The TymeBank transactional account has no monthly fees, many day-to-day banking transactions are free and savings can earn up to 10% interest per annum.

"Since we started building our bank, we have always put our customers at the heart of everything we do," says Luisa Mazinter, TymeBank’s chief marketing officer. 

"We have worked really hard to make our 'EveryDay' account as affordable and accessible as possible. We spend our days thinking about how we can remove the complexity and costs that traditional banking attracts," adds Mazinter.

"We have an unfaltering belief in the potential of the people of this country. We think that every South African should be financially empowered to live their life on their terms, and we have developed a product that enables them to do just that," Mazinter says. 

According to TymeBank, this purpose is etched into the very fabric of the bank, from product design to IT to marketing, and its brand message had to encapsulate this sentiment.

"We wanted to communicate this message in a way that was not contrived, was motivating, relevant and that had a completely different and refreshing tone from all other banks in the market," adds Mazinter.  



Assets and liabilities

To do this, TymeBank says it first needed to define the bank’s unique voice and visual identity and then had to focus on how it would launch its new brand in a way that would stand out in a mature market where some of the incumbents had been around for over 100 years. The first expression of this unique identity is the ‘You’ve Got This’ campaign.

"'You’ve Got This’ is a power statement. It’s a phrase that is used in everyday conversation, one that South Africans across all age groups and demographics understand. It puts consumers firmly in control, giving them confidence and inspiring them to turn their aspirations into reality," says Mazinter

"More than that, it verbalises our core belief in the potential of the people in this country. It’s what you say to someone before they’re about to do something important, to give them support and show them that you believe in them."

To deliver this message, the multi-channel campaign uses real people, over 30 different South Africans, who tell the TymeBank story by telling their own. TymeBank says while these characters represent a tapestry of human diversity, the common link is their attitude: they know who they are and they know who they’re going to be — all they need is a bank that recognises their potential and gives them the tools they need to achieve their goals.

"Other banks look at people’s current financial situation — we look beyond this. [We look at] at their aspirations and their potential. Our ad taps into this insight by showing everyday South Africans narrating a formal declaration of their personal assets and liabilities, but in our case, they go beyond the numbers and talk about the assets that really matter, and the liabilities that underpin their unflinching will to succeed," says Mazinter.

“For us, this was a fresh and very relevant message from a bank that wants to make banking accessible and affordable for all South Africans. A bank that doesn’t look at what you have today, but at who we know you have the potential to be," Mazinter says.

The voice of the customer

"Social media plays a major role in our campaign because it provides a real-time gauge of what our customers think and what resonates with them. This is very important to us; we don’t want to be that brand that is out of touch and tells customers what we think they want to hear. We listen and we take our customers’ feedback back into the business, our product and our marketing," says Mazinter.

According to TymeBank, this customer-first approach is evident in the story of the @TymeGuy. The online profile was born the day the bank went live. "We noticed a very active community discussing us on the popular tech forum MyBroadband, so we immediately engaged," Mazinter adds.

"These were our early adopters — customers who, off their own bat, had tried our product and were actively discussing areas for improvement. One of our senior leaders in the business jumped in to answer their questions and has been doing so ever since," says Mazinter.

"We’ve addressed every point raised by this community and it has helped us create a better product to take to market. We feel confident that we have a value proposition that South Africans will see value in and want to use, and we will tell our story through the power of their voices, not our own," Mazinter concludes.

The ‘You’ve Got This’ TVC is currently airing across SABC 1, 2 and 3, DSTV, eTV as well as on YouTube.

For more information, visit www.tymebank.co.za. You can also follow TymeBank on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.