Tax year end campaign 2022

Barclays UK, Wealth and Investments

SUMMARY

Every year, February to April, is the seasonal peak for ISA acquisition in the UK, with every financial institution vying to remind customers to make the most of their tax allowance within the deadline. The market is saturated with activity. Despite this, for Barclays UK (BUK), activity over this period is a major contributor to overall business targets – so standing out during this time is key. The ‘tax-year end’ campaign (TYE) is a flagship, multi-channel acquisition campaign for BUK. The objective was to drive consideration around investing with Barclays in order to acquire new Investment ISA account openings. With a higher media spend than every other year, and a bold, new creative approach to address the unique backdrop of 2022, this year’s campaign for Barclays has already hit target only part-way through the media plan.

OBJECTIVES

Whilst this is a regular brief year-on-year, TYE for 2022 was unique. As data from the Barclays ‘State Of The Nation’ research study demonstrated, the campaign takes place against a backdrop of interest rates being at an all-time historic low. This landscape has resulted in high levels of savings inertia – in which consumers sit on surplus cash and don’t know what to do with their savings. According to a recent report by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) that proved a crucial input, more than 8.6m UK consumers are each sitting on more than £10,000 of investable assets.

The trend has been intensified by the financial effects of the pandemic. Using Barclays in-house analytics team, we could see that a significant proportion of our target audience saved more money than usual. And whilst people put their lives (and financial decisions) on hold during 2021, 2022 signalled the start of the ‘new normal’. This meant we had a unique opportunity to capitalise on this moment in time, and help persuade our target audience that Barclays had better investment products - products that could help make their money work harder for them and better plan for tomorrow. Customer research, Barclays insight and FS industry reports showed us that people were entering the new year with a growth-orientated mindset when it came to their money – and many were considering investing for the first time. They knew it was something they “should” do. 

However, research also showed that many found it stressful and overwhelming to make decisions about where to invest, what to do, and how. There was also the emergence of financial anxiety due to the rising cost of living and interest rates starting to climb, albeit only by a small increase.

Our audience knew they needed to make decisions about their financial future, and that investing was an important first step, but were fearful of making a bad decision. In order to ensure potential first-time investors considered Barclays, we needed to demonstrate that we could get them started. To make a move. To take a first step. To help take the angst out of investing, with products and advice which make investing easy to begin with.

EXECUTION

When the tax year looms, banks across the board are taking steps to encourage customers to think more seriously about how they manage their money and – crucially – to pay more into their ISAs. As a creative agency, the challenge is how you ensure your client's brand stands out from the competition, especially when every agency has been given (almost) the same brief and the same insights.

The job at hand was simple – remind people that they needed to make the most of their money before the end of the tax year. This is cyclical, turning up every year, just like Santa and the Easter Bunny. But how can we rise above the noise and not add to it?

The key for our creative response was relevance - tapping into the mood of the moment, because, while the product might be the same each year, the world changes and people change.

Our creative solution needed to reflect how people were feeling and tap into a whole new cohort of savers who were sitting on cash that they hadn't spent due to the pandemic and the restrictions on daily life. We needed them to consider their new savings - the money that had been saved from not going on holiday, socialising or the daily commute - was a chance to do something different. Yet, a sense of financial anxiety had emerged at the same time that led to paralysis - with job insecurity, rising living costs and interest rates all coming together to stop people in their tracks. Savers were nervous about making the wrong decision and consequently weren’t doing anything with their money. Our creative approach was to combat this paralysis, to get things moving.

Our response had to rise above the noise, give people a shake, a friendly nudge in the right direction, and in some places a metaphorical slap in the face, to wake them up to what's possible. It needed to be a far cry from the nondescript portraits of customers that you often see driving the marketing for many of the banks. “Wake up your money” became our big idea. A simple and powerful thought that drove our creative expression.

We researched two concepts (this in an earlier form, and an alternative route focussed on ‘feeling free’) with groups of customers across various levels of investment know-how (existing Barclays customers and non-Barclays customers). This was essential in driving home the need to be clear and simple, to not overestimate public knowledge about basic investing, and to reassure that getting started was the best first step.

Our creative output used simple, impactful headlines, playful animation, bold typography and an even bolder colour palette. The campaign appeared in press, outdoor advertising, digital display - including some with API integration, direct comms including in-app messages and an email campaign to existing and registered clients, and across social media. 

The result was an original TYE campaign that stood head and shoulders above the competition.

EFFECTIVENESS / RESULTS

There were three hero executions of the ‘Wake up your money’ concept used across the varied media plan.

1) Give Your Savings a Shake

2) Wake Up Your Money

3) Money Doesn't Grow On ZZZZZs

Generally raising awareness of Barclays investment products, these also specifically led the customer to two investment account options - 1) Barclays ‘Smart Investor’ Investment ISA Account or 2) Barclays ‘Plan and Invest’ Account, an option that includes financial guidance as part of the product. Barclays also offer a Cash ISA account, and although this was not actively promoted, we also saw a positive halo effect of the campaign.

Throughout the campaign the various creative options were optimised across channels, audiences and time of day to make them as effective as possible. Using data, we could see what messages were working and change and adapt creative accordingly.

We also used geo-targeted media placement at key commuter ‘hub’ stations - the supporting body copy on digital executions changed to highlight the speed of how quick it was to open an ISA - telling the reader they could open an ISA by the time they got to a station only a few stops away. This was then re-served to their mobile device when they used their phone on the route.

Having impactful creative that was optimised, meant that our TYE 2022 campaign significantly outperformed the previous year’s campaign and also beat the targets that had been set by Barclays’ performance marketing and commercial teams.

Results:

1) Smart Investor Investment ISA Account

Number of accounts opened: 126.5% ahead of target

Year on year: 4.2% uplift

2) Plan and Invest Account

Number of accounts opened: 343% ahead of target

Year on year: 324% uplift

Media highlights:

Digital video

Click through rate (CTR) of 2.58% - 3.36 times higher than planned

View through rate (VTR) of 46% and video completes of 441%

Clicks - 93% higher than planned

InSkin delivered the highest CTR at 3.24%

Channel highlights:

Facebook - Give Your Savings a Shake creative - the best performer, likely due to the more novice investment experience audience profile.

Twitter - Money Doesn't Grow On ZZZZZs creative - the best performer, likely due to the more experienced investment experience audience profile.