Sharesies is the winner for both the Best Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Campaign and the Best Overall Marketing Campaign.
When Sharesies decided to launch a savings account, it was in the same position as many investors in today’s economy: with not a lot of money to spare.
The $5000 campaign budget was miniscule, but online investment platform Sharesies not only smashed its targets, it ended up with spare change – spending just $3,558 to launch its savings account.
With cooling markets and rising inflation, Sharesies had to accelerate product expansion plans and radically rethink its business and marketing strategies.
“Negative economic impacts were being reflected not only in our bottom line but also in the behaviour of investors on our platform,” Sharesies says.
“People were reducing how often and how much they were investing. Further research revealed that for many, investing is seen as discretionary spend. Something that they factored in after saving.”
Enter ‘Sharesies Save’: a high-interest savings account with a mandate to launch in mid-2023.
“From the outset, our objective was clear. While rapidly diversifying our product suite, we had to create a campaign not only to support a new product launch, but to re-engage our existing investor base.”
The skinniest of shoestrings
But with the marketing team’s 2024 budget reduced to “rubble”, and the bulk of that budget earmarked for the launch of the Sharesies KiwiSaver Scheme, only $5000 could be spared to promote Sharesies Save.
“Save was the first ‘non-investing’ addition to our product offering and firmly placed a stake in the ground for our new brand positioning as a fully fledged ‘wealth development app’.
“Alongside huge ambitions to grow ourselves, our brand expansion means people now have other ways to grow their wealth – however they like.”
Competitive rates were on its side, but the marketing strategy had to accommodate a more traditional financial product, yet it couldn’t cannibalise Sharesies’ existing offerings.
“In a time of extreme market volatility, we had to make sure customers didn’t see the Save launch as a prompt to sell their investments and forgo their investing strategy in favour of stashing funds in savings,” Sharesies says.
“Both products had to exist in harmony, which meant a multi-pronged marketing strategy that preserved the incentive to maintain investments and engagement on the platform, alongside securing Save account opens and deposits.”
Sharesies used more than 2,000 responses from its ‘early interest’ group to shape the creative. These insights were woven into campaign messaging across every channel.
“The customer value prop that evolved was firmly planted in what the product was ‘free from’. Namely, all the usual faffing and fine print that comes along with getting a new savings account and a great rate.”
Sharesies customers would be able to save with ‘no fees, no fixed terms, no penalties, no minimum deposit, no fuss, no hoops and no hurdles’. It was a savings account with no limits. Everything you want in a savings account and nothing you don’t.
Sharesies began with a small teaser campaign on social (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok), driving sign-ups to the Save waitlist.
It followed that up with emails and in-app notifications, sending just over a million of these messages combined throughout the campaign.
“Another key to our strategy was sending what felt like ‘personal invitations’ for Save account access, and releasing these to growing cohorts of waitlisters in stages.
Keen customers get access
“We even received direct messages from keen bean customers asking why their friend had received access but they hadn’t! And for every one of these, we promptly had the product team grant them access. With great interest comes instant access at Sharesies.”
Sharesies also ran a campaign to mark Sorted’s ‘Money Month’, increasing its Save interest rate from 4.6% to 5% for the month of August.
The entire campaign spend for Sharesies Save came in at only $3,558, mostly on social media (and a whopping $508 on Google search ads).
This frugal marketing investment didn’t hamper Sharesies Save’s performance.
During launch it flew through its goal for accounts, securing several times more more than projected.
Net deposits also exceeded the target for the entire first year and by the time Sharesies entered the Awards, net deposits had doubled that figure.
Judges’ comments
Best Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Campaign
“Clear standout from Sharesies. Great connected thinking right through from objectives, through strategy and execution, obviously leading to some fantastic results.
“Going up against a very congested and competitive category dominated by the big banks, with minimal funds to support, Sharesies have shown a great understanding of their customer, and bravery in turning the category on its head.
“The judges got a real sense of fun from the entry, and it shows what can be done with a shoestring budget and a great attitude.”
Best Overall Marketing Campaign
“The judges were looking for the best use of insights, how entries framed marketing strategy and delivered exceptional results. Early use of insights created the ‘free from’ idea that made Sharesies’ product USP extremely clear and provided a compelling simple campaign-able platform against huge competition.
“Their strategy leveraged fomo, which created interest and urgency within their user base. Their speed to market was also impressive.
“The results were incredible, but even more so given the budget and resources they had to work with. It proves what can be achieved by doing the basics really well, leveraging the assets you have available to you – including your much-loved brand.
“The joy and fun Sharesies had marketing this product really came through in the entry, showcasing the power of great cross-organisational teamwork and also the power of great marketing.”
This was first published in the 2024 September-October NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
