Citibank Singapore credit card rewards social-media activities

Billed as the first credit card in Singapore to integrate social networking as part of its core features, the Citibank Clear Platinum Card is part of the bank’s larger strategy to be a premiere digital bank.

The marketing campaign for the card will play out entirely online, Jacquelyn Tan, head of credit payment products at Citibank Singapore, told Campaign Asia-Pacific. The campaign launches tomorrow and runs for six weeks, targeting professionals aged 21 to 35.

"It is about making social more rewarding and leverages on the voice of the consumers in social media," Tan said. "Social media focuses on one thing: the consumer and his voice. We are building on the role of the consumer’s voice in this social-media space.”

A Facebook application called Clear.24.7 was developed for the card by Arcade. This virtual community allows the bank to engage with its cardmembers and offer benefits tailored to their online lifestyle.

With the theme 'Social A-Lister', Clear.24.7 is hosted on Citibank's official Facebook page and its microsite. By checking-in and participating in social activities, cardmembers will be awarded points, which in turn allow them to climb the virtual social ladder and become that month's "Social A-Lister".

The virtual points can also be converted to real Citibank Clear Platinum Card rewards points. During the six-week launch period, the conversion rate will be one virtual point to one Citi Dollar, up to a total of 5,000 Citi Dollars.

The application also has an initiative, called “Clear Deal of the Month”, that allows cardmembers to customise their card experience and rewards by giving feedback on a particular experience. For example, the current deal of the month is for cardmembers to pick their favourite drink by 31 March. The drink with the highest votes will become a reward for cardmembers to enjoy. Cardmembers also receive one Clear.24.7 point for every vote, tag and share.

The new proposition is an extension of the bank’s strategy to develop a comprehensive online and digital banking experience for its customers, Tan said. “We are already seeing that the proportion of retail spend via internet sales is 25 per cent higher for the Citibank Clear Platinum Card than for Citibank cards overall,” she said.

Visa’s Strategic Market Analysis Report for Singapore showed that the proportion of total card spend attributed to e-commerce grew at a year-on-year rate of 28 per cent from 2010 to 2011, with the figure for Citibank Singapore growing faster than the market at 36 per cent.