ESM Individual Case Study Report

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Name: Tay Hui Yun Cherlyn
Admin No.: 1701737G
Tutorial Class: TB07
Tutor: Ms. Clauderlene Tan

OCBC’s Marketing and Sponsorship


Overview of the Company
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC) is the longest established bank in Singapore, born out of the Great Depression through the merger of three banks in 1932 - the Chinese Commercial Bank Limited (incorporated in 1912), the Ho Hong Bank Limited (incorporated in 1917) and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Limited (incorporated in 1919).

It is now the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets and one of the world’s most highly-rated banks, with an Aa1 rating from Moody’s. Due to its high financial strength and stability, OCBC Bank is consistently ranked among the World’s Top 50 Safest Banks by Global Finance and has been named Best Managed Bank in Singapore and the Asia Pacific by The Asian Banker.                           

OCBC Bank operates in Banking, Insurance, Asset Management as well as Brokerage industries. It operates banking business as OCBC Bank, Bank OCBC NISP, OCBC Wing Hang China, OCBC Al-Amin, and Bank of Singapore in over 18 countries and territories, and have strategic stakes in other financial services businesses operating under independent brands: 

Insurance: Great Eastern
Asset management: Lion Global Investors
Brokerage: OCBC Securities and OCBC Sekuritas

OCBC Bank and its subsidiaries offer a broad array of commercial banking, specialist financial and wealth management services, ranging from consumer, deposit-taking and personal lending, private and transaction banking to treasury, insurance, asset management and stockbroking services.

Furthermore, OCBC Bank is listed on the SGX-ST as one of the largest listed companies in Singapore by market capitalisation. It is also one of the largest listed banks in Southeast Asia by market capitalisation and have more than 29,000 employees globally.

Customers/Clients, Target Markets
OCBC Bank’s targeted customers are individuals, SMEs (Small & Medium-sized Enterprises), large corporate businesses, with individuals accounting for the highest percentage. 

OCBC Bank’s key markets are Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Greater China (Geographic). It has more than 610 branches and representative offices in 18 countries and regions. These include the more than 340 branches and offices in Indonesia under subsidiary Bank OCBC NISP, and over 100 branches and offices in Hong Kong, China and Macau under OCBC Wing Hang.

In general, OCBC Singapore's key target markets are based on age and income group (Demographic); consisting of mainly Singaporeans/PR (Geographic) students/millennials, adults, families with children (Demographic) with a certain income and purchasing power (Psychographic), who are looking for service to store money safely and products to manage their assets better(Behavioural)

OCBC recognises the importance of targeting the right customers and designing an effective loyalty programme to retain customers, with an aim to filter customers with increased lifetime value to be future premier banking customers

For example, to attract the next generation of financial clients, OCBC had to delve deeper into understanding the needs of youths and young working adults, in which they conducted in-depth interviews, understanding how they think and behave, the characteristics of the millennials’ usage behaviour towards banking, shopping, dining, and travelling.

Based on the behavioural traits of Singaporean youthsFRANK by OCBC was developed. To engage them, FRANK used Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to increase its social media presence. It reached out to millennials with potentials of increasing their earning power, by tapping into their lifestyle trends and tailoring its content accordingly with several concepts. For instance, the FRANK experience starts with choosing from over 120 designs to customise their debit and credit card faces according to their preferences. This service aligned with the millennial’s preferences for self-expression. 
("Frank by OCBC - The Future of Consumer Banking to Millennials", 2016)


Furthermore, to target families with children, OCBC Bank offers Baby Bonus Bank (Child Development Account) services for infants and Mighty Savers programme for children below 16 years old.







To target SMEs, large corporates and financial institutions, business & treasury banking services were provided. 




                
To target high net-worth individuals and wealthy families, premier private banking services were also provided under Bank of Singapore brand name in 2010.



                                                                                                                                                  
Competitors
OCBC’s top competitors are DBS (The Development Bank of Singapore Limited)
and UOB (United Overseas Bank)Other competitors include HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, Bank of China etc.

DBS is a multinational banking and financial service corporation set up in 1968 by the government of Singapore. It is the biggest commercial bank in Singapore and largest bank in Southeast Asia.                       

UOB is a Singaporean multinational banking organisation founded in 1935 and it is the third largest bank in South East Asia by total assets.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool that can be used by OCBC Bank managers to do a situational analysis of the company. It is a useful technique to analyse the present Strengths (S), Weakness (W), Opportunities (O) & Threats (T) OCBC Bank is facing in its current business environment.

Strengths
As one of the leading organizations in its industry, OCBC Bank has numerous strengths that enables it to thrive in the market. These strengths not only help it to protect the market share in existing markets but also help in penetrating new markets.














Firstly, OCBC is deemed as the second most safest bank in Asia and 13th in the global safest bank list("DBS, OCBC, UOB named top 3 safest banks in Asia", 2017) Also, it has one of the highest credit rating in Singapore(“DBS, OCBC and UOB get AA- credit rating from S&P", 2016) The rating refers to a bank's capacity to meet its financial commitment as "very strong", and a stable outlook on the bank reflects the outlook on the sovereign credit rating on Singapore. This gives OCBC's customers a sense of security and stability, assuring them that the bank is trustable and that their money is in safe hands. 

Secondly, OCBC has a high distribution channel with more than 630 branches and representative offices in 18 countries worldwide. It enables the bank to branch out to as many potential markets as possible, allowing customers to be able to perform transactions conveniently anywhere in the world right at their doorstep. 

Thirdly, 
OCBC is a well capitalised and established bank. Being the largest bank in Singapore by market capitalization enables them to perform relatively well against other banks. The bank has a dominant presence in both the consumer and business banking segments in Singapore and Malaysia. Its insurance subsidiary, Great Eastern Holdings, is the largest insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia in terms of assets and market share. OCBC also has a strong presence in emerging markets, recognized globally with a good brand image perceived by customers, putting it in a good position due to its strong brand portfolio. This helps to spread risk and offers significant economies of scale if OCBC Bank wants to expand its business into other industries.

Weaknesses
Weaknesses are the areas where OCBC Bank can improve upon. Strategies are about making choices and weaknesses are the areas where an organization can improve using SWOT analysis and build on its competitive advantage and strategic positioning.

Firstly, OCBC Bank is highly dependent on Singapore and Malaysia markets’ performance, as seen in the photo above. It lacks sustainable development in other markets globally. Thus, if there is an economic financial crisis in either market, it will potentially affect the company's revenue.

Also, with the increasing cost of expenses, it could result in a potential danger of lower profits, which might eventually lead to bankruptcy. Possible expenses could include wages, rental expenses, electricity expenses, etc. ("OCBC Group Full Year 2017 Net Profit rose 19% to S$15-billion", 2018) 

Opportunities
Firstly, there is an increasing opportunity for OCBC Bank to expand into emerging economies like India and China through acquisition. The expansion will help it to develop new revenue stream and open up new markets. OCBC's high level of capitalisation places it in a strong position to acquire assets which grant it a lot of opportunities. OCBC also has adequate capital to purchase stronger banks, in which it has purchased a stake to continue its Asian expansion despite challenging economic times. OCBC's generally strong position presents the opportunity to outperform competitors during the economic downturn and to build a reputation for being one of the safer banks for depositors, helping to increase resources for lending and negative press coverage of competitors may encourage customers to choose OCBC instead of other banks.

Secondly, the rising Asian wealth. Southeast Asia's largest banks are riding the region's rapid economic growth to higher earnings as demand for wealth management services rises and mainstay savings and lending operations expand. One of which includes OCBC, where the bank's revenue income stemming from activities such as insurance and private banking, increased drastically. ("New wealth lifts earnings at Southeast Asian banks", 2018)

“In clients’ minds, Singapore is more independent and secure. The government is also very supportive of the wealth management industry”, said Ms Mariam Jaafar, a Singapore-based BCG partner. 

Singapore will attract wealth from abroad over the next four years as Asia’s economic expansion draws cash from millionaires, Boston Consulting Group predicts. Perceptions that Singapore is safe and stable will also help to bring money to the South-east Asian nation. For decades, wealth hubs including Singapore have benefited from political and economic instability elsewhere that prompted rich people to move money abroad in search of investment returns. Asia’s biggest wealth centers are attracting clients from within the region who are becoming richer in tandem with its rising economic output. ("Asian wealth hubs seen outpacing Swiss in offshore asset growth", 2017)

"Our clients, the wealthy, have grown their businesses. They have cash flow, more liquidity," Lawrence Lua, deputy private-banking head of DBS said. ("DBS to Hire Private Bankers to Tap $19 Trillion Asia Market", 2018)


ThirdlyGlobalisation, along with the increasing Intra-Asia trade & crossborder capital flows. It is viable for OCBC to pursue more opportunities in Asia and follow its clients deeper into Asean markets such as Indonesia and China, at a time when Singapore companies will be more compelled to expand overseas as growth at home slows. "Global trade is probably going to be more subdued. The trade agreements that were established before . . . are not likely to materialise. So as a result of less tariff encouragement, it is likely that people are going towards territories of which they are more familiar with," said the bank's chief executive, Samuel Tsien.

China, as Asean's largest trading partner, will bring opportunities through infrastructure spending. Singapore will have to capture the investment flows from China into the region, playing to its strength in structuring financing beyond straight lending. "If we have less globalisation, it will not be positive for Singapore. We need to have a lot more activities passing through Singapore, in order to make us prosper," said Mr Tsien.

As OCBC pursues more opportunities through intra-Asean trade, it is looking for growth in Indonesia, where China investments have gone into businesses such as utilities, power plants, and water treatment. "Digital banking is an area where we would definitely look at, to develop that market. Because in a way, Indonesia is like a mini-China. There are many big areas where you cannot reach out to the population unless it is through electronic means," said Mr Tsien.

A digital banking strategy also plays to the high mobile device penetration in Indonesia, where on average, one person has got more than one mobile device. Mr Tsien believes that having local bankers head operations in each Asean market would help to deal with challenges in these emerging markets, even as analysts warn of more credit risks in Asean. ("Asian markets key focus for OCBC in 2017: CEO", 2016)

Threats
Firstly, regulatory changes across the world will affect OCBC. Higher regulatory expectations result in a demand for stronger capital, liquidity and regulatory compliance. For example, liability laws in different countries are different and the bank may be exposed to various liability claims given change in policies in those markets. 

Secondly, Globalisation—effectively opening up the local market to external competition. For example, local competitor Citibank, competing with OCBC on going global and digital. CITI's Asean business continues to grow as the bank plays well into the region's rapid globalisation propelled by an expanding middle class. "Globality is our single biggest competitive advantage - and this is played across the consumer and institutional businesses," according to Amol Gupte, Citi's head of Asean. "I believe globalisation is here to stay." He pointed out that the bank's well-connected global network of 100 markets is helping to drive its business in Asean, a vibrant region with a rapidly growing middle class expected to more than double to 400 million in 2020 from 190 million in 2012.

E-commerce has been the fastest-growing client sector for Citi's treasury and trade solutions business in Asean in the last two to three years and the bank expects double-digit revenue growth in the next three years. Banks can now sell their products and services via apps, "from acquisition to servicing digitally". In the last 12-15 months Citi "has gone from zero to 30 per cent" in its card acquisition drive via the use of mobile phone apps, said Mr Gupte.

Another digital transformation is using voice biometrics for customer authentication for its call centres. These centres get millions of calls, and each has to be authenticated by questions such as your pet's name or your mother's name. With voice biometrics, rolled out 12 months ago, Citi is able to "shave around 20 per cent of the phone call time". Voice biometrics is so unique it can tell twins apart, and can also recognise persons who enrolled in English but subsequently speak in Mandarin, he said. However, it doesn't do well when there is background noise. It is said that already some 340,000 out of its one million clients in Singapore who buy multiple banking products have signed up for voice biometrics authentication. (Citi gains from Asean's rapid urbanisation as middle class grows", 2017)

Sponsorship Involvement
OCBC Bank is mainly involved with sponsorship in the fields of Arts, Business Awards and Cycling.
Arts
Underpinned by the core value of contributing back to the community, OCBC has been supporting the local performing arts scene actively since 1995 through the sponsorship of performances by local arts organizations, including ACT 3 International, I Theatre, Singapore Lyric Opera, Singapore Dance Theatre, The Theatre Practice, Toy Factory Productions and W!LD RICE.

It also works closely together with local artists to bring their works to the community. In 2011, it supported the ‘Tracking Memories’ exhibition - a collaboration between prominent businessman and avid photographer Mr Kwek Leng Beng, and watercolour maestro, Mr Ong Kim Seng – to honour the historical railway (Tanjong Pagar) in Singapore.

In recognition of OCBC’s long-term support for the local arts scene, National Arts Council accorded it as the Distinguished Patron of the Arts Award in 2011 for the 13th time.

Business Awards
OCBC has been supporting the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs since the 1930s. It encourages the spirit of entrepreneurship and is a main sponsor of various business awards that recognise the accomplishments and celebrate the successes of businesses ranging from emerging enterprises to large corporates. This is in line with OCBC’s ongoing commitment to support enterprises across the various stages of their business life cycle.

Awards sponsored by OCBC include The Emerging Enterprise “EE” Award (2008), The Enterprise 50 (E50) Awards (2006), The Business China Awards (2010), The Entrepreneur of the Year Award (“EYA”) (2002), The Edge Billion Ringgit Club (Malaysia) (2010).


Cycling
OCBC Bank is synonymous with cycling in Singapore and Malaysia through the sponsorship of the largest mass cycling event in both countries - OCBC Cycle Singapore and OCBC Cycle Malaysia since 2009 and 2011 respectively.; and Singapore's first and only continental team, the OCBC Singapore Pro Cycling Team. It chose to sponsor cycling because the concepts of this sport are consistent with OCBC Bank’s core values – teamwork and giving back to the community. The support for the sport spans across all levels from recreational cyclists to the professionals.

Others
OCBC Bank is the largest sponsorship partner of the Singapore Sports Hub, with OCBC Bank named the Premier Founding Partner. The deal is in excess of $50 million. The 15-year contract will see OCBC own naming rights to the multi-purpose indoor arena, aquatic centre, the National Stadium Club Lounge at the north and south wings of the National Stadium, and the VIP lounge in the Singapore Indoor Stadium. ("OCBC secures $50 million, 15-year naming rights deal as main sponsorship partner of Singapore Sports Hub", 2013)

OCBC Skyway
OCBC Bank also sponsored two of Gardens by the Bay permanent highlights in 2012. The two features are the Supertree Aerial Walkway and a spectacular light and sound show at the Supertree Grove which were named the “OCBC Skyway” and the “OCBC Light and Sound Show” respectively. 
OCBC Bank Credit Cards have also sponsored more than 30 world-class acts over the past four years, which includes sold-out concerts by artistes like Super Junior, SM Town, Elton John and Jay Chou. 

Possible objectives for participation

1) To communicate with its target market efficiently and effectively
Brands often sponsor events so they can get in front of their target customer. This is especially true when they’re relatively new to the market and hope to introduce the targeted audience to their product or service.

2) Enhancing brand image
When participants of the event enjoy the whole entire event, they will have a positive image of OCBC as they appreciate their effort in making the event fun, enjoyable yet memorable.

3) Increasing Brand Awareness
Sponsoring major developments/infrastructures or events that cost them millions is worth the price as there are millions of viewers around the world that they can reach out to where they can showcase their brand as people will be tuning in to watch the events live on television, live streams or even be at the event ground itself. They will have their brand logo everywhere including backdrops and even during commercial breaks on television where they will show that OCBC is their official sponsor, naturally promoting the brand.

Target market becomes more aware of the brand and brand attitudes through all the events and it leads to the increase in sales volumes.

4) Shaping consumer attitudes towards the product
When the positive association with the brand is strong enough, possible negative aspects will be overlooked. 

5) Differentiating its product and service from competitors
Through the event, OCBC will be able to showcase its latest technology and products to the participants to show that they are better than their competitors

Sponsorship activity becomes the product differentiator and helps reinforce the participants’ experience.

Sponsorship Recommendation and Justification
As OCBC Bank is committed to giving back to the community as well as nurturing children, my recommendation is for them to sponsor family type events related to sports, for example, having an "OCBC Mighty Savers Run" that is a family friendly run that not only promotes a healthy lifestyle for kids, but is also a run for a good cause, helping to raise fund for families with children that are in desperate need of financial aid for a proper education or health needs so that they can have a more enriching childhood and brighter future.


These types of events not only fulfills OCBC’s organisational goal of giving back to the community, but also enables the bank to reach out to its potential market. Parents usually bring their children to family events to spend time together and foster greater bonds, thus this event will help to raise funds for those in need and also allow OCBC to reach out to the particpants/families. When the participants enjoy the entire event, they will have a positive image of OCBC as they appreciate their effort in making the event fun, enjoyable yet meaningful. Therefore, the target market becomes more aware of the brand and brand attitude through the event, which eventually leads to the increase in sales volumes.

References:
A. D. Chandler, Strategy and Structure (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1962)
BOON, R. (2016, June 21). DBS, OCBC, UOB get AA- credit rating from S&P. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/dbs-ocbc-uob-get-aa-credit-rating-from-sp

OCBC Bank Singapore - Group. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ocbc.com/group/index.html

DBS Bank - The Development Bank of Singapore Limited | DBS Group. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dbs.com/default.page

Global Finance Magazine - World's Top 50 Safest Commercial Banks 2017. (2018, May 10). Retrieved from https://www.gfmag.com/magazine/november-2017/worlds-top-50-safest-commercial-banks-2017

Ismail, N. (2015, April 9). OCBC on its youth content marketing strategy. Retrieved from http://www.marketing-interactive.com/understanding-buyer-persona-key-content-marketing/

Moody's compares Singapore's Big Three banks: DBS, OCBC and UOB: Here's what it found. (2015, May 13). Retrieved fromhttps://www.straitstimes.com/business/banking/moodys-compares-singapores-big-three-banks-dbs-ocbc-and-uob-heres-what-it-found

The OCBC Group Is The Largest Sponsorship Partner Of The Singapore Sports Hub. (2018, April 23). Retrieved fromhttps://www.sportsingapore.gov.sg/newsroom/media-releases/2013/11/the-ocbc-group-is-the-largest-sponsorship-partner-of-the-singapore-sports-hub

Tan, A. (2017, February 3). DBS, OCBC and UOB dominate top 3 Asean bank brands: report. Retrieved from http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/banking-finance/dbs-ocbc-and-uob-dominate-top-3-asean-bank-brands-report

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Chanjaroen, C. (2018, January 25). DBS to Hire Private Bankers to Tap $19 Trillion Asia Market. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-24/dbs-to-hire-more-private-bankers-to-tap-19-trillion-asia-market

Chen, M. (2013, November 11). OCBC secures $50 million, 15-year naming rights deal as main sponsorship partner of Singapore Sports Hub. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/ocbc-secures-50-million-15-year-naming-rights-deal-as-main-sponsorship-partner-of-singapore

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