Allica Bank
Building the Great British Savings Squeeze campaign.
The campaign
Allica Bank is on a mission to give small and medium size businesses the banking they deserve.
The SME-focused fintech offers products and services tailored to its target market – a market ignored and underserved by big name banks.
Part of Allica’s mission is to change the way small firms are treated by banks by bringing attention to the inequalities they face.
To give the story depth and meaning, we created the Great British Savings Squeeze project, a year-long campaign focused on the fact that big banks are ripping off their small business customers – and that Allica is here to change things.
The Great British Savings Squeeze campaign ran alongside our regular strategic communications support for Allica, with each piece of work designed to complement existing activity.
£7.5 billion is the value we calculated SMEs are losing in the UK each year when banking with incumbents
Four high profile industry heavyweight backers
55+ pieces of national and specialist press coverage
Hundreds of industry signatures of support
Building a successful campaign
The
Great
British
Savings
Squeeze
started
out
life
as
a
series
of
complicated
spreadsheets.
The
data
they
contained
–
plus
more
primary
research
–
showed
that
small
and
medium
size
businesses
in
the
UK
are
losing
out
on
£7.5
billion
a
year
in
savings
interest,
all
because
banks
aren’t
offering
them
the
same
interest
rates
they
offer
to
private
customers
and
large
businesses.
We
helped
Allica
to
launch
a
campaign
centred
around
this
huge
figure,
with
the
goal
of
fixing
the
savings
market,
getting
small
firms
they
money
they
deserved
and
raising
Allica’s
profile
while
doing
it.
With
big
campaign
partners
on
board,
the
Great
British
Savings
Squeeze
demanded:
- An end to the SME savings penalty
- For SMEs to be notified of better rates elsewhere
- And for increased protections on SME deposits
Interest
in
the
campaign
was
immediate
and
the
need
for
change
in
the
industry
was
clear.
The results
Execution
- Campaign assets: Set up a campaign website and petition
- Political engagement: Wrote to the Treasury Select Committee who acknowledged the campaign during a TSC inquiry meeting
- Industry support: Gathered official support from major organisations including the Institute of Directors and Federation of Small Businesses who became campaign partners
- Official report: Produced an industry-wide data-led report into the state of the SME business savings market
Results
- In the media: Secured coverage in major publications including The Times, The Telegraph and Financial Times
- Aligned messaging: Tied the campaign to Allica’s broader objectives of being on the side of SMEs
- Business success: Increased sign ups to their business current account product
- Longevity: The campaign continues…
