2019 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

"Every Step Counts" from Emirates NBD, one of the leading banks in the UAE and the most innovative bank in the Middle East, is an example of innovative brand building through an advanced used of personalization, user-centered experience design and brand activation. It's about how we integrated people's health with their wealth and disrupted the typical banking communication in the market. It's about how we optimized the mobile touchpoint to increase brand engagement, affinity and drove commercial success for Emirates NBD as well as improved health and commercial success for its customers in the UAE.

Background

The UAE has struggled for economic health in recent years with personal debt on the rise and individual savings, at a low. Physical health has also been a nationwide struggle, with obesity rates being one of the highest in the world per person. What could Emirates NBD, a leading bank that understands the importance of both wealth and health, bring to the table? Using their innovative pedigree a smart solution was needed to motivate people toward a healthier lifestyle – financially and physically. • We needed to incentivize the people of the UAE to start being more active. • We needed to incentivize the people of the UAE to start saving more. • We needed to make Emirates NBD the thought-leaders in bringing about healthy change in the UAE. • We needed to build brand love to help retain and increase customer base to Emirates NBD.

Describe the creative idea.

We teamed up with mobile-technologists and Emirates NBD’s data and product developments teams to create Every Step Counts: A first-of-its-kind savings and health initiative to incentivize the nation into better financial and physical shape. By offering increased interest based on the movement of an individual. Upon signing up to the Emirates NBD Fitness Account, people were asked to download a custom-built fitness app. A step-tracker designed to track every step you make that was linked directly to the individuals Fitness Account, which would then convert every step you take, into a higher interest rate.

Describe the strategy.

We wanted to target those people who are fitness conscious or wanted to be fitness conscious, and had a smartphone (73.8% of UAE's mobile consumers carrying smartphones; highest in the world). Every Step Counts seamlessly integrates one’s fitness with one’s savings through gamification and mobile banking devices.

Describe the execution

We created the Emirates NBD Fitness Account and in parallel, designed and built the step tracker app from scratch with the help of tech, financial and fitness experts. It was made available for download on both Apple and Android phones. Social posts and online content pushed people to download the app to start making every step count. We also created an on ground activation called the Financial Fitness League which with the Every Step Counts initiative further promoted health and wealth in the UAE, with competitive leagues and as well as better interest, additional prizes for the best performers.

List the results.

(1) 99% positive sentiments. (2) $300,000 earned media and counting; received endorsements across local and regional media. Examples: (a) “A new phase in digital banking as it effectively combines customers’ health and lifestyle goals with their banking needs.” (Gulf News) (b) “Turn health into wealth with Emirates NBD.” (T3) (c) “Be fit and healthy with Emirates NBD.” (GMR) (4) Winner of EFMA’S innovation award: “An idea whose time has come! Value-based behavior incentives were the one missing piece from wearable device models.” (EFMA & Accenture) (5) In total: (a) 100 million steps and counting. (b) AED 16.07 million saved (after 1 month) (c) 12,000 downloads and counting.