Ad Review

INTRODUCTION

 Text
1- BE SOMEONE’S #SUMMERSANTA
2- Earn up to 9X Rewards
3- Terms and conditions apply
4- To apply, SMS ‘SUMMER’ to 57575
5- STANDARD CHARTERED
6- sc.com/in
 Demonstration
The ad starts off with two men working at an office, where lights are quite dim and
empty seats portraying that it’s late in the day and everyone else has already left. Each
workstation has lamp which looks unusual unless they are architect, surgeon or using
stationary tools etc. but as they are working on desktop systems so it does not fit with
real work office atmosphere.

Moving on, at 7.30 pm, a young man in office looks to call it a day, saying he has to take
someone “Priya” (wife maybe) out for shopping. His colleague, who is still busy working
stands in shock when is suddenly approached by his dissatisfied boss who shouts at him
for making mistakes in a report. In a fit of rage, the boss says, "I think I made a mistake
in hiring you", throws the papers on desk of the officer and storming off. Here we
observe that the colleague who is also present witnessing the heated moment also felt
the embracement faced by his colleague friend and the pressure his boss is also going
through to complete his strategic goals and responsibilities.

The next morning, we see that the boss and the employee he shouted at have just
reached the office, and it was surprising to notice that the same employee has done
nothing to allow his boss to reinterpret his impression into more positive and
embarrassment he went last evening from his boss, you expect that he will prove his
worth with more determination and hard work but we see nothing like that at all, in fact
he coming late next morning as all other employee are already present at their tables
and busy in their work. They are both now surprised to see a gift each on their
respective tables. The boss has a gift “Tie” with the message, “Sir, won't let you down
again”, which is a good gift as Boss is the only one wearing it in whole office, while his
junior receives a “Pen” which message reads, “Bosses have bad days too”. As both of
them feel better about themselves, the boss walks towards the man and gives him a pat
on the back and tells him that lunch is on him (boss).
It was little odd to see that the boss immediately knew that the gift is from the same
junior staff of last evening as there was no name or signature written under the
massage. He is designated at a high position in the organization and there can be lots of
people who could have sent this to him but he just evaluated from thin air the person
responsible behind it. The impression on the face of the same colleague shows a picture
of happiness and satisfaction that he is very glad to see that the tension between his
friend and the boss has neutralized and both are dealing with each other in a friendly
way which is very positive news for his friend also as the things were not looking good
for him previously and losing his job was on the cards.

The next scene revealed that the same colleague who witnessed the previous day's
happening had bought the gifts for the two men where he is standing at “Lifestyle” shop
with a woman beside him apparently “Priya” (his hypothetical wife) and a girl behind
busy in her mobile. This also raises question that if both gifts are from same person than
why the messages on the gifts were written in different handwritings. However, this also
reveals our product for the first time in the ad which is “Standard Chartered Landmark
Rewards Credit Card” where our secret hero behind the whole event, the colleague is
 paying for the gifts from our product and the card and its promised rewards are then
introduced.

 Message Execution
The film ends with the voice over introducing the Landmark Platinum Rewards Credit
Card from Standard Chartered, with the promise of giving up to 9X reward points on
your daily shopping.
Its message says: “Get up to 9x reward points on your daily groceries, home and
lifestyle shopping. Shop at Landmark affiliated stores such as Lifestyle, Max and
Home Centre and redeem your reward points instantly at the store”.
It is pertinent to mention here that the role of the colleague who paid for the gifts is
beautifully presented in the ad as he is shown as the “benefactor” which is the
advertising campaign “Be Someone’s #SummerSanta”, a person who is spreading
happiness to others without revealing his or her identity to them just like Santa Clause’
personality is imagined.

OFFERING
 Product:
Credit Card (Landmark Platinum 9X Rewards)

Some of the product’s features are listed below:

1. Supplementary Credit Card – Extend the benefit of your credit card to your family
members by getting them lifetime free Supplementary credit cards.
2. Contactless Credit Card - Enjoy faster checkouts, secure payments and complete
freedom from cash.
3. Secure Online Transactions – Now enjoy enhanced security for online transactions
on the credit card through 3D secure OTP verification.
4. Digital Payment Solutions – Enjoy a wide range of instant payment solutions like
BharatQR, Bharat Bill Payment Solution (BBPS) and Samsung Pay.
5. Kuch Bhi on EMI – Convert your big spends above INR 5,000 to easy EMI with Kuch
Bhi on EMI through online banking or SC mobile. Enjoy attractive pricing and flexible
tenure options.
6. Rewards Redemption – Redeem your reward points instantly at Landmark affiliated
stores – Lifestyle, Home Centre, Max and SPAR.
7. Online Banking and SC Mobile – Check your card balance and make convenient and
instant card payments via online banking and SC Mobile.
8. Dial-a-loan – Avail loans on your credit card unto INR 5,00,000. Flexible tenure from
12 to 60 months.
9. Balance Transfer – Transfer card balance up to INR 5,00,000 from other bank credit
card at attractive interest rates.
10. Balance on EMI – Convert your entire outstanding (up to INR 5,00,000) into EMIs.
Zero processing fee.

 Brand:
Standard Chartered (Banking Sector)
 Stage in Product Life Cycle:
Maturity Stage as the product is now very much familiar among people and enjoys
almost stable positioning in people’s mind.
 Market Share:
According to a survey, the product has 6% market share in India as the campaign and ad
was from India.
COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES OF THE ADVERTISMENT

Possible communication objectives include:

 To introduce Standard Chartered Bank’s product (Landmark Platinum 9X Rewards Credit

Card) to the customers.
 To capture the attention of people and make them aware of what the SCB product is,
what are its features and what benefits it will provide to the consumers in the market.
 Imparting knowledge of their product innovatively.
 Projecting an image in minds of common people.
 Shaping attitudes.
 Stimulating a want or desire i.e. create so much desire for the product that the
customer absolutely wants a product even if he doesn’t need it.
 Increasing the sale of their product.
 Leave no customer empty handed.
 To provide profitable and secured credit cards to their customers.
 To increase the market share by acquiring and retaining the customers.
 To increase the % of consumers who associate some benefit or advantage with the
brand.
 To increase the % of consumers who prefer the brand over other competitors.

TARGET AUDIENCE

 Who:
The ad is for the audience who is familiar with the English language and also capable of
understanding it as the whole advertisement is in English which is not the native
language of the country where this specific advertisement was created and its product
features are valid.
 Secondly, below is the eligibility criteria for getting the Standard Chartered’s Landmark
Platinum 9X Rewards Credit Card:
Applicant’s age should be between 21 and 65 years.
Applicant should have a stable monthly income.
Applicant should belong to credit cards sourcing cities / locations of the bank.

 When:
When purchasing any good or service.

 Where:
At any channel globally where merchant of goods or services accepted the payment
through credit card, online banking to make bill payments, fund transfers etc.

 How:
Product attracts Audience who are eligible for credit card and don’t want to carry cash
all the time with them or wants to pay later on as credit card main benefit is that the
card holder can make payment when its bill is generated which can be a time period of
approximately 40 days.
It is also attracting people, who are already using credit cards but are looking for any
other credit card which gives more discounts or rewards in term of cash back points.

MESSAGE DESIGN

 Appeal:
Use SCB credit card for spreading secret happiness and joys among others.

1. The ad clearly triggered the emotional idea that a small gesture in shape of
exchanged gifts can have a deep impact on personality growth.
2. Another prospective of this ad is that such actions create sense of understanding
among the employees which helps to maintain an environment where employees
can tackle with work pressures in a sophisticated manner.
3. Not every gift needs an occasion; some just deserves to be unexpectedly surprised.
4. To achieve the satisfaction of spreading happiness by giving away things to others
can be achieved by using the Standard Chartered Landmark Platinum Rewards Credit
Card and Be Someone’s #SummerSanta.

 Structure:
Visual ad. A short story based film.
 The structure of the ad is relatively narrative as it aims to present the viewers, a real life
feeling of official intensive work pressures and deadline constraints, odd situations faced
by the employees and finding their solutions by showing positive attitudes which mold
the viewers to connect the whole scenario with their daily routine professional
pressures.
The company’s product proved to be significant for every individual involved in the
action. Not only created a sense of harmony between the employee and boss but also
benefitted the other employee to earn multiple reward points in exchange of his
purchase which will also add to the profits of the bank because people will find this
product more economical.

 Format:
TVC

The format used for this ad is imaginary as till the end of the ad, viewers are not sure
what the actual product is. Initially in the entire ad they showed the harsh environment
of corporates, in shape of worsen relationship between an employee and manager due
to work pressures and then a gesture from one of the colleague in order to cool down
things between them.
Finally in the end, they showed that this is all because of their own credit card lucrative
discounts that stimulated that guy to buy gifts for the boss and his colleague which
eventually smoothen working relationship between the two.
As a viewer, it will take time to understand about the product and in order to obtain
information of the complete product viewer has to take help form some other sources.
The ad makers should try to convey more of the product details briefly rather than
focusing on the workplace environment of the offices. They are more trying to show
that how you can manage workplace conflicts.

 Source:
The source of the message design was from banking sector credit instruments with
focus on reward structure. Some more details related to the ad are:

Agency: TBWA – India

Client: Standard Chartered Bank
Production House: Kreative Wings Studios
Film Director: Vinay Jaiswal
Producer: Sweta Jaiswal and Pradipta Roy
Associate Producer: Dinesh Sajnani
DOP: Bharadwaj Subbu

MEDIUM

 Placement:
 Television channels & Social media (Facebook, YouTube)

 Time / Date / Day etc.:

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

 Costs:
$50,000 Approx.

CRITIQUE

 Positives:
1. Small gestures can lead to healthy professional relationships among colleagues.
2. Sometimes moral support is necessary for leading to better performance.
3. Reward structure is designed in a way that it offers lucrative discount points which
gives the economic benefits almost equivalent to Christmas Santa gifts.
4. Conveys an important message that goals of the company cannot be achieved under
stress.
5. There should always be an open medium of communication between the employees
and top management.
6. Employees should always try to maintain a peaceful environment and be a problem
solver like the other employee does in the ad.
7. This product is for the people who are doing job or business to have income which
approve initial eligibility for the card, so this advertisement providing a familiar
atmosphere of a work place in an organization and situation they have witnessed
and can also relate with from their daily life.
8. By using this product, people can earn up to 9x reward points for every INR
200 spent on Landmark stores such as Lifestyle, Max and Home Centre.
9. People can enjoy 5% cashback on their grocery shopping at SPAR stores up to
a maximum of INR 500 per month.
10. People can sign up for the Landmark Platinum Rewards credit card and get
vouchers worth INR 2,800.
11. People can enjoy a host of discounts and offers across dining, shopping, travel
and more with the Standard Chartered Good Life programme on their credit
card.

 Negatives:
1. Initially the ad shows the darker side of corporate world including late sittings
and use of irrational language by the line managers with their subordinates.
2. The ad also shows that how personal life balance is compromised due to official
work pressures.
 3. The ad was somehow unable to deliver the actual message related to the
product completely.
4. As a viewer, it is not convincing for anyone to use this product of the bank
because of insufficient or lesser information.
5. This ad could have been made more meaningful by using some other contents or
real life situations.
6. People who are using this product are complaining of very high interest rates.
7. Some people are facing wrong billing statement issues.
8. Service support is not too good. The staff is unable to fully satisfy their
customers.
9. Service is very expensive. People are usually asked for unnecessary charges and
high interest rates.
10. Few fraud and cheating cases were also reported by SCB customers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Today, banking sector is very competitive and has become very demanding in terms of
achieving targets. So it is necessary to find out new business strategies to provide better
products or services. In the light of our study, below are some recommendations:

 A diversified product line should be designed by the bank to cater customers of different
segments and earn revenue from maximum possible areas of the country.
 Proper training and development of employees should be done at the time of hiring and
during on board as well so they work more effectively and serve customers in the best
possible way.
 Banks on recruitment should make sure that employee they are hiring will either be best
fit or not for the designated job because this will define their work commitments.
 The bank should work on increasing its branches because in this way they will get more
customers and it will also increase their market share.
 Standard Chartered Bank has to give emphasis on digital and TV advertisement.
 SCB should visit different universities and should advertise there also about their
services and products.
 The advertising layouts of billboards have to be more attractive.
 SCB should advertise their services and products with sufficient details to make it more
convenient for the customer to research about the product they want to avail.
 SCB should review their service charges and interest rates which is very necessary for
the satisfaction and retention of the customers.