Case study – Objective: Education & understanding
With the aim of boosting consumer awareness and preference for its brand, Halifax teamed up with Metro to demystify the world of finance. Recognising that most brands talk about their products, Halifax saw an opportunity to instead reinforce its alignment with people’s lives and their interests. To do this, a focus on money rather than finance was key.
In September 2017, Halifax and Metro launched the newsbrands’ first ever weekly personal finance section, Money. Metro was a natural fit for the campaign thanks to its great reach among young, metropolitan consumers and its attitude to making news approachable.
The four-page weekly feature has been so successful that it still runs today. Rather than telling people what to think, the emphasis is on providing bite-sized information without the complicated financial jargon. Halifax, Metro and Greenhouse GroupM work together to agree weekly themes focused on lifestyle, with Metro then producing all content in-house.
The partnership has dramatically improved perceptions of Halifax, with brand preference up by 50%, brand consideration up by 48% and brand favourability increasing by nearly 40%.
This partnership was based on a clear understanding and insight of the brand’s audience – it put its customers at the heart of the creative, worked really closely with its newsbrand partner and made the campaign part of the fabric of the newspaper.
Emma Hill, group brand director, Legal & General
