One of the few, unexpected advantages of the lockdown was India's rapid digital adoption. While it streamlined our lives and made transactions easier than before, it also obliterated the need for human interactions. No matter how big a misanthrope one is, social connections are a necessary part of our lives.
Federal Bank's new campaign "Rishta Aap Se Hai, Sirf App Se Nahi" is a tribute to these human connections we forge unexpectedly in our lives. The company's philosophy incidentally is "Digital at the fore, human at the core," which ties in beautifully with the brand's new two-film campaign.
The first ad showcases an interaction between a bank employee and a customer. The latter is surprised when the employee recognises her even with her face hidden behind a scarf. Expecting the customer to have some official work at the bank, the employee quizzes her about the purpose of the visit. The customer says that there's no need to visit the bank anymore since most tasks can be handled by the Federal Bank app. The real purpose of the visit is revealed when she presents the employee with her wedding card. "App main aap nahi ho na You aren't there on the app)," she says to the pleasantly surprised clerk.
In the second film, the bank clerk greets the son of a customer who has been asked to update the passbook on his father's behalf. The young boy is bewildered as to why his dad insists on getting it done at the bank when it can be easily done on the app. The clerk who seems to know his client inside out explains that his father would still prefer to come to the bank because that's the only place he finds someone to laugh at his jokes, referring to himself.
The ads celebrate the company ethos of treating the customers as people rather than just an account number. It also showcases how beautiful relationships can be forged over something as impersonal as banking. The campaign also lays bare a shortcoming of the digital age, when human interactions are done away with to make way for a more bureaucratic way of performing tasks.
The ad films have been inspired by real-life events, according to the bank. They have been released in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.
M V S Murthy, Chief Marketing Officer, Federal Bank said, "Businesses across the globe need the digital chutzpah, or customer experience as it is known. However, increasingly, efficiency in technology needs to be reinforced by go to people, whom you can reach out to at all points in time. The core idea of Rishta Aap Se Hai, Sirf App Se Nahi TM comes from our secret sauce which includes Commitment, Agility, Relationship orientation, Ethics and Sustainability. It is imperative that we need to be ‘Digital At The Fore, Human At The Core’. This campaign is representative of how we conduct ourselves as a team. We have unified our physical and digital spaces with this approach."