AWSA: Advantage Woman Savings Account

Below: Before and After Images in Slide Show, Videos, Summary, Credits

The banking sector in India is highly regulated, and products are largely uniform across the board in terms of features and benefits. Brand and product communication in the Indian BFSI (banking,financial services and investments) sector largely focuses on tangible and rational benefits of products and services. The rebranding of ICICI Bank’s Advantage Woman Savings Account (AWSA) marked the shift of perspective from product to purpose. It was positioned as “The savings account that helps women invest in themselves.”

Senior Management buy-in for the need of rebranding, convincing the frontline & product stakeholders to embrace the new AWSA story as month end balances and AWSA numbers were not encouraging.

Customer research showed that a man pursuing a hobby was considered a role model, but a woman doing so was considered selfish. This led to the necessity of revamping AWSA.

The product proposition had unique benefits of self-development programs, creating a strong selling point for the frontline teams to buy into the story.

Data analysis showed that while AWSA had lower average account balances than other variants, accounts held by women had higher balances than accounts held by men. So, AWSA was made mandatory for all women.

We also launched Fund Your Own Worth, a brand building and customer engagement program that invited stories of inspirational women and the top 25 were selected for the Advantage Woman Awards and a cash prize. This was promoted heavily through a thought-provoking film starring Konkona Sensharma on social media.

• 18,931 stories of inspiring women were received for the Awards
• The manifesto film went viral on WhatsApp and social media. It garnered 7.78 million views against a media spend of ₹3.61 million
• 1,75,000 new AWSA were opened during 3 quarters of the year with a 215% YOY (year over year) growth. The average month-end balances of AWSA increased YOY by 242%
• The YouTube Special Award (Gold) and 2 Silvers at the 2018 Vdonxt Awards

Phase 2: A new variant, Advantage Woman Aura Savings Account (AURA), a first of its kind account under AWSA for working women as their needs and challenges are different. It had additional unique benefits on various loans, Demat account, airport lounge access, online groceries, daily commute, etc. #FundYourOwnWorth took a bolder and more confident tone with another film.