FOCUS ISSUE: FOR CREDIT CARDS

FOCUS ISSUE: FOR CREDIT CARDS

Banks come up with new brands to cater to special customer groups

Agustina Wulansari The Jakarta Post Jakarta

In marketing, being innovative is one of the important factors that will determine whether or not a product receives a positive response from customers.

The same thing applies in the credit card industry. Creating innovative brands for their cards is also as important as giving lucrative rewards.

For credit card issuers, a brand name means a lot as it is not only used to differentiate the card they issue but also to attach a kind of intimacy to their customers.

Card categories such as Platinum, Gold and Silver may reflect the thickness of their customers' wallets. But such types of classification are already too common. This might be the reason why many credit card issuers now use individual and unique brands for their credit cards. These kinds of cards are generally issued for special groups of customers.

Have you heard about the Lady Card from Lippo Bank, Clear Card from Citibank or BII's M2 (MC Square). All are issued to reflect the lifestyles of their specific target markets.

Lippo Lady Card, the newest credit card from Lippo Bank, which was launched several months ago, is one example. As you might guess from its name, Lady Card targets working and active women with an annual income of at least Rp 45 million.

With this specific name, Lady Card offers a number of privileges specially designed for women, such as free insurance coverage for breast cancer and price discounts in selected hangout places as well in fashion outlets, boutiques, spas and hotels. Almost all of the benefits are related to women as the main targets of the card. This card also offers women's accessories such as Estee Lauder handbags, and a lipstick set for new members.

Besides working women, young professionals have also become a prime target of local credit card issuers. Many issuers have launched special promotion programs targeting this group.

One of them is Citibank Clear Card. This transparent and trendy card was apparently introduced to replace the youth- oriented Y-Card.

From the benefits it offers, this card has been specially designed to cater to young and active executives who still enjoy hanging out after work.

Some of the privileges offered to its holders include price discounts of 15 percent on every purchase in selected cafes and restaurants in Kemang, South Jakarta, and a 20 percent discount in a number of fashion outlets.

The holders also enjoy a 30 percent discount when they stay in the Hard Rock Hotel, and the Cafi and Malya Hotels.

BII's MC2 is another credit card that targets young people. This card, which comes in three choices -- Saturn in orange, Solar in purple and Jupiter in green, offers benefits suited to the needs of young and active executives.

The cardholder can, for example, get benefits in the form of not having to queue when entering certain hang-out spots. BII MC2 also rewards the holder with a BII rupiah bonus of up to 5 percent for every purchase.

Other credit card firms are also interested in this growing market segment.

HSBC Bank is one of the banks that offer a number of benefits geared toward young professionals. Just like Citibank, HSBC also offers special discounts in selected fashion outlets, hotels and restaurants. Among the well-known names offering discounts are Marks & Spencer, Next and Nautica, belonging to the Mitra Adi Perkasa Group, the Hotel Mulia Jakarta and Hard Rock Hotel Bali.

With their big names in the credit card business, Citibank and HSBC seem to have no problem in getting price discounts for their credit card holders from merchants.

For the merchants, joining such sales campaigns means a good opportunity to promote their products and services.

"Giving a discount of up to 15 percent is still reasonable for us. Beside, we can benefit from free promotion through this cooperation. In our experience, we don't have to pay anything for this," said Mellani Solagratia, PR manager of the JW Marriot Hotel.

JW Marriot provides a special discount for every purchase with a HSBC credit card in its restaurant. According to Mellani, the hotel also offer a special room rate for HSBC's corporate credit card clients.

Arifian Gustiandi, general manager of The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, also said that being selected for Citibank's sales campaign was of great value to the company.

"This partnership gives us more added value. Free promotion without any additional costs is one of the best advantages. Our brand name is always mentioned and that's why it can improve our brand image" he said.

The Coffee Bean, which started operating in Indonesia in 2001, has been cooperating with Citibank in the promotion of its Clear Card for the last two months. On Mondays, for example, The Coffee Bean offers "buy one and get one free" promotion.

According the Arifian, the joint campaign with Citibank had successfully increased the number of customers, who mostly used credit cards instead of cash.

"This promotion is only for several months, and it won't cost us much," he said when he was asked if the offer would inflict financial losses on the company.