SG digital-first Trust Bank goes on massive launch marketing blitz

Standard Chartered Bank and FairPrice Group have launched the marketing blitz for Trust Bank, their first digital bank in Singapore.

Supporting the launch of Trust is a robust omnichannel brand and acquisition campaign, spearheaded by Iris Worldwide and Havas Media. The brand was created with the help of branding agency Superunion. Trust called for a creative and media AOR pitch last year that saw the three agencies tasked with crafting the strategy for Trust’s brand launch and customer acquisition campaigns. Having collaborated with FairPrice Group on previous campaigns, the three agencies possess a deep understanding of the challenges of the retail environment as well as the shareholders’, Standard Chartered Bank, and FairPrice Group's heritage and mission.

“The importance of a shared mission with our agency partners built on a strong bond is akin to the trust we hope to build with consumers in Singapore,” said Kelvin Tan, Chief Marketing Officer, Trust Bank Singapore.

He added that the agency partners demonstrated their skills in creating a trusted enterprise and exhibited characteristics that strongly upheld their end of the business relationships. Meanwhile, SoHo Square was the PR agency tasked with launch initiatives.

“Trust is clearly an indispensable ingredient in this successful partnership - Four heads are better than one and benefiting from the partners’ strengths, insights, and experiences to create a meaningful, positive brand for Singapore is clearly what is driving this relationship that is built on Trust,” said Tan (pictured below).

Behind the look and name

According to the company, the name Trust was created based on extensive user testing in Singapore. Users felt strongly that the name Trust reflects what they want from their bank. It also reflects the values with which the brand has built based on the support of Standard Chartered Bank, NTUC Enterprise, and FairPrice Group. The “us” in “Trust” also represents how the brand aims to be a bank for all in Singapore.

Speaking with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Tan also shared that the Trust wordmark has been crafted in a signature lowercase, to reflect its approachable and accessible nature - one that reflects that trust is the foundation of banking and relationships.

“Our T-logo was created as a shorthand differentiator to ensure that our brand is distinctive and easily recognisable in digital-first as well as physical environments. The flexibility to inject colours, imagery, and illustration inside the visual mark will also provide relevance to the context Trust would like to amplify,” he added.

Made up of two blocks, the T icon is inspired by three key ideologies: 

• Building blocks of the nation inspired by the building architecture in Singapore and the spirit of people coming together
• Building blocks of technology stack - being one of the first 100% digital bank in Singapore
• Building partnership between Standard Chartered and FairPrice Group

The brand also believes in four key values principles:

• Do it for smiles
• 10X Better
• Genius Together
• Built to sustain

Commenting on the partnership, Scott Lambert, Creative Director, Superunion shared, "It’s been a privilege to partner with the Trust Bank team to create a new digital bank in Singapore.”

“Together we wanted to create a brand that is inclusive for all who call Singapore home - a bank that makes banking easy and brings smiles. We designed the brand to reflect the approachable and accessible nature of the bank, meaning it's digital-first, easy to use, and delightful for all,” Lambert added.

Overall marketing strategy

With SG$400 million invested by its shareholders to date, Trust aims to redefine the digital banking experience for Singapore customers by simplifying banking for them and focusing on transparency to allow them to make informed decisions more easily.

The bank also exclusively focuses on catering specifically to the needs of Singapore customers, particularly at a time when inflation is a cause of concern for many. With food and groceries accounting for about 20% of the average Singapore household expenditure, Trust is integrated into the FairPrice Group’s ecosystem, allowing customers to earn rewards on everyday grocery and food spend across NTUC FairPrice, Kopitiam, Cheers, and Unity outlets in Singapore.

Customers can also earn rewards via FairPrice’s e-commerce portal, FairPrice online, as well as through NTUC Link’s merchant partners. Trust’s launch products comprise a credit card, a savings accounts, and family personal accident insurance. This is combined with Link Rewards, the market-leading rewards and loyalty programme integrated with the FairPrice Group ecosystem.

The bank has also launched a new marketing blitz with the tagline, “The digital bank for the everyday us.”

The campaign focuses on highlighting the benefits and the delights the brand brings to consumers. This can be in the form of maximising value to them through the savings it offers, by providing a seamless and secure digital banking experience and finally, trustworthiness.

Explaining the tagline further, Tan said that most people believe that banking is complicated and with traditional institutions. That tends to be true. With Trust, the objective is to demystify banking.

“Trust wants to launch a digital bank that is accessible by all and can cater to their everyday needs,” said Tan. Since Trust is a digital-only bank, its priority is in providing a superior customer experience via an in-app experience.

Andy Cairns, managing director of Iris Singapore, said planning the launch of the new digital-only bank was a big task on its own; but doing it during the final throes of lockdown presented a whole host of unique challenges.

“Working with the Trust leadership team, however, has been such a thrilling ride. Singaporeans are about to experience banking in a whole new way: uncomplicated and on their sides. There’s definitely a clue to Trust’s purpose in its name,” said Cairns.

Trust has already launched its official social media profiles. It has created content leading up to the launch and acquisition activities through to the end of the year which includes innovative in-store branding and creative take-overs in the FairPrice Group ecosystem as well as roving activations across the island-state to drive awareness and conversion.

The above the-line campaign is slated to run on platforms such as TV, print, digital, out of home, and creative in-store activations to create awareness of Trust and its shared heritage, as well as its range of product value propositions.

The go-to-market campaign runs until the end of the year and targets primarily the sandwich generation, specifically the “caught in the middle” generation who have living parents and children, who will likely benefit the most from Trust’s products.

“The young jobber segment who are likely early adopters are also targeted via social media and content channels. For inclusivity, activations to drive awareness amongst the silver generation are also in the pipeline,” shared Tan.

Supporting the launch of Trust is a robust omnichannel brand and acquisition campaign developed and built on three-tiered pillars to drive maximum awareness and conversion.

Above- the-line channels such as free-to-air TV, radio, and out-of-home (buses/trains/bus shelters/in-store/malls/neighbourhood digital screens) are leveraged for brand awareness. Shopper media such as those in FairPrice Group ecosystem as well as those within its commercial partnership are designed to ensure value proposition relevance to drive conversion, said Tan.

All these connection efforts are aggressively supported by digital performance and social and content activations. “Trust Bank is ready to revolutionise the financial sector in Singapore as one of the first digital banks, and we are delighted to partner with such a progressive brand for its launch campaign. The campaign was many months in the making and we are confident it will make Trust the top-of-mind choice whenever consumers consider a digital bank for their financial needs,” Russell Lai, chief commercial officer, Havas Media Group added.

In August 2020, Standard Chartered Bank became the first and only bank to be awarded the Significantly Rooted Foreign Bank (SRFB) status by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). In December that year, it was also granted enhanced privileges in recognition of the significantly higher degree of rootedness exceeding the SRFB baseline criteria. Trust was granted a full bank license by the MAS in the same month. It is the only digital bank in Singapore with a banking parent.

The unique partnership with FairPrice Group will also allow Trust to bring real value to customers and manage everyday expenses, said the company. Trust is integrated into the FairPrice Group ecosystem and brings rewards of up to 21% as a promotional launch rate on everyday spending at the FairPrice Group, both online and offline, including at FairPrice supermarkets, Kopitiam, Cheers, and Unity pharmacies.

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