HIGH FIVE FOR A BETTER LIFE

TitleHIGH FIVE FOR A BETTER LIFE
BrandWEBANK
Product / ServiceBRANDING AWARENESS
CategoryB01. Challenger Brand Strategy
EntrantWEBANK Shenzhen, CHINA
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT BEIJING Beijing, CHINA
Production LEO BURNETT BEIJING Beijing, CHINA
Post Production LEO BURNETT BEIJING Beijing, CHINA

Credits

Name Company Position
Kanm Li Leo Burnett Beijing Senior Account Director
Rui Zou Leo Burnett Beijing Senior Account Manager
Juzhou Xue Leo Burnett Beijing Art Director
Nuno Wu Leo Burnett Beijing Executive Creative Director
Frank Liu Leo Burnett Beijing Managing Director
Jiahui Wang Leo Burnett Beijing Producer
Yun Cai Leo Burnett Beijing senior traffic manager

Why is this work relevant for Creative Strategy?

The end of 2019 marked the 5th anniversary of WeBank. To get rid of an arrogant bank image and create interactions with mass users, WeBank made the number “5” a visualized palm, integrating the brand’s 5th anniversary with “High Five”, a positive and energetic action. In this way, a unique visual communication icon was created, turning the brand’s anniversary celebration into a communication event that all users can participate in.

Background

Situation: As China’s first Internet-based physical store, WeBank boasts a certain brand awareness. However, there still exists a certain distance between its users since it’s an online bank. User attention and brand engagement were limited and difficult. Brief: WeBank hopes to get rid of an arrogant image, be a partner for users and generate user interactions. It aims to spread its key message “WeBank - Better Banking Better Life” to more consumers and also shape a “Warm and Inclusive” brand image. Objectives: Combining its 5th anniversary with a positive and energetic expression, WeBank turned its 5th anniversary celebration into a communication incident that users can be involved in and participate in brand co-creation. In the meantime, it can form a visual icon, enhance brand’s role in communication and make user experience and identification easier.

The Interpretation of the Challenge (30% of vote)

WeBank was established in December 2014. Back then China’s bank market was already saturated and some large traditional banks occupied a large amount of users with their high credit and reputation. How to find a breakthrough in the red ocean banking market and develop a new banking mode became the challenge and direction of WeBank. WeBank believes that most of users have an impression that banks are discreet and arrogant. They tend to think banks don’t value ordinary user groups. Therefore, WeBank hopes to shape a warm and user-centric brand image. Regarding users who have been neglected by traditional parks as new growth point, WeBank, in a likeable and easy-to-approach communication, spread its “Better Banking Better Life” ideal to more people.

The Insight / Breakthrough Thinking (30% of vote)

WeBank was established in December 2014. Back then China’s bank market was already saturated and some large traditional banks occupied a large amount of users with their high credit and reputation. How to find a breakthrough in the red ocean banking market and develop a new banking mode became the challenge and direction of WeBank. WeBank believes that most of users have an impression that banks are discreet and arrogant. They tend to think banks don’t value ordinary user groups. Therefore, WeBank hopes to shape a warm and user-centric brand image. WeBank turned the number 5 into a palm in visual design. The “High 5” action signals a positive energy, celebration and pleasant experience, which match with WeBank’s ideal of “Better Banking, Better Life”. With “High 5” representing “Equality and Inclusiveness”, WeBank hopes to provide consumers who have always been neglected by traditional banks, with simpler, lower-cost services.

The Creative Idea (20% of vote)

WeBank turned the number 5 into a palm in visual design. The “High 5” action signals a positive energy, celebration and pleasant experience, which match with WeBank’s ideal of “Better Banking, Better Life”. With “High 5” representing “Equality and Inclusiveness”, WeBank hopes to provide consumers who have always been neglected by traditional banks, with simpler, lower-cost and respectful finance services. It’s the mission and future vision of WeBank in the first place. High 5 also signals mutual companionship, which demonstrates WeBank’s status as well as consumer promise. As for landing page content, WeBank produced a series of TVC and prints to reach its target audiences. The “High 5” action inspires users to discover a better life together with the brand. In the meantime, stickers and memes are launched on Sina Weibo and Kuaishou, inviting users to record and share those unforgettable moments in their life.

The Outcome / Results (20% of vote)

Our 15-day online campaign achieved over 409,000,000 media exposures, realizing an in-depth campaigning for brand. On Sina Weibo, the topic “Hi Five for a Better Life” engaged celebrities and netizens to express their understandings on what’s a better life, making the topic one of the TOP3 trending topics with over 62,000 discussions and 24,074,993 advertising online traffic (as of September 20, 2019). On short video platform Kuaishou, the video challenge competition received 78,000 works from netizens. The video play on the tag page reached 21,000,000 (as of September 19, 2019). Audiences used WeBank memes to record and share beautiful moments in their life, realizing brand and user content co-creation.

Please tell us about the challenger brand and how your campaign challenged / was different from your competitors

Established in December 2014, WeBank is China’s first Internet-based bank that achieves a rapid development via innovative finance products. According to most of users, discreet and arrogant traditional banks only care about big clients. WeBank aims to give ordinary users the right and control over finance services and benefits, enabling users who have long been neglected to enjoy a simple, low-cost and respected finance services. In communication, traditional banks prefer to emphasize its technology and safety, which resulted in an arrogant and indifferent image. In addition to be discreet and professional, WeBank also boasts breakthroughs in technology innovation. It brings a user-centric approach to finance technologies and hopes to deliver a humble and stable feeling in a calming manner, allowing more ordinary users to feel the essence of WeBank’s culture and idea.

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