Standard Bank

Standard Bank Attorneys in Mind package advertisement on computer screen
Computer monitor displaying Standard Bank attention message

CHALLENGE

Standard Bank embarked on an acquisition campaign to target legal professionals. The objectives for the campaign were to drive awareness of the proposition, generate a meaningful meeting between Standard Bank Business Bankers and legal professionals, sell the proposition to prospective attorneys, as well as cross-sell the products to existing clients.

INSIGHT

We deployed our team of anthropologists who spent time with legal professionals to acquire a more in-depth understanding of who these individuals are within the context of their profession.

Business Anthropology revealed the following key insights about these individuals: Attorneys are time sensitive, conservative individuals with an eye for detail. They are
required to review legal documents that span hundreds of pages – all the while dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

Hand holding blue branded card holder with cards
Blue branded stationery set with notebook, pen and sleeves
Black pen resting on a blue Standard Bank booklet
Standard Bank pen resting on documents beside blue folder

STRATEGY AND CREATIVE

The creative concept focused on the idea that a bank wanted to show up in the legal sector using a language that would demonstrate, specifically to attorneys, that they understand their world.

The idea for the campaign: Dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.

We sent each prospective attorney a 3D direct mailer containing both a pen and a notepad. The notepad wasn’t just any notepad, the notepad contained hundreds of pages of legal jargon; however, none of the i’s were dotted and none of the t’s crossed. The pen was engraved with an inscription: For dotting i’s and crossing t’s. We also launched a radio commercial quoting various laws with incorrect references that we knew only attorneys would pick up.

Then we created a false front cover on the newspaper, Business Day, where we removed the dot on the ‘i’ from the masthead. And a few pages later, in the same paper, another ad was placed titled: ‘Looking for this?’ – presenting the missing dot. People with a high attention to detail, such as an attorney, would notice this.

Furthermore, there were several activations, which we launched in areas or environments frequented by attorneys, where we deliberately misspelled names of attorneys to generate a reaction and show up as a bank that finds value in attention to detail – like they do.

Folded BusinessDay newspaper on a grey surface
Standard Bank blue advertisement on open newspaper
Two branded Standard Bank coffee cups with banking messages
Radio Commercial