Content Champions: RHB Bank Malaysia

RHB Banking Group is a multinational regional financial services provider in Malaysia. It was launched in 1913 as Malaya’s first local bank and today, has a presence in eight countries in the ASEAN region.

The group’s core businesses are structured into five business pillars, namely group community banking, group wholesale banking, group shariah business, group international business and group insurance.

Content Champions is a segment during MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Content360 conference in Singapore in which we highlight brands who have made significant impact in the content marketing space through their campaigns. This campaign was shortlisted for Marketing Events Awards 2023 and chosen for coverage by the editorial team at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

Campaign: Champions of Community Causes
Brand: RHB Malaysia

Challenge

The post-pandemic era presented a new set of challenges for RHB Bank, namely within ESG and sustainability, as the company looked to expand its business portfolio to meet rising stakeholder demands for greater ESG compliance.

Sensing an opportunity to lead the way in community development, RHB decided that it was time to show how serious it was in making sustainable progress happen for everyone.

However, this does not come without risk, as after many years of successfully championing the progress of people, a sudden change in tune to chest-thump its own achievements in sustainability could undo the previous brand building work on making progress happen for everyone.  Customers could view the bank as inauthentic and self-serving with the sudden change of direction.

Furthermore, as a result of greenwashing in marketing, RHB needed to carefully position itself as a brand committed to community development and sustainability, focusing on three key objectives: building brand awareness, increasing brand equity, and maintaining growth of overall brand value. 

Strategy

RHB decided to focus on Malaysian people's sustainable and community-focused stories, focused under the campaign tagline 'Together We Progress'. 

Addressing the issue of believability, the campaign employed a specific narrative focus to provide contextual meaning, while incorporating RHB's 'People's Champion' persona, and 'Making Progress Happen for Everyone' purpose.

Execution

"Champions of Community Causes" resulted in the creation of three short films, launched across Deepavali, Chinese New Year, and Hari Raya from 2022 to 2023.

Each film celebrates Malaysian citizens making a positive impact in their communities and to the larger world around them.

Key insights from past campaigns demonstrated to RHB that Malaysian audiences are more receptive and optimistic during festive times, which RHB tapped into to inspire greater appreciation for the group's sustainable progress initiatives. 

RHB has also carried its focus on Malaysian people into 2024 with a heartwarming Raya ad that has quickly gained traction in Malaysia. Titled "Lembaran Baharu" (Forgiveness), RHB Bank’s latest film is a true story with a dramatic reenactment of the most unforgettable case of Malaysian lawyer Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar’s long and illustrious career. 

A beautifully shot ad, and a tear-jerker for many, it accumulated over 6,000,000 views, over 100,000 likes and 23,000 shares across all of RHB’s digital platforms at the time of writing. On YouTube alone, it has 14,000 likes since its launch on 30 March 2024.

The films were disseminated through Facebook and YouTube, and were also featured on the group's Twitter and Instagram pages. RHB also used assets from the campaign to create relevant content for bespoke audience segments.

In addition to the films, RHB initiated three social media campaigns to celebrate each campaign film. 

The Deepavali film, "Hero", tapped into Malaysian influencers to engage in community work. The Chinese New Year film, "A Clean Start" saw photographer Reuben Liu help Malaysians restore old photos. Lastly, the Raya film "A Perfect Journey" encouraged Malaysians to share Hari Raya items in their homes that could be repurposed.   

Check out the other winners here.