). b) 50,000 SME owners visited the digital hub - a fantastic 0.58% cost per conversion. c) 1.1 million USD earned media value vs. a cost of 0.5 million USD. And ultimately, we have been able to create a dialogue with SME owners, to enable more small and medium businesses to RISE…