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Halifax - Halifax Student Current Accounts Kathryn Ellis, Kristy Halpin and Charlotte Wolfenden Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Gold, Best New Learning, IPA Effectiveness Awards 2009

IPA Gold Paper Halifax Students

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Page 1: IPA Gold Paper Halifax Students

  Halifax - Halifax Student Current Accounts

Kathryn Ellis, Kristy Halpin and Charlotte Wolfenden

Institute of Practitioners in Advertising

Gold, Best New Learning, IPA Effectiveness Awards 2009

 

Page 2: IPA Gold Paper Halifax Students

 

Halifax – Halifax Student Campaign 2008

Principal Author: Kathryn Ellis - DLKW

Contributing Authors: Kristy Halpin - Halifax, Charlotte Wolfenden - DLKW

INTRODUCTION

The Challenge for 2008

Students are an extremely important target audience for banks. Current account switching is notoriously low, as most people

stay with the same provider for their entire life. Opportunities to capture new current account customers are few and far

between. Starting university is one of the few easily identifiable life events that spurs the need to open a current account.

Therefore the eight weeks from A Level results day to the end of Freshers' Week become an out and out fight between the

UK's high street banks to capture that year's new students.

In 2008 we set ourselves the ambitious challenge of improving our marketing efficiency by opening as many accounts as in

2007 with approximately half the budget. Combined with increased spend from some of our main competitors, this meant we

were faced with a share of voice reduced dramatically from 12% in 2007 to just 1% in 2008.

This paper demonstrates, beyond reasonable doubt, that by taking a radical approach to creative and channel planning we

improved the efficiency of our student current account marketing in 2008. By shifting over 80% of our media budget online,

and using a creative approach that distanced us from the mainstream “Staff as Stars” campaign, we opened 16% more

accounts than our most optimistic targets, and a staggering 99% more accounts than should have been expected based on

2007 performance. Despite being outspent by all our major competitors, we grew our consideration level substantially.

Increased efficiencies led to our best ever Return On Marketing Investment with an additional 90p per £1 versus stretch target

and an additional £2.36 return per £1 of marketing investment based on 2007 performance.

New Learnings

This paper is of interest not just because we were the first bank to move the majority of our student current account marketing

budget online. We have also made progress in measuring the results of digital campaigns in two ways:

1. The inclusion of a mainly online campaign in our tracking study moved us towards a measurement that captured the

brand effect of online advertising, over and above direct response.

2. Working with specialist content seeding agency Unruly Media allowed us to more robustly quantify the impact of content

   Title: Halifax - Halifax Student Current Accounts

   Author(s): Kathryn Ellis, Kristy Halpin and Charlotte Wolfenden

   Source: Institute of Practitioners in Advertising

   Issue: Gold, Best New Learning, IPA Effectiveness Awards 2009

 

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and viral spread on the bottom line. We believe such extensive measurement of the contribution of online branded

content has not been seen in an IPA paper before.

1.0 THE STUDENT OPPORTUNITY

1.1 Students are A Relatively Small Target Audience

The total student current account market is small. Each year CACI calculate the total number of new student current accounts

opened during August and September. Based on their estimates, from a total pool of new students eligible for a Halifax

Student Current Account in 2008, only a third were actually in the market to open a new account.

Figure 1 Ai: Our Estimated Target Market 2008

The difference between these figures is a result of two key factors. Firstly, up to 68% of eligible students already have a bank

account before their 18th birthday, or year they get their A Level results.ii This could be either a savings or a current account. A

proportion will choose to stick with their existing provider, and not switch to a specific student current account, even if this is a

better option. Secondly, some students will simply choose not to open a current account within their first few weeks of study,

our campaign period.

1.2 But Students are Extremely Valuable

Only 6% of people switch their current account each year, and this rate has remained flat for the past decade.iii Once

someone chooses their first current account provider, they are generally with them for life.

Starting university is a key juncture in someone's financial life, and usually the first time they will require a current account.

They will need a designated account to receive the first payment of their student loan from the Government, often during their

first week of study. This creates a time defined window of opportunity – from A level results day in August to Freshers' Week in

September/October – within which banks need to capture as many of these new current account customers as possible.

This leads to an exceptionally cluttered environment with virtually all above the line communications ploughed into the period

between the end of July, and the beginning of October. Achieving standout is extremely difficult. Traditional logic would imply

that substantial share of voice during this time is essential to success.

 

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Figure 1 B: Monthly Spend on Student Current Account Marketing by All Major Providers

1.3 They are Also a Growing Audience

Fortunately for banks, the number of students going to university in England and Wales is growing year on year. The number

of students in the market for a student current account grew by 9.6% in 2008 from 2007, returning to levels close to those in

2006.

Figure 1 Civ: Our Total Market 2006–2008

2.0 HALIFAX AND STUDENT CURRENT ACCOUNTS – A BRIEF HISTORY

Halifax is a relatively new entrant to the student current account market. We have offered current accounts to students for a

number of years, but only significantly promoted a specially designed product since 2006. Our four main competitors –

 

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Barclays, Lloyds TSB, HSBC and the big spender in this sector, NatWest – have a more established heritage within this

market.

2.1 Student Current Accounts Have Always Been Low Interest

When you receive confirmation of your university place the last thing on your mind is opening a current account – opening one

is simply a functional necessity.vi

In the past, competitors have introduced exciting short-term incentives in an attempt to inspire interest in current accounts;

they include free cinema tickets, music downloads and exclusive retail discounts. These incentives can help a student make

up their mind between two providers they essentially see as offering the same thing.

2.2. So We Took a Different Approach Right from the Start

At Halifax we believe in making our customers better off through great value products. That is why, since 2006, we have

significantly promoted the largest interest-free student overdraft – something of real financial value throughout a student's

entire time at university. We have maintained this competitive advantage every year since, up to and including 2008.

Figure 2 A: Student Current Accounts Comparison

Our focus on the largest interest-free student overdraft, combined with significant marketing investment, has led to the share of

market outlined in Figure 2B. As seen below, share of voice has been closely correlated with share of market.

 

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Figure 2 B: Halifax Share of Voice Versus Share of Market Over Time

3. 2008

Going into 2008 there were a number of challenges we needed to overcome.

3.1 NatWest was More Closely Associated with Our Key Product Benefit – the Largest Interest-Free Student

Overdraft – Than Us

The majority of students misattributed our core product differential, the largest interest-free student overdraft, to NatWest, the

market leader. It was a product benefit they had neither had, nor had communicated, for at least the last three years. The chart

below shows we still had some way to go in reducing this level of misattribution.

 

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Figure 3 A: Agreement with the statement “They offer the largest interest free overdraft for students”

3.2 Our Existing Campaign Did Not Appeal to Our Target Market

For the 17–19 year old student market we were a victim of our own success – a well known and highly successful “Staff as

Stars” campaign put us at a disadvantage.vii This age group was the most likely to be irritated by, and ultimately reject Halifax

advertising. In other words our mainstream advertising was working against us, rather than for us, for this specific target

audience.

Figure 3 B: Level of Irritation with Halifax Advertising by Age

3.3 Our Consideration Level Amongst Students was Still Very Low

A combination of these factors meant that we were currently the fifth bank to be considered by students, behind all our major

competitors.

Figure 3 C: Students Considering the Following Providers for a Current Account

3.4 We Challenged Ourselves to Improve Marketing Efficiency

 

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In 2008, we cut our marketing communications budget, which had to pay for advertising, direct mail and point of sale material,

to approximately half of what we had to spend in 2007. We believed we could reach a student audience more efficiently this

year, and we challenged ourselves to achieve this.

Media expenditure from some of our competitors had decreased in 2008 too. But our budget cut was so significant we were

now spending less on media than any of our four main competitors.

>The imperative for a high share of voice during our cluttered and limited window of opportunity has been established. A

reduced budget meant our share of voice plummeted from 12% in 2007 to 1% in 2008. Gaining cut through would be extremely

difficult, but we believed it was possible.

Figure 3 Dxi: Offline Share of Voice 2007 Versus 2008

3.5 The Challenge for 2008

For confidentiality reasons we cannot reveal our targets for 2008 in terms of actual number of account openings, but we can

establish a percentage target based on historical figures. We aimed to open as many accounts as in 2007 with approximately

half the marketing expenditure. So, expected account openings will be expressed as a percentage of accounts opened in

2007.

To set a reasonable target for account openings in 2008 we use the Cost Per Acquisition from the previous two years.xiii As

2006 was our best performing year to date, in terms of marketing efficiency, a estimate based on that CPA would provide our

stretch target. But 2006 was a particularly efficient year due to the use of DRTV. Our CPA in 2007 was higher, but the media

selection was closer to 2008, so this would provide our conservative, and arguably fairer, estimate. An average of the two

years would provide a middling estimate.xiv

In addition we needed to take market growth into account. We have already established that the total number of students in

the market for a student current account grew by 9.6% in 2008. This percentage was added to each of our targets.

The table below shows the number of accounts we could expect to gain in 2008 based on our reduced budget and market

growth, expressed as a percentage of total account openings in 2007.

 

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Figure 3 E: Predicted 2008 Account Openings Based on Reduced Marketing Expenditure and Market Growth

But the value of a Halifax Student Current Account was the same in 2008 as in 2007, so to avoid a drop in revenue we needed

to open the same number of accounts during the campaign period. This could only be achieved through improved marketing

efficiency.xv

In terms of Return On Marketing Investment we can again set a stretch, conservative and middling target.xvi As before 2006

sets the stretch target, 2007 the conservative target and an average is our middling figure.

Figure 3 F: Expected Return On Marketing Investment 2008

Due to a lack of a baseline sales figure we cannot calculate true ROMI. The return is based upon total accounts opened, not

incremental accounts, which would be best practice. Our achievement will not reflect an improvement in total ROMI, but ROMI

over an above the return that could be expected based on historical performance.

4.0 HOW WE MET THE CHALLENGE

4.1 We Took a Brave Approach to Channel Planning (for a Bank)

Our hypothesis that we could improve marketing efficiency in 2008 stemmed from our belief in the effectiveness of digital

channels. We moved away from more the traditional media (radio, DRTV and UCAS mailings) we had used historically, and

that are competitors were still using. We took the brave move of shifting over 80% of our total budget and nearly 100% of our

media budget online.xix This would make us the first bank to undertake almost its entire student current account recruitment

activity online.

 

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Figure 4 Axx: Proportion of Halifax Media Budget Spent Online Versus Offline 2007 and 2008

Our decision would significantly reduce our offline share of voice from 10% to 0%. But it made sense to concentrate our efforts

in the space our audience spent most of their time.

Figure 4 Bxxi: Offline Share of Voice 2007 Versus 2008

Statistics from Hitwise xxii indicate that one of the first places students go when they receive their A Level results is a social

networking site. This is probably to share results, organise celebrations and see who else is going to their university. So in

2008 our advertising placements deviated from the usual financial sites. We targeted social networking and local listings sites

where university communities gathered.

We also used specialist seeding company, Unruly Media, to ensure our content was placed most appropriately at a micro

targeted level. We gained placements within the editorial on student listings guides like London Student, Don't Stay In and

Camden Guide, and youth video and game sites such as Daily Motion and VVC Funny. We also secured preferential

placements on mainstream social networking and video sites like Metacafe, MySpace TV and VEOH.

4.2 We Took a Brave Approach to Creative Too

A quick scan of successful student sites including The Onion, Kontraband, O2's Battle for the UK's Favourite University on

Facebook and Skins showed how important entertainment and engagement are for this audience.

 

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Figure 4 C: Successful Student Content and Sites

Creating content entertaining enough to be discussed and passed along would help amplify our reduced media budget. We

helped the process along by building in mechanics that made it easy for viewers to spread content, like forward to a friend,

easy embedding and social bookmarking tools.

4.2 The Creative Idea

The 2008 campaign positioned Halifax as “The Smarter Choice for Students” versus other madcap ways of saving money. At

the heart of our creative idea was a film where we told the ridiculous tale of Andy, a student who had tried to save money on

accommodation by turning himself into a mouse, so he could live in a cage in his best mate's dorm. It exaggerated the mad

things students do to get through university financially.

Centred around the “Be smarter about your money” line and the film telling Andy's story, the online campaign led all other

channels – from in-branch posters to direct mail. The simple media plan below shows the breadth of activity over the campaign

period.

Figure 4 D: Campaign Activity by Week

 

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The campaign was shortlisted for “Consumer Campaign of the Year” and won “Best Online Advertisement” at the 2009 Money

Marketing Awards.

Figure 4 E: Seeded Content

Film shows how nNew student Andy turns himself into a mouse to save money on rent.

Figure 4 F: Video Advertising in Situ

A shorter version of the film was streamed in advertising placements across the web.

 

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Figure 4 FA: Online Advertising

Standard format online advertising sSummarises the story of Andy.

 

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Figure 4 G: Microsite

All online activity drove traffic to the site where students could watch a longer version of the film viral and find out more about

the product. This landing page was the resolve to the story, begun in the seeded content and advertising.

Figure 4 H: Offline Campaign Activity

The offline activity above was also included in the total marketing budget for 2008, and took the “Be Smarter about your

Money” thought and visual through to branches, direct mail and press.

From left to right: Direct mail to existing Cardcash and savings customers aged 17–19, Independent press insertion in their

 

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annual student guide, In-branch poster

A single insertion in the Independent annual students supplement. Integrated with online work and contained a strong drive to

site.

5.0 A “BRIEF” RECAP

Figure 5 A: The Brief

6.0 RESULTS

2008 was our best year ever in terms of Return On Marketing Investment and total accounts opened – beating even our most

optimistic targets. We opened 8% more accounts than in 2007, with approximately half the budget. This equates to 16% more

accounts than should have been expected, even when matched against our best ever Cost Per Acquisition in 2006. Against

our conservative, yet fair, target our 2008 campaign resulted in an additional ROMI of £2.36 per £1 over and above 2007.

The remainder of this section will prove beyond reasonable doubt that our radically revised approach to communications

achieved all of the success factors necessary to meet our challenge, to improve the efficiency of our marketing

communications in 2008.

Our 2008 campaign was a success because it did all of the following:

l Generated interest and engagement

l Grew our ownership of the largest interest-free student overdraft

l Increased consideration of Halifax

l Motivated more students than in 2007 to open an account with us

6.1 Our Campaign Generated Interest And Engagement

Historically, we would only measure performance of online campaigns using direct response analytics. However, the 2008

student current account campaign marked the first time we added digital activity to our brand tracking study. We wanted to

assess how the campaign performed against traditional advertising measures like salience and consideration, as we believe

purely direct response evaluation fails to capture a great deal of digital's contribution.

 

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Expectations for stand out were low due to our dramatically reduced share of voice, but the campaign achieved high salience

scores. Many respondents felt that this campaign was different and unexpected for a financial services brand.

Figure 6 A: Advertising Salience

Tracking shows that opinion around the campaign was polarised.xxiii It captured imaginations and sparked debate, which had

the desired effect of fuelling the spread of our content. This was reflected in the qualitative comments viewers made upon

forwarding the video to friends.

 

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Figure 6 B: Forward to a Friend Email Comments

Despite being a low interest category our content achieved a significant viral uplift. 31% of the views were organic, which

meant they were a direct result of people passing on the film. Unruly Media were able to measure spread due to tagging

incorporated into the player in which the video was embedded in our initial round of paid for seeding. So this estimate of

organic spread is actually very conservative, as it can only measure direct forwarding and embedding of our content in the

Unruly Media player.

Even this conservative estimate is over and above the benchmark for similar categories. Due to the relatively new nature of

content as a marketing tool, it is hard to compare one piece with another. But using Unruly Media's experience and broad

client base we have attempted to do so below. The chart demonstrates that we were comparable to some of their most

successful “virals” for low interest categories.

Figure 6 Cxxiv: Comparative Viral Uplift

6.2 Our Campaign Grew Our Ownership of the Largest Interest-Free Student Overdraft

A factor in our low consideration was that not many of our target audience associated us with the largest interest-free student

overdraft. During the campaign period, our association with this product benefit actually met NatWest levels for the first time.

The graph below shows how our campaign simultaneously grew our association with this product benefit, whilst the number of

people attributing it to NatWest declined.

 

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Figure 6 D: Students Associating Halifax with the Largest Interest Free Overdraft Versus Natwest Over the 2008

Campaign Period

6.3 Our Campaign Increased Consideration of Halifax

Along with the big spender NatWest, we were the only provider who grew their level of consideration in 2008 – all our other

competitors showed a decline. We went from having the lowest level of consideration, to battling for second place.

Figure 6 E: Current Account Consideration Pre and Post 2008 Campaign

Search behaviour provides another indicator that our campaign spurred interest and action. Google Trends shows a

significant uplift in organic searching for “Halifax Student Account” during the campaign period. We had inspired people to look

for our product specifically.

 

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Figure 6 Fxxv: Volume of Searches for Related Search Terms

6.4 Our Campaign Motivated More Students than in 2007 to Open an Account With Us

Our main aim for 2008 was to open the same number of accounts as in 2007 with approximately half of the marketing budget,

so not to reduce the revenue we made. Referring back to our targets in section 3.5 we can see we achieved this and more.

Figure 6 G: Level of Actual Halifax Student Current Accounts Opened Versus Targets

We gained a total of 8% more new accounts than in 2007. In terms of our targets we opened 16% more accounts than we

hoped for in our stretch estimate and a staggering 99% more accounts versus our most conservative figure.The chart below

shows the dramatic uplift in applications as a result of campaign activity.

 

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Figure 6 H: Activity and Account Openings by Week

One of the most interesting aspects in this paper is our attempt to quantify the contribution of “viral” content to sales and

response. The video content generated a 4.49% clickthrough rate – above the 3.28% benchmark set by Unruly Media, based

on their total client base. Approximately 18% of clicks resulted in a completed application.xxviThe contribution of content

towards sales is rarely identified due to a lack of robust figures, but our desire for improved accountability across all aspects of

this campaign means we have made steps to estimate this figure here.

To re-iterate we can confidently discount the following factors that may have contributed towards the uplift in account

openings in 2008:

1. It was not attributable to improvements in our product, as we have significantly promoted the largest interest-free student

overdraft for the previous two years. There were no added incentives in 2008.

2. We have firmly established that the increase was not due to an increase in marketing expenditure. Our budget cut was so

dramatic we actually became the lowest spender on media within our competitive set which reduced our share of voice to

1%.

3. Finally, we have accounted for market growth, in the slight increase in potential students incorporated in our targets.

6.5 All this Meant Massively Increased Efficiency in Marketing Communications

Despite a greatly reduced share of voice, we completely over delivered in terms of the share of market we achieved. We had

captured over 17.2% of the market with just 1% share of voice – maintaining our share from 2007.

 

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Figure 6 Ixxvii: Halifax Share of Voice Versus Share of Market 2008

The campaign drove down the Cost Per Acquisition by 55% xxviii from 2007 which indicates the hugely increased level of

efficiency.

Figure 6 J: Cost Per Acquisition 2007 Versus 2008

In calculating Return On Marketing Investment we will look at the difference between total net profit in 2007, and that made in

2008. This will represent the return in 2008 over and above the level in 2007. The final ROMI will underestimate the total

contribution of communications, but it will result in a ratio that attempts to quantify the impact of improvements in efficiency on

the bottom line.xxixReferring back to the ROMI targets in Section 3.5, we see that even based on our stretch target we have

overachieved; with an additional 90p generated for every £1 of marketing expenditure. Year on year, versus our conservative

2007 figure, we had generated an additional £2.36 per £1 spent on marketing.xxx

 

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Figure 6 IA: Improvements on Return On Marketing Investment 2008

This meant that 2008 was conclusively our best year yet in terms of Return On Marketing Investment.

SUMMARY – WHY THIS PAPER IS IMPORTANT

This paper demonstrates that we achieved dramatically improved efficiency in our marketing communications through radical

refinements in channel planning and creative approach. We led the way by being the first bank to shift almost its entire student

current account recruitment campaign online.

We have also outlined metrics and an approach, which can be built on by other industry professionals, in their quest to

examine the brand impact of digital, and quantify the contribution of branded “viral” content within an integrated campaign.

ENDNOTES

i. UCAS (2009) Applicant and accepted applicant regional analysis, home and overseas over six years. UCAS Data Tables

2008 Academic Year. UCAS figures for 2009 cover admissions in 2008.Available w:

http://www.ucas.com/about_us/stat_services/stats_online/data_tables/abusregresidence/abusukreg/

ii. Forrester Consumer Technographics Young Consumer Study June–July 2006. Omnibus research based on 7,215

European young internet users aged 12 to 24. Available from: www.forrester.com

iii. Datamonitor (2008) UK Current Accounts 2008. October 2008, DMFS2271.

iv. UCAS (2009) Applicant and accepted applicant regional analysis, home and overseas over six years. UCAS Data Tables

2008 Academic Year. UCAS figures from 2009 cover admissions in 2008. Available from:

http://www.ucas.com/about_us/stat_services/stats_online/data_tables/abusregresidence/abusukreg/

v. A. Hoole. D. Bester, K. Harding, P. Sturniolo, A. Thomson and P. Kirk (2006) outline a hierarchy of student needs when

starting university in their paper, BBC – 50 Pints or a TV License? IPA Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration & Gold

2006. Available from: www.warc.com

vi. A. Hoole. D. Bester, K. Harding, P. Sturniolo, A. Thomson and P. Kirk (2006) outline a hierarchy of student needs when

starting university in their paper, BBC – 50 Pints or a TV License? IPA Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration & Gold

2006. Available from: www.warc.com

 

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vii. R. Warren (2002) HBOS plc (Halifax): Taking on the High Street Banks by Communicating like a High Street Retailer. IPA

Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration 2002. Available from: www.warc.com

viii. For confidentiality reasons we cannot share actual account opening or Cost Per Acquisition figures in the published paper.

They are used in calculations for the judges in the appendices.

ix. Chart with exact budget reduction included in appendix for judges for confidentiality reasons.

x. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to

direct mail and point of sale material.

xi. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to

direct mail and point of sale material.

xii. Calculations for these targets with actual CPA, budget and accounts opened are included in the appendix for judges, but

for confidentiality reasons will not be included in the published paper.

xiv. We accept that to calculate a target in this way assumes accounts opened each year will fluctuate directly in line with

marketing expenditure. Of course this is not true, as there would be a baseline of accounts that would be opened in the

absence of any marketing. However, as we have not had a year where we have maintained the same product and not

conducted any marketing at all, we cannot accurately quantify our baseline sales. We have also not performed a regional test,

or had the benefit of econometric analysis to accurately account for natural acquisition. But as this paper is based on proving

our efficiencies, we will take these targets as our baseline. The percentage of accounts opened over and above these realistic

estimates will demonstrate improvements in efficiency.

xv. Actual figures for account opening targets are needed to calculate ROMI, and are included in the appendices section, only

available to IPA judges, for confidentiality reasons.

xvii. For confidentiality reasons we cannot publish total account opening or profit figures in the paper, but they are supplied in

the appendix for judges.

xviii. R. Warren (2002) HBOS plc (Halifax): Taking on the High Street Banks by Communicating like a High Street Retailer. IPA

Effectiveness Awards Paper – Best Integration 2002. Available from: www.warc.com

xix. The difference in the total budget and media expenditure figures is because the total budget includes expenditure on direct

mail and point of sale material.

xx. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to

direct mail and point of sale material.

xxi. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated to

direct mail and point of sale material.

xxii. H. Hopkins (2006) UCAS Website Visits Soar Yesterday. 18th August 2006, Hitwise Intelligence Blog Update. Available

from: http://weblogs.hitwise.com

 

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xxiii. Hall and Partners Tracking (2008)

xxiv. Figure supplied directly from Unruly Media. Exact figures that sit behind the chart cannot be supplied for client

confidentiality reasons. Viral uplift is defined as the percentage increase in views of a piece of content over and above those

received from paid for placements.

xxv. Chart from publicly available Google Trends Figures (2008). Available from: http://www.google.com/trends . These figures

indicate the volume of searches, for a term as a percentage of total Google searches at a given time.

xxvi. This percentage is an estimate calculated using the overall response rate.

xxvii. Figures based on publicly available media expenditure estimates. Media expenditure does not include budget allocated

to direct mail and point of sale material.

xxviii. Figure based on direct applications from OLA and direct mail only. It is therefore and extremely conservative estimate of

CPA

xxix. There are a number of limitations in calculating the Return on Marketing Investment for this entire communications

campaign. We do not have the advantage of econometrics, so acknowledge that many of our figures will be conservative

estimates and assumptions. We cannot accurately establish a baseline number of account openings in the absence of any

communications activity at all, as there is no historical or regional data where this was the case. Even if we could, this would

not be a true measurement of what we set out to achieve. We aimed to prove the profit contribution of our rationalised

approach, not simply the effect of communications in general. So our results will be representative of improvements in

marketing efficiency versus 2007.

xxx. ROMI calculations are included in the appendices of the report for confidentiality reasons. Unfortunately we are unable to

share actual profit, expenditure and account opening figures in the published paper.

© Copyright IPA, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, London 2009 Institute of Practitioners in Advertising

44 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8QS, UK

Tel: +44 (0)207 235 7020, Fax: +44 (0)207 245 9904

www.warc.com

All rights reserved including database rights. This electronic file is for the personal use of authorised users based at the subscribing company's office location. It may not be reproduced, posted on intranets, extranets

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