Launching the business bank that’s shaking up the market in style

The client

Allica is a new business bank on a mission – to revolutionise the business banking industry. Big banks would have us believe it’s not commercially viable to offer small businesses personal service and meaningful instant-access interest, but Allica can do this and more. Now those businesses – the engine of the economy – can benefit from the BILLIONS in interest that big banks are currently hoarding.

The ask

Allica had an incredible proposition but were new and unknown – a real problem in a sector where trust is everything. Plus, they were up against both the Big Banks and the Neo Banks who had tens  of millions in media spend. But Allica would rather invest in their service than big TV campaigns, so they asked us to create a campaign that would, with modest media spend win the attention of an audience who were understandably sceptical about the claims of banks, new and old.

Our answer

Inspired by how Allica was turning the industry on its head, we created a distinctive brand asset – the bright orange ‘Money hat’. Visually it was inspired by flipping their existing logo, but its genius was to signify a distinctly modern return to the golden era of traditional banking service and values. It also allowed us also to nod to our audience’s need to wear many hats, acknowledging how busy they were but serving as a call to action to “get their money hat on” and try Allica.

Back story

We knew that Allica had a compelling offering – they were truly on a mission, and were genuinely different – with a modern customer-first entrepreneurial culture and technology to match. But our research showed the men and women running established small businesses were jaded when it came to banks’ claims about value and service. Product messages would fall on deaf ears unless we could signify how different Allica was – using Rooster Punk’s skills in Humanizing to create instant likability and empathy.

Our challenge

This campaign needed to create brand awareness at speed – among an audience of busy people, who had little in common other than that they are at the helm of a business. This not only presented targeting challenges, but made it all the more crucial that our creative would be unmissable, clear in its message and immediately memorable.

Our solution

Get your money hat on gave Allica a story that’s universally recognisable to business owners, who know all too well what it’s like to ‘wear many hats’. Visually it linked Allica’s brand shape to the familiar symbol of traditional financial services, the bowler hat, which gave Allica a wealth of opportunities to be playful with this distinctive and meaningful asset.

The idea gave us a creative platform to deliver Allica’s powerful product and service messages – for example that unlike other business banks, they offer genuine account management (who actually return your calls!). But also critically, now that, for the first time in a generation, inflation was high, it was a symbol of Allica’s mission by imploring businesses to think about how much they were losing out on by sticking with zero-interest accounts.

Getting Allica out there

Media spend was focused on Birmingham, Manchester and the South Central area where a high concentrations of established SMBs – Allica’s target market – are located.

The media plan led with TV, radio and internet which represent 60% of the audience’s media consumption, with peak activity timed to catch them at the right moments in their day.

Our TV commercial, which ran on Sky Adsmart, Sky VoD and social channels, landed the story of Allica bank and how their products and services are designed with business owners in mind. We featured different characters wearing quirky hats to represent the many metaphorical hats that business owners wear every day, ending with a character putting on the distinctive orange Allica bowler hat.

Broadcast and online media were layered with out-of-home to catch the audience during commuting hours. The focus went into high impact 48-sheets positioned around business parks and industrial estates.

Outdoor, social, digital and press placements all featured our main Allica Bank character in his orange bowler hat, maximising exposure and driving recall.

Delivering results

The results were brilliant – fitting for the launch of such an ambitious brand with its new bright brand asset. Media spend was modest – with Allica wanting to out-think, not out-spend its rivals. Starting with impressions, the target was doubled. Every channel performed well, cumulatively resulting in brand searches skyrocketing. This drove a doubling of saving accounts opening rates. The cherry on the top was Allica being named by Deloitte as the UK’s fastest ever growing Fintech. Hats off to them!