Standard Bank Retail Media Network Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2024- Nominated

Standard Bank, like most retail banks, has historically relied on traditional sources of income, such as interest and fees. However, increased competition and market conditions require us to take a new approach – to build innovative solutions beyond banking that diversify income streams to increase revenue and shareholder value, but also provide our customers with personalised, secure and seamless experiences they have come to expect. To enable this, as part of our Future Ready Transformation and platform-led strategy, we have invested heavily in data, technology, and our digital platforms. As a result, we have accumulated deep insights into our 15.6 million active personal and private banking customers. This puts us in a unique position to monetise this data to generate additional revenue through advertising in a secure digital media environment – also known as a Retail Media Network (1).

Originating in the Retail Industry, Retail Media Networks – ad platforms on retailers’ websites, apps and other digital platforms – have sprung up in the last 10 years and now garner at least 11% of global ad spending. This has been expedited by the discontinuation of Third-Party Cookies because of increased online data privacy laws (1).

Already, global players are leveraging the opportunity. Recently, US bank JP Morgan Chase launched Chase Media Solutions – connecting brands to their customers through transaction-based marketing campaigns in their Banking App, in exchange for a cost per conversion (2). In addition, the London-based fintech Revolut publicised its intent to monetise their data through sharing with advertising partners and derive a significant “chunk” of its revenue from targeted advertising, with a hint at a £300mn target by 2026 (3).

The Standard Bank Retail Media Network, the first of its kind in South Africa, offers more than just transaction-based marketing. Using advanced data science, machine learning models and geo-spatial tools, we have developed a proprietary intelligence that enables us to see our customers holistically – with insights into affinities, preferences, life-stages, demographics and personas, and significant events. This intelligence allows us to select desirable customers that advertisers can reach, with an offer that brings tangible value to our customers.

In addition, this solution: • Precision-targets customers for brand-building, win-back, loyalty, and other outcome-orientated campaigns, that complement partner’s broader integrated campaigns e.g. social media, above the line. • Provides clear measurement and attribution to track and optimise, based on metrics like impressions, clicks, and conversions. • Decreases cost per acquisition and drives incremental ROAS and customer lifetime value.

We launched our MVP in 2023 to test desirability, feasibility, and viability. We partnered with a well-known chicken fast food brand and used our AI-powered audience selection to identify customers with an affinity for takeaway chicken, and whose shopping hub is within a 2km/1.2-mile radius of the brand’s outlets. The brand offered a 50% discount on a family meal, redeemable in-store. The campaign engaged with App-active customers via the App Inbox, providing each customer with a unique promotional code as well as directions to their closest outlet.

The MVP yielded significant results: • A click through rate 10x the industry benchmark (4) • A conversion rate 5x the industry benchmark (4) • Two thirds of customers who redeemed the offer were new customers. • 18% of customers who redeemed the offer went on to make a repeat purchase. • 105% return on investment. • Customers in post-campaign in-depth interviews felt “seen” and “acknowledged and appreciated” by Standard Bank.

These results spurred the next phase in development: scale. By end 2024, the Standard Bank Retail Media Network will generate over one million impressions to customers via hyper personalised ads and a seamless buying experience. This sets us on the path to achieve our ambition: to diversify Standard Bank’s income streams and contribute significantly to the P&L (profit and loss) of the business by 2030.

1 SAS Whitepaper: Retail Bank Media Networks, 2023 2 https://www.chase.com/mediasolutions/home 3 Revolut plans advertising sales push as it waits for banking license, Financial Times, April 2024 4 https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/02/29/google-adwords-industry-benchmarks