Developed by Dentsu Malaysia, the year-long campaign kicked off with an unbranded ‘WhatisMtoU’ interactive website. The site features animated ‘M’ characters which act as creative directors, helping consumers direct quirky video content which they can then blog about or share online.
Daniel Yap, group account director of Dentsu Malaysia, explained: “It’s part of our ‘customer-centric’ approach to reflect the needs and wants of the bank’s customers towards the rebranding of Maybank2U. It gives them a say in the services being rolled out and the kind of advertising that is targeted at them.
“The WhatisMtoU website was deliberately launched unbranded to gauge what our customers feel and think.
“Why tell (consumers) what Maybank is to them, when they can tell us what it means themselves? We wanted to give Malaysians a creative outlet - one that would allow them the freedom to create their own advertising.”
The website was also equipped with a Facebook application to exploit the growing influence of social networking sites and the content sharing trend. Another innovation was to set up a Microsoft Live Messenger applet to facilitate customer interaction.
René Menezes, MD of Media 2.0, MSN’s Malaysian representatives, commented: “By being present perpetually on a customer’s messenger buddy list, we’ve seen an increase in usage to get information about the bank and its services - all this while building a continuous relationship with the customer through their medium of choice.”
“The Maybank Windows Live Agent is a great example of how the bank strives to deliver a customer experience unlike any other.”
The campaign’s online blitz is completed with a competition to win electronic gadgets plus a suite of downloads including screensavers and avatars.
The theme is also reflected through out-of-home media with banners draped over landmark buildings around the city.
WiFi lounges have also been set up in shopping malls for consumers to access Maybank’s online services.
