The Empowerment Podcast

Germans have an uneasy relationship with banks: only around 20% say they have confidence in their bank. Direct banks in particular struggle with a lack of proximity to their customers that branch banks naturally enjoy.  Addressing this tough deficit compared to branch banks was the challenge for our direct banking client ING.

We asked ourselves how, besides physical proximity and heavy reliance on TV commercials, do banks, especially direct banks, get really close to their target group today?

We identified podcasting as an emotionally viable and sustainable communication channel. The format gave us the space we needed to bring to life ING's global brand orientation empowerment approach ‘do your thing’, in a credible way:

In the ‘do your thing’ podcast series, we provided intimate and emotional insights into exciting (and not always easy) life journeys and positioned ING as a competent financial partner.

A values-based target group analysis formed the basis of our comprehensive content concept, choice of topics and guests, as well as the multi-channel media concept for efficient promotion of all episodes.

The campaign-accompanying emotion measurement on test persons showed: Those who listened to the podcast perceived ING as nine times more likeable, and trust in the bank increased sixfold compared to the zero measurement. The campaign thus surpassed  the TV benchmark for brand appeal lift by 613% – an incredible result.