Taking advantage of ads and direct promos

When his parents bequeathed their entire wealth to M. Gunawan Alif in the early 1990s, he suddenly remembered a bank's advertisement on priority banking services. That particular bank, which is today merged into a bank with a new name -- Bank Permata -- smartly advertised its priority services for customers with at least Rp 200 million (about US$23,500) to deposit with the bank. In those years it was considered a huge amount.

"At that time the bank had a branch office close to my office in Kuningan. I really enjoyed the professional service provided by the bank's special staff in a very luxurious office. I could even use that office for meetings with my colleagues or associates," recalled Gunawan, director of PT Duta Cakrawala Komunika.

It was rather unfortunate, said Gunawan, that the personal banker did not give him any consultancy on how to invest or put his money to the best use. "Come to think of it, such advice could have been very useful, say like playing with foreign exchange or on the share market, rather than having inactive funds with only fixed monthly interest."

Today, it is a different story. Customers like Gunawan would immediately switch to another bank if their staff could not provide them with the required advice on investments, money management and so forth. However, most banks that have priority banking services naturally equip their staff with the necessary training and knowledge that they can pass on to the customers. The banks also advertise and promote heavily, including by direct mailing and on websites, to keep their current and potential customers aware of their services.

Like any product or service, priority banking has to be heavily promoted through a full range of above and below-the-line advertising, as otherwise awareness would be low.

Recently, Bank Mandiri and BNI have been quite aggressive in their advertising campaigns for priority banking services. Apart from the conventional media, such as television, newspaper, magazine and radio, their direct selling efforts are also equally aggressive. Bank Niaga and HSBC, meanwhile, are slightly low-key in comparison, but their websites provide full information on such services.

Various television programs are also used to promote priority banking. Bank Mandiri Prioritas, for example, created a program called "Hole in One Mandiri Prioritas", which was aired by Metro TV last year. For this special segment of customers it became a very popular program as it relevantly catered to their lifestyle and as it was the only golf program on Indonesia's television.

"Due to the small number of this particular market segment -- and being a very specific and exclusive niche -- advertising through conventional media should be mixed with direct communications, such as direct mailing," said Johannes Uway, creative director at JC&K Advertising. According to him, the natural steps in enhancing their awareness is after brand building through advertising, direct mailing or other forms of direct communications should immediately follow.

Undoubtedly most priority customers are successful individuals and those with tight schedules and indeed most of them are highly educated. Hence it is not that simple to lure or persuade them to switch banks.

Any communication message has to be clear and concise as this specific target market does not waste time on trivial matters. The core of the message should be convincing enough that the bank will be their personal financial manager that can make their "money-tree grow taller". "Friendliness, luxurious offices, personalized service, snacks and drinks, plus a trustworthy consultation on how to invest and manage the money ... in short, they are given the royal treatment, like kings and queens," explained Johannes Uway.

Themes in advertising campaigns, likewise, are also less in words but more on pictures to create this sort of royal or highly privileged ambience. The direct mailing to the current and potential customers does more of the explaining of product and service features that each bank gives in its priority service. After all, this specific species of customers are extremely smart.

-- Ari Darmawan