Kiwibank, New Zealand’s biggest bank by branches, prides
itself on being intrinsically ‘Kiwi’ and targeting the everyday
citizen. ‘Kiwi Thinking’ is the bank’s latest drive to boost market
share and challenge the Australian giants by inviting the general
public to submit innovative inventions. Farah Halime
reports.
New Zealand’s
biggest bank by branches, Kiwibank, has launched the ‘Kiwi
Thinking’ campaign offering inventive New Zealanders the chance to
get their ideas off the ground by lending its advertising
support.
The website has already attracted
wide-ranging ideas, from an e-parking service that allows people to
reserve a parking space online, to a ‘No more slouch chair’ and a
‘Dreaded drip absorber’, which catches wine before the ‘dreaded’
drip down the bottle.
All ideas uploaded on its website,
www.kiwibank.co.nz, will be assessed by Sam Knowles, Kiwibank chief
executive; Sadhana Raman, Kiwibank brand and marketing manager; and
entrepreneur Tim Norton.
The online campaign also runs in
conjunction with a marketing campaign that showcases the thinking
behind many of Kiwibank’s products and services.
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By GlobalDataThe drive behind the initiative is
the ‘uniquely Kiwi approach’ that saw the bank set up in PostShops
(post offices) around the country at a time when other banks were
closing branches.
It is now the biggest bank in New
Zealand by branches, with more than 300 outlets across the country.
This is despite being a relative newcomer to the retail banking
world, having launched in 2002.
“This thinking not only gave us
many more locations than any other bank, it also saved usms in set
up costs,” said Knowles.
‘Kiwi
thinking’
For the 100% state-owned bank, this
type of ‘Kiwi thinking’ is the power behind the bank and that which
allows it to break into a market dominated by the big four
Australian banks – ANZ, National Australia Bank, Westpac and
Commonwealth Bank of Australia – who own the major banks in New
Zealand.
Bruce Thompson, a spokesman for the
bank, told RBI: “Kiwibank is a challenger brand.
“We strongly believe that there is
room for a locally-owned bank providing better service, better
rates and better fees.”
“We only pay a transaction-based
fee at the branches and do not directly employ the staff or own the
buildings. This significantly lowers our operating costs,” Thompson
added although he did not disclose how much the bank had saved.
The bank, which targets the
“average New Zealand family”, is confident of its own position and
boasts that it will challenge “old-fashioned thinking” that
dominates the Australian banking industry.
“Who would
have thought, in a few short years, a fledgling Kiwi-owned bank
could take on the combined power of the Aussie-owned banks, who had
a stranglehold on our country, and change the face of banking
forever,” the bank said on its website.
Kiwibank uses its government-owned
status as the driving force behind all its marketing with the
slogan ‘it’s ours’ running on its website and accompanying
marketing initiatives.
With over 650,000 customers it is
expanding quickly and although the bank recorded a 9% drop in
interim pre-tax profits to NZ$23.5m ($16.6m) for the six months to
December 2009, from NZ$25.8m for the same period a year earlier,
deposits and loans were up.
Retail deposits increased 3% from
NZ$6.7bn to NZ$6.9bn for the six months to December 2009, while
total lending including home loans, business banking and credit
cards jumped 15% from NZ$8.5bn to NZ$9.8bn.
The bank said deposit margins
remained under pressure but “strong depositor support” would boost
retail funding and market share growth for all areas.
A NZ$35m capital injection by the
bank’s parent company, New Zealand Post, also allowed the bank to
pursue growth in the second half of the year.
The ‘Kiwi Thinking’ campaign comes
a few months after the bank was criticised for an overly
nationalistic ad campaign where it likened itself and its customers
to the French resistance movement in World War II.
Patriotic
streak
The ad creative involved a mock
interrogation of a customer by an Australian banker, and scenes of
a beach invasion with crates of New Zealand money being repatriated
to Australia.
But for the bank, the patriotic
streak is simple “tongue-in-cheek humour” with the forecast for
2010 not affected.
Thompson said the bank’s priorities
were based on “incremental growth of our customer base, our lending
portfolio and retail deposits” and the continuation of its lead as
a “value for money” bank.
It is all about “linking the bank to what it intrinsically means
to be a Kiwi,” Thompson said.
