AKBANK – AXESS & THE CITY

Brand: Akbank (One of three biggest retail banks in Turkey)
Product: SMS and Banking
Company: Pharos Consulting
Partners: Valensas   

Goals: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

• Encouraging female Axess card holders to increase their Axess credit card balances
• Creating group-psychology among close female Axess card-holders
• Directing targeted customer groups to Axess merchants with higher female expenditure potential (textile – Clothing, jewelry, fast food – restaurants, cosmetics and hair saloons)

Solutions:

• World-known “Sex & The City” concept has been applied on a member-get-member frame; customers are encouraged to form Axess-groups (not more than 3 card-holders) through SMS technology
• With group registration, each group member receives %2 CASH-BACK on each transaction in selected merchants, whereas 20 CHIP-MONEY added to their individual bonus point pool when total revenue of the group reached a pre-set expenditure target
• SMS technological design helps a card-holder to send by SMS last 6 digits of its Axess credit card together with her/his name in order to get 2 codes that can be shared with 2 other Axess card-holders for the group to be completed, once they are also text-messaged
• The system allows only one card-holder to be in a single group all the time
• Akbank also organizes SMS sending in order to inform members over group details and reward point performances

Results:

• A breakthrough back-office development was fulfilled
• During the 45-day campaign, more than 11.000 groups were formed
• Female neural network and card-holders personal proximities were defined at a great extent to form a group database
• On marketing terms, SMS proves itself to be an important mechanism, when smartly designed, for member-get-member applications