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Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday, 19 July 2013 04:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The bank said that the principal objective of the Savings Fiesta was to promote the saving habit among the general public.
A noteworthy aspect of the Savings Fiesta program was the extent to which individual branches and their staff got involved in organising activities of their choice in their respective areas, and the strategy of focusing on different products offered by the bank through them, the bank said.
Launched on 1 June, The Savings Fiesta kept all branches busy even through weekends, on which special events were organised. The customer participation in these events was extremely encouraging with thousands of customers turning up to open accounts and to participate in the activities organised, a spokesman for the bank said.
The Savings Fiesta entailed dressing up the bank’s branches with festive decor, balloons and banners, a series of activities over weekends for visitors to selected branches, opportunities to interact with senior management, a mass media campaign and the presentation of gifts and free ATM/Debit cards to those who opened new savings accounts throughout june.
The bank also launched a new Current Account for executives and entrepreneurs as part of the initiative, enhancing its already extensive portfolio of products and services. The ‘Achiever Current Account’ is designed specifically for the success-driven young executives and entrepreneurs of today to aid them on their journey to achieve success. The account has many unique features such as a flexible overdraft facility, the ability to link the current account to a regular savings account or to a money market account to earn interest on funds and speedy access to facilities such as personal loans.
Among the activities organised by individual branches were town storms, savings walks, career guidance programmes, a seminar on the importance of saving, customer visits, event sponsorships, health camps, art and essay competitions for children and musical shows featuring popular artistes.
Engaging with specific target segments, branches organised activities that would enable them to focus on specific products. The branches in Galle, Jaffna, Kandy and Kegalle, for example, placed emphasis on Commercial Bank’s ‘Arunalu’ Children’s Savings Account; Kandy and Matara focussed on the DotCom Youth Savings Account, while a medical camp organised by the Moratuwa branch highlighted the ‘Udara’ Senior Citizen’s account.
The first regional event organized by Galle Region of Commercial Bank drew hundreds of people including many distinguished Galle residents such as academics, doctors and other professionals, to the Galle Town Hall. The bank’s Regional Manager of the Southern Region conducted a lecture on the ‘Importance of Saving’ while a Professor of the Moratuwa University delivered a lecture on ‘Motivation’. The bank presented gifts to the children who won the essay competition.
During the second weekend, Jaffna came alive to the sounds and colours of marching bands, tramping feet, festive banners and buoyant balloons, as Commercial Bank’s Savings Fiesta stimulated the capital of the northern peninsula. The activities included a Savings Walk by staff, an inter-school band competition at the Alfred Durayappah Stadium, releasing of balloons in the blue and white livery of Commercial Bank, and the presentation of gifts to customers who opened new accounts. At Killinochchi on the northern mainland, the Commercial Bank branch organised an art competition for children in support of these activities.
A career guidance seminar for school children, 3D movies, a game zone and a musical show with the participation of popular youth artists were the highlights of a ‘Youth Day’ organised by the Kandy Main Branch of the Commercial Bank on the third weekend of the ‘Savings Fiesta’. Head prefects, their deputies and games captains of several Kandy schools were invited to the seminar and presented with tokens of appreciation by the bank.
The fourth and final weekend of the Savings Fiesta saw the bank’s Moratuwa branch conducting a free medical camp and a series of entertainment events for children. The senior management of the Bank released balloons together to mark the successful completion of the Savings Fiesta.
Apart from these special events, the bank also conducted its biggest media advertising campaign to create visibility for the Savings Fiesta with extensive scheduling in all popular TV and radio shows and in all popular publications. This campaign was also supported with heavy below the line advertising including branch branding, location based media, digital media and social media.
