WE MISS YOU

TitleWE MISS YOU
BrandWESTERN UNION
Product / ServiceWESTERN UNION
CategoryB03. Consumer Services
EntrantSTARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Mumbai, INDIA
Entrant Company:STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Mumbai, INDIA
Media Agency:STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUP Mumbai, INDIA

Credits

Credits

Name Company Position
Girish Upadhyay Starcom Group Account Director
Saurabh Tyagi Starcom Group Head
Dinesh Nair Starcom Sr.account Executive
Neeraja Seshadri Starcom Account Executive
Stephen Sequeira Starcom/Imx Group Head-buying
Abhinav Upadhyay Western Union Marketing Manager-south Asia

Results and Effectiveness

Western Union transactions for the quarter grew 24% versus the same quarter year ago. Subsequent surveys of consumers with relatives settled abroad showed a 43% increase in ‘Preference & Intent’ levels for the WU brand in Chennai. 1.1 million people were reached through the activity, with over 5,000 families connected via phone and 100 of those connected live on the radio. WU’s ability to establish an emotional connection by playing a part in an intimate family occasion yielded the desired results for the brand, elevating its value above price and function alone.

Creative Execution

Guided by our insight, WU focused on the time when a familiar voice would be most welcomed. Centering on Pongal (New Year) – the festival during which the emotional need was greatest – WU built a unique consumer touchpoint: offering to shrink the distance between family members with a LIVE ON RADIO phone call to a loved one abroad, courtesy of Western Union. A 15-days promotional blitz invited participation using spots on Hello (leading FM-station),RJ mentions, on-ground mall engagement and WU location visibility. With a simple SMS of both phone numbers,WU connected consumers to their family abroad. The luckiest consumers received a live radio phone conversation with their relative. Additional encouragement was offered at the conversation’s end, when the RJ saluted the spirit of these individuals who persevered despite hardships and sacrifices associated with working abroad. The campaign was enhanced with WU creative spots generated using the actual conversations.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Western Union is the leading inbound Money Transfer Service nationally in India. On a regional level, price warriors were stealing its share year-over-year and commoditizing the category. The challenge was to arrest this decline in Chennai – the single largest market in India – by developing a means to differentiate the brand from the price warriors, positioning it as a service that delivers beyond functional benefits. Our efforts needed to deliver for WU a consumer intent increase of 25% and transaction increase of 15%. Research showed that family members on the receiving end of money transfers from loved ones abroad were keenly aware of how challenging it was for these providers to be living in an alien environment so far from home. Unfortunately, they had to rely on infrequent and expensive overseas calls to share words of encouragement, and during festival holidays, the sense of helplessness and distance felt even greater.