TSB elevates Pride of Britain partnership to restore trust in brand

Key Points

• TSB needed to renew the trust of the nation following a technical hitch
• They partnered with ITV and ITN to create content featuring real-life pride stories of local charities helping people
• The campaign boosted trust by 33% and identification of TSB’s community role was up 110%

The Challenge

TSB was founded to create a Britain where people, and the communities they live in, thrive together. It is a bank that’s been around for two centuries, with over 500 branches in the UK and a solid reputation. In March 2018, TSB was riding high. Non-customer consideration (NCC) had never been better and a thousand new customers were joining the bank every week.

However, following severe technical issues in April 2018, TSB suffered its most turbulent quarter in the brand's recent history. National media, customers and a parliamentary select committee all rushed to criticise the bank. This resulted in a big drop in non-customer consideration and their Net Promoter Score. They needed to find a solution that would renew the nation's trust in the brand and lay down distinct positive foundations for TSB to trade effectively going into 2019.

The TV Solution

TSB's media agency, Vizeum decided that the best route would be to focus on the bank’s real – but overlooked – role in supporting the local community. 

Increasing TSB's awareness and association with Pride of Britain - the annual award show which honours brave and extraordinary Brits – was at the heart of this strategy. They wanted to communicate why TSB partners with Pride of Britain and what the bank does to support the local community in the hope of restoring the brand's image.

Although Pride of Britain is an incredibly emotive and engaging event, it is only broadcast on a single evening. In order to build lasting positive associations, they knew they would need to extend emotive storytelling beyond the show.

Vizeum - working closely with Dentsu’s content agency, TheStoryLab - recommended the creation of a series of bespoke pride-fuelled stories based upon local causes throughout the UK. Four real-life stories were selected and different length films were created – 30 and 10 seconds for TV and 90 seconds for online. The local causes were based in Birmingham (MLSS giving free hot meals to vulnerable people), Aberdeen (Streetsport helping young people), Newcastle (HenPower helping elderly people) and Bristol (Flamingo Chicks helping children with disabilities). The content needed to be high quality and communicated at scale to build a bedrock of trust and underpin TSB’s association with Pride of Britain.

To present these stories successfully, a fully integrated content partnership with ITV was put into place. ITV was the perfect partner due to its trusted voice - 59% of people believe ITV license partnerships drive increased brand trust - which would be so vital for the success of TSB.

The Plan

The aim was for 3 out of 4 people to be exposed to TSB’s brand ad before the award ceremony aired on 6th November. Therefore, following analysis into Pride of Britain viewers, the channel mix was upweighted to ITV as it accounted for a heavy proportion of viewership.

The local pride content launched one week before the TV show with an ITV proudly presents introduction to a 60" montage of stories at 21:15 during Strangers. As well as this, Dentsu created a new ad break within ITV News at Ten. This was highly effective as it delivered 100% SOV during an hour of uninterrupted news. These ran every Monday and Tuesday for eight weeks.

On the night of the show, the Henpower 30 second copy played out first in break at 20.30. As the four creatives were based upon charities around the UK, the spots used were tailored for regional relevance - for example, the spot featuring Aberdeen was up weighted in Scotland. Delivering at scale, the ITV partnership content ran across all dayparts at a higher share of voice than all its competitors.

The campaign didn't stop there. HenPower ran in cinemas nationwide buying into feel-good British films; 110 'Stories of Local Pride' were featured in Trinity Mirror Groups regional papers supported by radio segments in collaboration with Global Radio and social edits were created to amplify the stories and individuals featured. The TSB-enabled stories created a long tail which meant that the campaign’s impact would extend well beyond the Pride of Britain Awards show.

In addition, ITV arranged exclusive behind the scenes set tours of some of their iconic shows for TSB’s internal partners as a reward for their dedicated support of customers at a challenging time.

Results

• Total TV campaign delivery reached 85% of ABC1 Adults @ 13 OTS
• Sales increased by 38% comparing YOY figures for January 2019
• After seeing the campaign, people were 33% more likely to agree with the statement that ‘TSB is trustworthy’
• 2 in 3 of those people exposed to campaign said the Pride of Britain partnership made them think positively of TSB
• After seeing elements of the campaign, those likely to say TSB supports local communities increased by 110%
• TSB’s positive brand sentiment amongst those who were exposed to the campaign hit 44% compared to 30% amongst those who weren’t – an uplift of 47%
• TSB achieved its highest ever awareness score (14%) for its association with Pride of Britain
• AV content was 8x as efficient at driving brand consideration
• Net promoter score rose by over 7 percentage points during the campaign (and has risen even further since)
• Net sentiment on social media rocketed by 65 percentage points in three weeks
• This campaign accelerated TSB’s revival by 18 months and played a major role in stemming the flow of customers out of the business.
• The campaign was shortlisted in TV Planning Awards ‘Best Use of Content’ category

Databank

Sector: Finance

Brand: TSB

Campaign objectives: To increase TSB’s association with Pride of Britain and to restore trust in the brand

Target Audience: ABC1 Adults

Budget: £5m

Campaign Dates: The campaign ran from 8th October to 23rd December 2018

TV Usage: 60”, 30” and 20”

Creative Agency: Joint (brand ad) and ITN (branded content)

Media Agency:  Vizeum, Dentsu Aegis Network