MyState Bank’s play for heart and heartland

MyState Bank’s latest campaign, created during the height of the COVID-19 lockdown, turns on the themes of balance and simplifying life, and was produced with virtual casting sessions, talent from the same family and a strict enforcement of a two-metre distancing rule on set.

MyState GM digital and marketing, Heather McGovern, told CMO helping customers simplify their lives and achieve financial balance strikes at the heart of the bank’s values. And customer experience is about smart, simple solutions.

“It sounds really basic, but ‘helping our customers’ is at the heart of our organisation - it’s been known to be forgotten in some banks - and we have the NPS scores to back it up,” she said.

The ‘Unbalanced World’ campaign is the first step in bringing MyState Bank’s new personalised banking proposition to market. “It serves as an introduction to who MyState Bank is, and aims to shift awareness and subsequent consideration in its prospects,” McGovern said.

In creating this campaign, the bank wanted to acknowledge the environment everyone is facing at the moment with the coronavirus, but aimed to do it in a way that's authentic to the brand. “And also had longevity – that the premise would still be relevant this time next year and beyond,” she continued.

The campaign timing has been critical, McGovern explained, and is the culmination of years of effort in building a personalised everyday banking proposition, designed from the customer out.

“A proposition powered by artificial intelligence [AI] technology, and is now being delivered via our app in a seamless fashion,” she said. 

This work MyState Bank is undertaking has a number of other pieces which are starting to come together as the bank starts to leverage investments in marketing capability have made over the past 12 months. “It is really satisfying to see all the components start to come to life,” McGovern said.

The bank’s overarching strategy has two planks: Keeping the heartland and expanding into new markets. McGovern told CMO, as a challenger brand, MyState Bank needs to position itself as the ‘real and human’ alternative to the established ‘faceless’ big banks.

“This extends not just from our tone of voice across all customer touchpoints, but is increasingly being built into the services we deliver,” she said. 

“Our point of entry is via everyday banking – and creating a differentiated proposition in an incredibly crowded category. Doing this means connecting technology with our products and building a marketing platform that both builds our brand and drives customer acquisition. As a small bank with a tight budget, it has meant we have needed to tighten our focus, and extract maximum value across the entire funnel.”

Looking ahead, marketing will be a critical element to MyState’s growth plans. “As a digital bank with a supportive board and executive, we have demonstrated marketing is the engine for our future growth plans,” explained McGovern.

“With big ambitions, the organisation is looking towards marketing to ensure we can deliver on our customer growth agenda.”

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