BOC excels in 'year of Olympic services'

Becoming the sole banking partner of the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympics has handed Bank of China (BOC) an unrivaled competitive advantage - the agent right to sell Olympic tickets.

A total of 1,001 BOC outlets were designated to sell Olympic tickets. For many people, buying Olympic tickets was the first time that they walked into BOC outlets.

They experienced the services BOC offered, promoting its brand value. In the first and second phase of ticket sales, about 70 percent of the buyers chose to open up account in Bank of China as a means to pay for their tickets, according to a survey.

Relying on its network, talent and business advantages, BOC has, in seamless collaboration with Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee, successfully wrapped up ticket sales for the summer Games and Paralympics.

The Olympic Games ticketing agent business has not only raised BOC's brand awareness among the public, but also expanded its potential customers pool.

Olympics marketing in full swing

BOC officially unveiled its Olympic marketing strategy earlier this year, designating 2008 as "year of Olympics services".

The bank held a meeting in Shanghai in March, formally launching the strategy. Its outlets, first in Beijing and then in the other five co-host cities of the Olympics Games, have launched Olympic-themed marketing and promotion campaigns under the theme of "joining hands with Bank of China and winning together in the Olympics".

In a bid to get closer to customers, Bank of China has held a host of BOC and Olympic-themed cultural or sports events in its outlets or nearby communities.

Events such as the "100 years of Olympics and 100 years of Bank of China - Sports Photos Exhibition in Communities" and "Selecting of Bank of China Olympic Families" were well received.

The events raised public awareness about Bank of China being the sole banking partner of the Beijing Games, and also showcased BOC's first-class Olympic financial services.

Its Olympic-related financial services, which were tested during the "Good Luck Beijing" sport events running between July 2007 and June 2008, has won praise from the events organizing committee and sports delegations.

Joint marketing

Bank of China takes the Olympic Games as an opportunity to consolidate and expand various sorts of cooperation with top brands both from China and the world and to widen its lead over its domestic peers and improve its image as an international brand.

It also hopes the Games will enable it to pool its resources with other industries and achieve win-win situation through joint marketing or other kinds of marketing tactics.

It has already teamed up with other Olympic partners and sponsors in launching joint marketing initiatives. Making use of the platform of the Olympics Games partner club, of which BOC is a member, the bank has explored many opportunities to embark on collaboration with other Games partners or sponsors, through channels such as joint-marketing, joint product development or pooling of resources.

Such cooperation has further cemented and expanded BOC's ties with its major account customers and enabled it to widen its product range for customers and improve their experiences.

More importantly, innovative collaboration marketing has strengthened BOC's competitive edge among corporate customers, further lifting its financial service level.

For example, the bank signed an Olympic partner strategy pact with German carmaker Volkswagen (China), under which BOC customers can pay for Volkswagens using a credit card or debit card, the first service of its kind in China.

BOC introduced a co-branded credit card with computer maker Lenovo and Visa, and another co-branded credit card with China's flagship air carrier Air China. All of these partners are either Beijing Olympic Games partners or sponsors.

The bank also sought to cooperate with many producers of Olympic-licensed souvenir makers or suppliers, holding seminars or launching joint-marketing promotions with them.

Cementing customer relations

Reception is one of the priority tasks for Bank of China in 2008. The global sporting event poses a big challenge for the bank in terms of its reception work, but it also presents the bank with a good opportunity to cement relations with its customers.

The bank has already put in place a well-devised reception plan for its customers. It is planning to launch some tailor-made marketing initiatives targeting its existing and potential customers during the Games, which it hopes will consolidate their relations with existing customers and win new customers.

BOC hopes to use the unique Olympic platform and its differentiated marketing tactics to maintain and expand its customer base.

In the personal banking business, BOC has always attached the greatest importance to its customers.

The bank has strived to optimize its outlets' layout since 2005, improving their environment, functions and making their more customer-friendly. By the end of 2007, 4,000 outlets had completed facelifts and layout improvements.

In addition, the bank has also expanded business offerings in those outlets. For example, it has set up 366 wealth management centers and more than 1,000 wealth management studios in its outlets, which are staffed by 200 financial planners and 2,500 wealth management managers.

Those wealth management centers and financial planners provide and devise tailored wealth management planning and services.

Bank of China introduced a private banking business in China in 2007, the first domestic bank to do so. It opened private banking branches in Beijing and Shanghai.

It also launched a "reciprocal payback" activity targeting its large customers on March 27, 2007, the 500-day countdown to the opening of the Beijing Olympics, and gave out Olympic tickets to its major customers.

Thanks to its unrelenting efforts, Bank of China's customer satisfaction rate has been increasing constantly. The number of complaints lodged by customers has dropped remarkably while the customer satisfaction rate has been rising since the bank's Olympic marketing strategy was launched, according to surveys.

(China Daily 08/05/2008 page25)