The new generation of financial services
The financial market is in flux. The crisis has had a decisive impact on customer needs and behavior, bringing about significant changes. eny Finance is a new financial services provider launching with the aim of responding to these changes. Together with TBWA Zurich, the company also plans to break new ground in its communications strategy.
The banking and finance world knows that its current business models have had their day. But it is still struggling to develop new ones. With eny Finance, a financial service provider is launching that stands for a new generation of financial services: a customer-centric financial service provider that systematically strengthens the self-determination of customers and turns them into contributors. "A financial service provider 3.0, so to speak - this in reference to the coming Internet generation Web 3.0," says Chief Marketing Officer Martin Waeber. Because, of course, everything at eny Finance is online and mobile.
The company, which was founded in 2011 and has been operating since the second quarter of 2012, is based in Windisch in the canton of Aargau. "After all, an online financial services provider no longer has to receive its customers on Zurich's Paradeplatz, but must be able to operate from as convenient a location as possible," says Head Marketing Communications Bonart Kerimi with conviction. In Windisch, the startup is installed in an old spinning mill. With a private investor, the young company is "independent and not a subsidiary" of a major bank.
Dieter Lützelschwab is responsible as CEO. Most recently, as CEO of smile.direct, he successfully established the former Coop insurance company in the market as an online insurer. Lützelschwab has also worked as Head of Marketing Retail Banking at Credit Suisse. With his new eny Finance, he wants to obtain a banking license soon. All services offered by eny Finance, which is breaking new ground with its own sales strategy and relying exclusively on direct channels, are online-based. They gradually cover the main areas of the retail business and are aimed broadly at private customers. The Internet enables fast and simple processing and at the same time saves costs. With this concept, eny Finance can offer top conditions.
"What eny Finance is building is novel for Switzerland: a customer-centric financial service provider that systematically strengthens customers' self-determination and turns them into contributors," Martin Waeber sees as a decisive argument for the new player on the Swiss financial market. In other words, eny Finance's offering is not only geared to customers' needs in all financial matters, but also "to their ideas, visions and ideas about life". The products and services are geared to people - not the other way around. Accordingly, the offering is to be expanded at a later date.
"I decide"
TBWA Zurich won the contract to launch eny Finance in a pitch. For nine months, the agency has already been intensively engaged in a wide range of work, as Managing Director Matthias Kiess explains. The advertising primarily plays the online media. "In terms of the business model, it's a purely online business, so most of the communication should also take place in this world." More than 200 banners have been realized so far. Numerous informative video films also play an important role on the eny Finance portal. In addition, various below-the-line measures are being implemented, according to Account Director Lanny Cresta Schrag.
A striking feature of the communication for eny Finance is the visual language, which differs greatly from conventional bank advertising. CD Frederick Rossmann's team relied on the iPhone as the key visual for the information films on the web. The images for the animated clips were also "drawn" directly on the iPhone using a completely new technique by illustrator Ameli Neureuther, who is active in Berlin and New York. In her AN Art Studios she has developed this "App Art", where the "touch screen is used as a canvas " and the "finger as a brush". With this artistic invention, Neureuther questions the traditional boundaries of artistic creation with the zeitgeist phenomenon "iPhone" and shows "that the digital revolution can reach into the original field of art". For eny Finance, this illustration world allows a high degree of flexibility and speed in implementation. "We don't have to organize an expensive shoot in South Africa for every new idea, but can act very quickly on the market."
The films were produced by coloraffairs, a Zurich-based start-up by Beni Leoni and Roland Luder. The films and other information are presented on the eny Finance and eny Lab portal by a testimonial. This "showcase customer" is called Eny and is not entirely coincidentally female - because it is precisely women who already play an important role in the relationship between bank and customer today and probably even more so in the future. Eny is not just meant to be associated with the similar-sounding English expression for "anyone." Eny is also a real name from Ireland and can be translated as "the victorious one." In the casting process, TBWA and its client focused on an attractive face that was deliberately not yet known in the "Glanz & Gloria" sector.
"Simple, human and affordable" are the core values of the company and these should also be reflected in the communication. Doing business with eny Finance is easy and playful for customers. The products are easy to understand and the processes for customer contact are also programmed to be easy to understand. The advertising can demonstrate this credibly. In addition, "transparent" and "human" are core elements if trust is to be built up in the online world. "On the web, too, we want to convey the closest possible sympathy to the customer. We can achieve this with language that is very easy to understand," is Waeber's important point.
On the subject of "cheap", the future bank does not want to appear as a discounter, but always wants to be able to "offer the best value for money". A second striking innovation in eny Finance's communication, in addition to the popular visual language, is the bright red signal color. Until now, the world of finance has been depicted more discreetly in blue or in gray. Finally, Chief Marketing Officer Martin Waeber sees the claim as the most important element of the advertising presence. "I decide" is not just a slogan, but a program and communicates in two words the decisive philosophy of the new financial services provider.
The eny Lab enables co-design
With eny Lab, a freely accessible interactive online platform has been created for the first time that enables a broad audience to actively discuss financial issues and help shape financial solutions. Users have access to commentary and dialog functions, while experts provide background information in blogs and are available to answer questions. The eny Lab platform uses the most modern communication channels and builds up the community through the targeted inclusion of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
On eny Lab, participants can learn in a playful way how to understand and improve their own behavior in financial matters. Participants learn from experts and become experts themselves who can actively help others. CMO Martin Waeber: "With eny Lab, users become fitter in all money matters, their self-determination is systematically increased and they can make financial decisions better and more in line with their needs." Andreas Panzeri
The finance portal, which has been active since the 2nd quarter of 2012, operates from Windisch. The company employs 25 people. The management team includes (from left) Bonart Kerimi, Head of Marketing Communications, Martin Waeber is Chief Marketing Officer and Dieter Lützelschwab is responsible as CEO. At eny Finance, customers can apply for loans, followed by savings deposits and insurance.
