Tide: Changing the TIDE for the business banking sector

Key Points

• Tide needed to drive awareness and increase app installs to grow its customer base.
• Remained on air throughout the pandemic to offer support to businesses that might be suffering through the tough times.
• Reached 92% of target SME business owners; 187% increase in brand awareness; 60% share of voice in business banking sector; 259% increase in customers by end of year three.

The Challenge

Founded in 2017, Tide is a business banking app that was designed to disrupt the banking sector, offer business owners a genuine alternative to the ‘big 5’ banks and make business banking more accessible. It had relied largely on digital routes to help grow brand awareness and acquire customers through socials, search, regional out of home and radio advertising to establish themselves as an SME player. Results however had reached a plateau.

One of the biggest problems was a cluttered marketplace. With a slew of new brands vying for customers, it was getting harder for Tide to stand out from the crowd and take on established nationwide brands. Shifting the attitudes of SME business owners would be no easy feat, either. Research showed that SMEs where risk adverse, with 52% believing that traditional banks were more reliable than digital only options; in fact research, showed that you’re more likely to get a divorce than switch banks.

Tide set themselves and media agency, Guerillascope, the objectives of growing brand awareness and market share, and increasing app installs. The mission was clear: disrupt the market by making SMEs aware that it offered them a genuine, accessible alternative.

The TV Solution

It was obvious to Guerillascope that there was one channel that would deliver both increases brand awareness and app installs for Tide. That was TV. It was the perfect choice to allow Tide to consistently showcase its unique selling points: 24-hour support; quick and simple registration; easy account access; no monthly fees; and expenses/accountancy integration.

The Plan

Tide’s TV activity kicked off in 2019, with a creative that would play up the unique selling points for the brand. By using a series of tools like Adintel, TechEdge and Touchpoints, Guerillascope were able to pinpoint the TV channels, programming and day-parts that profiled best for small to medium business owners.

This process revealed that Film4 on weekends wasn’t delivering the required response, so it was removed from the channel mix. Meanwhile, a focus was placed on Sky News post-23:00 to capitalise on the night owl tendencies of entrepreneurs, as well as contextual placements around programming like the Martin Lewis Money show. These refinements to the plan saw this first campaign reach 63% of business owners, overall Tide achieved a 62% uplift in app installs during the time of the campaign.

The second year of Tide’s activity coincided with the height of the pandemic. While many businesses pulled their campaigns off air or reduced their marketing activity, Tide lent in. They wanted to maintain a reassuring presence and champion small business owners that were dealing with the knock-on effects of a pandemic. This saw spends increase, making the brand one of the top 75 spenders in the TV market and one of the biggest banking brands on TV (even outspending the likes of HSBC and Santander). With the help of higher viewing and lower pricing, Tide was able to accrue a 60% share of voice in the business banking sector.

Guerillascope optimised the campaign by finding contextually relevant content on the widest reaching channels. This saw spots aired in the Six Nations, Celebrity Bake Off, SAS: Who Dares Wins and the Martin Lewis Money Show. These placements allowed the second-year campaign to reach 82% of the business-owning target audience.

To maximise the effectiveness of phase two, the creative shifted from its previous focus on functionality to a more emotive tone; this switch was backed up by industry research, which highlighted the need for finance brands to to bring emotion into their communications - especially during tougher economic and societal times. The change in approach drove a 37% year-on-year increase in new customers, and a 45% year on year increase in prompted brand awareness.

Moving into 2021’s third instalment of the campaign, economic conditions meant that the budget had decreased. By using analysis tools, programme viewing data and Tide’s target spend, Guerillascope developed an approach that would make the brand’s investment stretch as far as possible.

The solution was a pulsed strategy that would alternate between awareness and response weeks. The former was focus on reach in order to grow share of voice, while the latter centred on frequency to drive engagement. This approach would see spikes in awareness coming from high-reaching channels and spots in popular programming - such as the Great British Bake Off and live sports on Sky Sports - while a 10” DR creative would be deployed during daytime to boost impacts.

It was a success. The campaign generated the 2nd highest volume of visits for 6 months despite being run with the lowest spend in 6 months. This translated into the best Cost Per Visit measured over the same period. Ultimately, Tide saw a 22% increase in customer growth, driven in part by a 7.35% increase in prompted brand awareness.

Tide’s television activity was a core part of a wider marketing plan. It constituted the top of the funnel that would prime consumers to remember the brand; OOH placements worked as a secondary local touchpoint to drive frequency, while paid digital was deployed as a final conversion tool. The TV creative pulled through into other media, with cutdowns and stills being used for digital and OOH campaigns to ensure synergy across the media mix.

Results

The campaign was a roaring success across the three years for Tide. In year one, Tide’s campaign reached 63% of the core audience and achieved a 36% Share of Voice in the business banking sector. In terms of business results within 3 years Tide saw a 72% uplift in web traffic and a 62% increase in app downloads.

By the end of the campaign, the brand had reached 92% of the target audience through TV with a frequency of 50; this in turn contributed to a 187% increase in prompted brand awareness.

TV helped Tide grow their share of market from 0.5% to 8% with a massive 60% share of voice in the business banking sector. Attribution following the campaign showed that TV had generated 1.2 million web visits, which accounted for 19% of total site visits. By the end of the three year period, Tide had seen a 259% increase in customers.

Sector: Financial services

Brand: Tide Business Banking

Campaign objectives: Grow awareness and sign ups

Target Audience: ABC1adults 25-54

Budget: Unknown

Campaign Dates: 2020-2022

TV Usage: Linear and BVOD, spot

Creative Agency: Sidekick Studios

Media Agency:  Guerlliascope