HDFC

Since HSBC Bank introduced the concept of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in India, the machine has come a long way into becoming an indispensable part of our lives. But even today, India still remains a heavily unripe market when it comes to the penetration of ATMs. According to RBI, India had 44,857 ATMs as on 31st May 2009. Although the number sounds disheartening, the fact that the jump from FY 08 to FY 09 in the number of ATMs in India has been a staggering 30% is somewhat reassuring.

Till before April 2009, luring customers to open an account in your bank by demonstrating the quality and quantity of your ATM service used to be one of the major strategies for Banking Institutions. However, this trend ceased when the RBI guidelines in April 2009 made ATM transactions across all Banks free of charge. Even SBI, whose campaigns used to mainly circle around the boastful number of their ATMs across the country, seems to be finding a tough time to come up with another out-of-the-box idea to promote itself.

Amidst this backdrop, HDFC recently came up with an ATM related service as an attempt to lure account holders into its ATM. The newly conceptualized 'My Favorite' option in HDFC ATMs lets you store a specific amount that you regularly withdraw from the ATM in your account records. Thus, each time you use the 'My Favorite' option in an HDFC ATM, it will automatically give you the amount of cash stored in your account. This feature of theirs, they claim, makes ATM transactions 40% faster.

To create awareness about this very feature of its ATMs, HDFC Bank has come up with an Integrated Marketing Campaign, whereby they are promoting this feature by claiming that it will make ATM withdrawals 40% faster. The campaign, conceptualized by Euro RSCG India, covers television, print and outdoor media.

               

LOOK: This TVC shows a man in a towing truck who spots an unsuspecting car owner entering an HDFC ATM, leaving his car unmanned. But as soon as the towing guy attaches the hook to the front of the car, he’s startled by the horn. The car owner is already done with his ATM transaction and is back in his car. Apart from this TVC, various hoardings and print-ads showing super-fast trains have been come up with, which all aim at highlighting that HDFC ATMs work 40% faster than other ATMs because of the ‘My Favorite’ option.

CONTENT: All the ads promoting this feature in various media are somewhat dissimilar in their content. The TVC shows the advantages of saving time by using an HDFC ATM, whereas the hoardings and print ads simply use a super-fast train to relate to the speed of HDFC ATMs. Apart from this, I had come across a very interesting magazine ad under the same campaign that I found brilliant. A prompter, popping out of the side of the magazine read ‘Go to the cover story 40% faster’ on the top, and ‘Just like our HDFC Bank ATMs’ on the bottom when you look under it. And that prompter lead to the cover story of that magazine, along with a print ad of HDFC, which had a join-the-dots game. Once joined, the reader would form a picture of a jet plane, which was nothing but another instrument used in relation to the speed factor.

CASTING: There isn’t much to debate on the casting front of these commercials as the TVC uses familiar models and/or actors, and no Brand Ambassador or mascot has been put to use as such. The makers could have shown a more convincing look of the towing-guy, because it is confusing initially as to whether he’s towing the car or trying to steal it. A Hawaldar character sitting beside him in the van would have also served the purpose.

CONNECT: The ad tries to strike a connect with frequent users of ATM, which in today’s time forms a considerable chunk of the population. The time saving factor used to promote the feature is good, but there could have been a better execution of the same idea. The print copy too is decent.

OVERALL RATING: 2.5/5

                The reason why I gave 50% rating to this campaign is because my reaction towards it was pretty neutral. I neither found it bad, nor that great. I would have rated it higher had I myself wanted to use the HDFC ATM at least once after watching the ad, but even that failed to happen. In spite of having an HDFC debit card, even now I walk into any ATM in sight and withdraw money.