Caja Arequipa: Betting on a better tomorrow
Caja Arequipa, the leading municipal savings and credit institution in Peru, called us in the middle of the Covid pandemic to help them improve its brand and sales indicators. The challenge: clients with paralyzed or closed businesses, collapse in credit disbursement and massive uncertainty.
And it was in the midst of this perfect storm that we began a relationship that led Caja Arequipa to a brilliant rise: since 2019, it rose 58 positions in the Merco Talent ranking, 52 positions in the Merco Companies ranking and came to the 5th position in the Merco Banking ranking, only behind the big four Peruvian banks.
Alvita 1
2020. A country in quarantine. An uncertain future. Ralling entrepreneurs to get back on their feet when Covid made them close their businesses and they faced fear, uncertainty and hopelessness, was not a good idea.
The answer came from a true story of life itself: in the midst of the pandemic, a couple of clients decided to have a daughter: Alvita. True entrepreneurial courage is betting on life when death is around the corner. It was that courage that propelled the development of this new stage for the brand, under the motto: "we celebrate those who are committed to a better tomorrow."
Alvita 2
The following campaign for Caja Arequipa, on Mother's Day, placed us in the reality of Alvita, our couple’s daughter, already born. With a hopeful and truthful message, Caja Arequipa reaffirmed its commitment to a reborn country, where entrepreneurs are not productive units, but human beings with needs that go beyond the merely transactional.
Customer of our customers
In the midst of the pandemic, the category continued talking about loans and rates. None of that made a dent, because the real problem was that their customers didn’t have customers. And identifying the real problem first is Zavalita's mantra.
So, instead of celebrating Caja Arequipa’s anniversary by communicating credits, we gave our entrepreneurs what they really needed: clients. We designed a program for "customers of our customers," with prizes, benefits and products; while enticing them with financial products. And thus, by reactivating the businesses of Caja Arequipa's customers, we reactivated Caja Arequipa's.
The reactivation in numbers:
- +214% quarterly customer growth (goal was +25%).
- +57% customer retention (goal 53%).
- +8% disbursements (goal +4%).
- +120% loan portfolio (goal +30%).
- Effie Bronze, Crisis Response, 2021.
- Effie Latam Finalist, Crisis Response, 2022.
The Model
The pandemic became even more challenging due to a turbulent political-electoral situation, where the country's growth model was put into question due to political tension, sowing uncertainty and paralysis in the minds of micro-entrepreneurs. Caja Arequipa turned its gaze towards the true model for growth, solidarity and development that prevails unabated: the family, meaningfully connecting and empathizing with its audience as people and not just economic agents.
A better Q4 in 2021 than a pre-pandemic Q4 in 2019:
- +100% TOM awareness (goal: +35%).
- +38% quarterly customer growth (goal +25%).
- 8% customer retention (goal 3.5%).
- +14% disbursements (goal +5%).
36 Years
"We celebrate those who are committed to a better tomorrow" was under threat. How do you bet on a better tomorrow when crisis, discouragement and uncertainty conspire to instill hopelessness in Peruvians and make the motto coined for Caja Arequipa obsolete?
On the occasion of its 36th anniversary, from the Chairman of the Board to an executive and an analyst came out to defend the validity of the motto by openly describing the measures they’re deploying while others were just mincing advertising words.
When all this ends
The pandemic left various wounds. One of them, the absence of physical contact. In the context of the Peruvian national holiday, we bet on “instructing” people how to embrace each other again after more than two years of social distancing, both mandatory due to the health crisis, and voluntary due to the political and social fragmentation of the country.
Gift return
For the 2022 Holiday campaign, the brand decided to talk about the historical relationship of reciprocity with its customers. This translates into permanently rewarding the gift of their trust with well-being in their communities and providing accessible financial solutions for their ventures.
Now I evaluate
So many years of banks and savings institutions evaluating their clients, that we forget that it is the brand that must qualify to access the preference of its clients, and not the other way around. In its 37th anniversary, Caja Arequipa plays in the territory of reciprocity, by also giving its customers the opportunity to express their approval... and their trust.
The Country of the Ups and Downs
What value can savings have in Peru today? A lot, if you give it the possibility of being an instrument of predictability in the country of fluctuations, which with its ups and downs haunts the lives of people and businesses, changing intentions and plans. But if fluctuations destabilize, on the other hand they also offer the possibility of enjoyment, play and, who would say, even placidity.
