YONO SBI, The Latest Leader to Bank Upon Influencer Marketing

In SBI’s presentation for Q1FY2019, YONO has recorded 2.5 million transactions, up by 224% QoQ from the previous year.

One of the leading and most celebrated banks in India, State Bank of India, now has another feather in its cap. The country’s largest public sector bank launched its first ever integrated digital banking platform- YONO (You Only Need One) on November 24, 2017.

With more than one year of its existence, YONO SBI has become a popular app for you to access your financial services (account opening, fund transfers, loans) and other facilities like online shopping, taxi bookings, bill payments, etc. To create this omnipresent platform, the bank has collaborated with 60 e-commerce players like Ola, Flipkart, Amazon, and many more. The offline partners include Shoppers Stop, Thomas Cook, etc. YONO SBI is currently available on both iOS & Android or you may login using SBI Online Portal.

In our exclusive chat with Dinesh Menon, Chief Marketing Officer, SBI, he says, “YONO is the first and only one of its kind comprehensive, digital only platform that brings together not just banking, financial products, but lifestyle products and services as well”.

A Feature-filled App

The app is a one-stop-solution and has been designed to offer maximum customer convenience. It is developed by SBI using artificial intelligence, predictive analysis and machine learning. With India going digital at an unprecedented speed, the bank was quick on the draw to explore the digital banking space with YONO SBI.

Some of its brilliant features include:

1. Open a bank account instantly– Make the most of this app by opening a digital savings account in less than 5 minutes and apply for a personalized debit card
2. Shopping at your doorstep- Grab exclusive discounts on e-commerce purchases with YONO SBI
3. Simplified banking- The app encompasses an easy interface and a smooth user experience
4. Quick pay- Transfer funds with UPI enabled payments
5. Loan facility- Get pre-approved loans till up to Rs. 5 lakh without any documentation in 2 minutes

Marketing to the Young Minds

The idea behind YONO’s marketing was simple- to connect with the millennials and generation-next with the new app. The bank wanted to disseminate the idea of it being synonymous with youth. While SBI has been technologically active, not many people knew about its presence in that space. The bank wanted to bring together everything that the youth does today. And what better than offering them everything at one place!

Their marketing plan incorporated use of both, traditional and digital media platforms, majorly the latter one. YONO SBI’s very first punchy tagline in its promotional video ‘Lifestyle and Banking, Dono’, perfectly captured the essence of the product.

The live video of the launch event was beamed to all State capitals where SBI has a local head office (LHO). Very cleverly, the company managed to get young long jumper Nayana James as its Chief Guest, reflecting the attempt to woo the youth.

Following the event, we saw a series of promotions on different media platforms. Its print ads reflected how the brand is positioning itself as completely youth-oriented. All their basic needs could be easily worked by this integrated app.

Dinesh add here, “YONO was launched last year. In its initial phase, we deployed a digital-only advertising campaign. Besides using our own social media platforms for distributing relevant content, we took to Influencer Marketing, Twitter First view, among others”.

The next in pipeline was YONO SBI’s Shopping Festival which was a 5 day online event. This was initiated during Diwali when competitors were head on with their Big Billion Sale. This festival was a message that we are out there in the market. Buring this time, buyers could avail a discount up to 40% from top 14 e-commerce merchants in electronics, fashion, accessories, etc. Besides this, there were special discounts for SBI debit card holders and cashbacks.

This helped YONO SBI bring forth its presence in the market successfully and garner the initial buzz.

Recently, the brand organized an award night called ‘YONO SBI 20 Under Twenty’. They facilitated 20 young talents to further support and encourage them.  

Dinesh adds here, “YONO is an embodiment of what the youth of India stands for…..smart, tech savvy, quick and adaptable. YONO SBI 20 under 20 was conceived to recognise achievers under 20 years. Through this platform, India now has 20 bright minds who are now on their way to getting more famous through their sheer brilliance and determination”.

YONO & Influencer Marketing

In a first, SBI incorporated Influencer Marketing for the promotion of its event. On speaking with Meghna Chettri, Senior Manager Digital Marketing at SBI, she says, “Initially, we were apprehensive to approve of influencer marketing. However, keeping in mind our agenda as well as the need to garner votes from the youth, we agreed upon fixing this. Post which the entire flow was discussed, drafted and executed in collaboration with the influencer agency partner, we were convinced with their execution plan. And today, I can happily talk about the numbers we generated. We were able to reach an exceptional number of people through these influencers, who already possessed an impressive follower base.”

We believe it was a brave decision to experiment with such a unique medium. And hence, we thought it was best to talk with the man behind its brilliant execution.

Meet Ashutosh Harbola. He is the Founder and CEO of Buzzoka. He shares that it was particularly challenging for the team to go for influencer marketing. It took them time to realize that Influencer Marketing was critical to connect with young people through this unique platform. This is a generation that follows influencers. Hence, it was important to go ahead with incorporating it into the plan.

Ashutosh also adds, ‘This was YONO SBI’s exclusive partnership with us. The agenda was to amplify on the influencer network. Since the YONO SBI 20 Under Twenty event was all digital, the aim was to go heavy on influencer marketing. For us, we first identified the social media platforms (FB, Instagram, Twitter) and then shortlisted the influencers from across the categories and who were relevant to the audience”.

As per the reports by Buzzoka, the results were quite impressive. Have a look at the numbers:

• 450 Million Twitter Impressions
• 100 Million Instagram Impressions
• Over 25 Million Tik Tok Impressions with 7 Million Views
• Over 100 Million Facebook Impressions
• Over 2000 Influencers and Commoners used

In our conversation with Dimpi, one of the most popular influencers today shares her experience of the award night- “It was my pleasure to be a part of the YONO initiative by SBI as it recognized the hardwork & talent of the youth of India under the age of 20. The event was a big success with lakhs of people voting for their favorites from different categories & each winner was felicitated by celebrities like Arjun Kapoor & Malika Dua. I was so pleased with these kids who at this young age have achieved so much & are making our country proud at the Global level. Thank you again SBI for having me at YONO & you must check their YONO app because ”YOU ONLY NEED ONE.”

In another interaction with Neha Shaw, she shares, “It has been a great experience & honor attending the SBI 20 under twenty awards where I met so many intelligent and talented kids who are the future leaders of our country and have already become role models at such young age. It is important to acknowledge their contribution and encourage them to pursue their goals. SBI did a great job by awarding these young achievers and it will allow their talent to blossom.
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to SBI to have started this initiative to honour budding talents and to all the finalists and winners for their achievements”. 

Other than this, strategies like content marketing, TikTok and twitter trends were also adopted. Dinesh adds here, “As part of influencer marketing, we associated with influencers on Tik Tok. We also had four influencers who were at the event covering it live for their followers to get a sense of, both the event and what Yono is all about”. They shortlisted most popular influencers who called out for support for the participants. All in all, the event was a success. The event garnered a total of 1.7 lakh votes and helped give a shout out.

What Can We Expect in Future?

It is expected that YONO’s appeal will grow by heaps and bounds in the coming years. As per the Chairman of SBI, Rajnish Kumar, the bank has cornered 30% of market share in the digital space. They have spent nearly 4,000 crore alone on digital initiatives this year. Also, in SBI’s presentation for Q1FY2019, YONO has recorded 2.5 million transactions, up by 224% QoQ from the previous year.

As per Dinesh, here’s what he had to say about YONO SBI’s future, “We hope to, in the coming years, take this platform to every youth in India and make it their preferred way to bank.”

For the company, it is a low hanging fruit in terms of the customer base that SBI holds. The reputation and trust carried by the brand is convincing enough. Also, the services and partnerships by YONO SBI assure of a bright future. We are totally looking forward!