China Construction Bank (Asia) wins honours at the Mob-Ex Awards 2024

This post is sponsored by China Construction Bank (Asia)

China Construction Bank (Asia) (CCBA) has distinguished itself at Marketing Magazine's Mob-Ex Awards 2024, earning several accolades for its impactful campaigns. One such standout effort was CCBA's Q4 personal loan campaign, which saw the bank undertake a novel approach in turning its marketing and media efforts into an engine that helped to streamline its customer acquisition process to improve efficiencies under a challenging business context for personal loans in Hong Kong.

The personal loan market has long been a profitable segment for retail banks and lenders in Hong Kong. However, a less-than-ideal post-COVID recovery and weak economic climate has led to an increase in applications from consumers with weaker credit scores - known locally as "lower TU grades". So, whilst demand for personal loans has risen, this influx of lower-quality applicants has negatively impacted CCBA's operational efficiency, resulting in higher customer acquisition costs due to more declined applications.

To address this challenge, CCBA took an innovative, full-funnel approach where the bank emulated the loan application process and turned its media placements into means to vet audiences and improve the quality of applications as they move down the funnel.

At the top of the funnel, CCBA deployed an interactive ad unit that helped segment audiences based on their loan needs. This initial segmentation allowed CCBA to triage applicants, helping to prioritise resources on the most valuable, high-intent consumers.

By leveraging media to qualify and segment potential borrowers, CCBA was able to optimise their media spend and improve efficiencies, growing their personal loan business, even amidst challenging economic conditions.