Recently, Banque Libano-Française (BLF), along with its creative media partners’, M&C Saatchi, Optimedia and BORN Interactive, has drafted a flexible communication strategy, adaptable to emerging trends. Case in point ?is the Lucky To Be Young platform allowing young generations from birth to the age of 25 to enjoy various benefits offered by BLF.
As "A partner for the Ambitions", BLF has been placing the bank’s clients at the heart of their activities, offering a range of products and services tailoured to the needs and desires of various consumer groups, as well as shifting from being product centric to customer centric", explains Tania Rizk, Head of Group Communications and Customer Experience at BLF. “A customer satisfaction study conducted by IPSOS in 2015 resulted once again in an impressive rate of 94% of clients satisfied”, she added.
Targeting young Generations
However, shifting bank focus to youth doesn’t necessarily entail reciprocated interest. In fact since young generations are the digital natives, their media consumption tends to be online through content and storytelling from different platforms. They have less affinity towards intrusive information coming from traditional means of communication.... How, then, has this communication gap been bridged?
BLF successfully answered this question by engaging youth through a communication platform solely dedicated to them. By conducting extensive market research and customer evaluations and surveys, BLF was able to identify the usage habits, needs and shortcomings of each young age group (0–13, 14–17, 18+) to better understand what youth actually wanted.
Identifying the needs of young people and proposing appropriate responses through the Youth Package in 2010 was a start.
However, it was not enough for BLF. They were determined to devise the best, most effective way of communicating their youth products and services. Since it is self-evident that communication begins with language, BLF favoured a relational approach with youth and developed Lucky to Be Young, an anonymous digital and events platform that has proven to be a very efficient communication tool.
New channels for a new generation
"Lucky to Be Young was launched with the aim of promoting dialogue by bringing young people together via a series of events and activities communicated through popular social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram." explains Rizk.
The bank’s Communications Division covertly pulled all the strings. Without revealing their identity, they created Lucky to Be Young fan pages on all social media sites targeting all categories of virtually active youth. All content that engaged youth and motivated them to continue the discussion, was published. Through this viral communication platform, BLF appealed to influential figures such as contemporary pop music group, Adonis, and the popular food, travel and design blogger, Breadonbutter.
The still anonymous BLF didn’t rest on their laurels. In addition to online communication channels, they also organised various events such as mountain hikes in cooperation with Jabal Moussa’s local NGO (Association for the Protection of Jabal Moussa), a private Mashrou’ Leila concert, and a comedy show headlined by Nemr Bou Nassar.
The bank achieved a tour de force with Lucky to Be Young. By approaching the young communities, speaking their language, and providing them with useful tips in terms of budget management, as well as the means of expression and entertainment that they sought, BLF successfully managed to build a youth network using on-offline channels. Lucky to Be Young mobilised 50,000 fans who “liked”, “shared,” and “commented” on hundreds of published posts. Today, thousands of these same fans wear Lucky to Be Young bracelets and have participated in various events and competitions organised by the bank. By placing themselves in the shoes of the young, BLF managed to build a community and garner capital sympathy.
The bank finally publicly revealed that it was behind the Lucky to Be Young initiative, which became a successful sub-brand by BLF owning a unique identity, consequently grouping a huge diversified community of youth under its umbrella. It has indeed demonstrated BLF’s adaptive capacity to respond to market needs, in addition to their expertise when it comes to developing successful tools to connect with their target audience.
