Luisa Mazinter, the CMO of TymeBank in South Africa, was tasked in August 2019 with maintaining the country's first digital bank's rate of customer acquisitions, while increasing the account usage of their existing customers. Six months after the launch, TymeBank had been described as one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the world. Although the brand launch had been successful across a number of measures, Mazinter knew that maintaining this momentum in the coming year would present additional challenges. The dominant major banks were responding by reducing their fees, promoting new digital services and aggressively targeting TymeBank's target market. New entrants also presented a looming threat. The case requires students to identify Mazinter's marketing choices, analyze the emerging market environment, competitive positioning, and existing integrated marketing communications campaign, propose an appropriate allocation of marketing spend for September to December 2019, and recommend how TymeBank needed to evolve its marketing activities into 2020.
First National Bank (FNB), one of South Africa’s “Big Four” banks, has, under the stewardship of its CEO, invested in a strategy of innovation to grow its market presence in South Africa, other emerging-market African countries and India. In line with its strategy to lead digital banking in South Africa, FNB has invested in building a social media strategy to enable the brand to strengthen its relationships with customers, through building customer knowledge and stickiness and humanizing its brand.<br><br>In 2012, FNB’s head of digital marketing and media sees a tweet from Standard Bank stating that it has instructed its attorneys to lodge a complaint against what it alleges to be FNB’s misleading advertising. She wonders whether Standard Bank’s use of Twitter to communicate this competitive action is related to FNB’s extensive and well-publicized use of the micro-blogging service. She knows that the debate on Twitter will be a significant indicator of whether her social media strategy has been successful. How can FNB continue to differentiate itself and alleviate the pressure on non-interest revenues?<br><br> Banking on Social Media (B), 9B14A071, is a supplement to this case.
This case is a supplement to Banking on Social Media (A), 9B14A070.<br><br>In January 2013, First National Bank (FNB) launches the “You Can Help” brand campaign, which calls for change and is based on the bank’s research on South African children’s hopes for the country. The campaign receives mixed reactions from political parties, with the governing African National Congress declaring, “This isn’t an advert — it’s a political statement. An attack on the president, his ministers and government as a whole.” Following the harsh criticism by some, select clips are taken off YouTube, the Group CEO sends an apologetic text message to a government minister involved, and the bank buys newspaper advertisements trying to explain the campaign. Has FNB managed the crisis properly?
First National Bank (FNB), one of South Africa's "Big Four" banks, has, under the stewardship of its CEO, invested in a strategy of innovation to grow its market presence in South Africa, other emerging-market African countries, and India. In line with its strategy to lead digital banking in South Africa, FNB has invested in building a social media strategy to enable the brand to strengthen its relationships with customers, through building customer knowledge and stickiness and humanizing its brand.<br><br>In 2012, FNB's head of digital marketing and media sees a tweet from Standard Bank stating that it has instructed its attorneys to lodge a complaint against what it alleges to be FNB's misleading advertising. She wonders whether Standard Bank's use of Twitter to communicate this competitive action is related to FNB's extensive and well-publicized use of the micro-blogging service. She knows that the debate on Twitter will be a significant indicator of whether her social media strategy has been successful. How can FNB continue to differentiate itself and alleviate the pressure on non-interest revenues?