Barclaycard taps into ‘fabric of the nation’ status with new campaign
Barclaycard is launching its first brand campaign for two years as it looks to inject warmth into its brand and push its ‘fabric of the nation’ credentials.
By Sarah Vizard
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The campaign, which first airs on Saturday (16 May) and will run for six weeks, aims to raise awareness of the wide range of added benefits customers can get when they use their Barclaycard. Created by BBH, it depicts a ‘Dad’ character as he goes about his day under the slogan ‘Today I Will’.
He is seen narrating his day – from taking his son for cake to struggling to stay fit – which reveals the benefits of using Barclaycard such as account access on the move, contactless payments and advance tickets.
Speaking to Marketing Week, Barclaycard’s head of brand strategy Andrew Hogan says the intention of the campaign is to drive awareness and usage of Barclaycard and therefore brand advocacy.
“From research we know that if our customers are using their Barclaycard beyond just shopping they are more likely to become an advocate. It improves the way they look at the brand,” he adds.
The TV spot will be backed up by print and social media which will take a deeper dive into specific benefits. On social media, where Barclaycard is targeting a younger audience, it has enlisted the help of comedian Jason Manford who will be filmed doing a stand-up routine that looks at everyday problems in the areas of shopping, going out and travel.
Barclaycard will use his observations to show how its various benefits can help solve those issues.
“Barclaycard is a mainstream brand so we wanted the personality to have mass appeal and not be too niche. He has a very nice style of observational humour that fits the Barclaycard personality well and offers insights on everyday life,” says Hogan.
Barclaycard’s customer and acquisition marketing will also be brought under the “Today I will” umbrella.
‘Fabric of the nation’ brand
Hogan says it has “been a while” since Barclaycard talked about the brand on an emotional, not just a product, level. He believes that while it is important to talk about rational reasons customers should use the brand, it also needs to push the emotional element so people feel an attachment to the brand.
“We are looking for customers to feel warmer towards the brand. The focus over the last couple of years has been on balance transfers – those kinds of offers. That has been very successful but we now need to inject warmth to affect how people feel about the brand.
“Barclaycard is a fabric of the nation type brand. We’re tapping into that again.”
Barclaycard brand strategy head Andrew Hogan
“Barclaycard is a fabric of the nation type brand – we’ll be 50 next year, we were the first credit card in this market and for many people we’re the credit card they heard about first because their parents had it. We’re tapping into that again,” he says.
According to YouGov’s BrandIndex Barclaycard has a relatively strong brand, coming in sixth in a list of 40 financial services brands in terms of its Index score – a measure of a range of metrics including value, quality and reputation.
In terms of Buzz – a measure of the positive and negative things said about a brand – it comes in in 10th, with a score of 0.7. That puts it behind key rivals such as PayPal, Visa, Nationwide and Mastercard.
Hogan says that with the payments space becoming increasingly competitive Barclaycard felt it was a good time to “remind people of Barclaycard’s unique position – combining innovation with trust and heritage”.
