The news that the Chinese LPL division team EDwardGaming won the championship League of Legends S11 Global Finals dominates major online social platforms for a time. In recent years, as e-sports (hereinafter referred to as "e-sports") has become increasingly "out of the circle", banks, as the main force in the financial field, are also trying to move forward, launching e-sports themed credit cards, creating e-sports themed outlets, etc. When banks meet e-sports, what kind of fantasy linkage will be performed in the integration of traditional industries and emerging industries, and how banks' e-sports marketing "encircle" young people is worth paying attention to.
Try the waters of e-sports theme credit card
Credit cards with e-sports theme are more common and were launched earlier. Previously, CITIC Bank had launched a gaming e-sports credit card, which has three card surfaces: regular version, RNG version, and LGD version. In terms of rights and interests, you can enjoy low discounts to purchase e-sports external equipment, Internet cafe discounts, etc. Among them, the RNG version and the LGD version are printed with photos of two Chinese e-sports club members RNG and LGD. In addition to the conventional rights, they also give relevant team signature photos and other free exchange exclusive rights.
as a linkage marketing, the relevant cooperative e-sports club also promoted CITIC Bank game e-sports credit cards. Under the card application link forwarded by LGD e-sports club, some Weibo netizens commented on "Is there any signature?" "Can you only have a separate card for a certain e-sports player?"
In addition to CITIC Bank, Beijing Business Daily reporters found on November 8 that previously, Bank of Communications, China Construction Bank, Pudong Development Bank, China Merchants Bank, and China Merchants Bank had launched credit cards with related e-sports themes. The above credit cards are printed with IP elements of characters or logos related to e-sports scenes, and some will launch series cards with multiple character IPs. Taking the theme credit card of Honor of Kings Professional League issued by Bank of Communications in June this year as an example, the card surface revolves around Honor of Kings game scenes, including popular IP elements such as KPL competition bids, Maoying Fantasy Dance Diao Chan, Yunnique Ling Yu Ji.
Why did banks launch credit cards related to e-sports themes? Dong Zheng, a senior credit card researcher, believes that in recent years, the competition in the credit card market has become increasingly fierce, and credit card products are developing towards "narrow and popularization". The issuing banks are also constantly adjusting their credit card business strategies according to changes in consumer demand. The launch of e-sports theme credit cards is to cater to the needs of e-sports fans and other groups, to attract these young groups, and thus increase the number of bank credit cards issuance.
With the rapid expansion of several consecutive years, the growth scale of credit card has gradually stabilized. According to the overall operation of the payment system in the second quarter of 2021, the number of bank cards has basically been stable. As of the end of the second quarter, there were 9.11 billion bank cards nationwide, a month-on-month increase of 0.89%. Among them, 790 million credit cards and loan-in-one cards were credit cards, an increase of 0.73% month-on-month; per capita held 0.56 credit cards and loan-in-one cards.
"Theme credit cards are a relatively common type of credit card types. Their purpose is to create personalized card surfaces and rights through the setting of specific themes, and attract fixed groups of users." Su Xiaorui, senior analyst at iResearch, said that the launch of e-sports theme credit cards, on the one hand, reflects that the development of the e-sports market is relatively mature, has a good fan base, and has a certain commercial value. On the other hand, it also shows that banks hope to use this to fully tap their existing potential and help promote their financial business.
outlets and e-sports cross-border linkage
While credit cards are "seeking innovation" and "seeking change", the transformation of bank outlets is also continuing. A Beijing Business Daily reporter sorted out the administrative license information of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and found that as of November 8, 1,224 bank outlets have been closed. However, while the outlets are being cut off, the number of new outlets is also increasing. Since the beginning of this year, a total of 1,421 bank outlets have been approved for opening applications. Whether it is closing or adding new outlets, it involves the background of upgrading and upgrading outlets and attracting passenger flow.
Against the backdrop of the upgrade and transformation of outlets, coffee banks, bookstore banks and cake banks are emerging one after another.In June this year, the first outlet with the theme of e-sports also came into being. The outlet is located in Shanghai and was jointly launched by Ping An Bank and Bilibili Esports, covering multiple display areas such as e-sports experience area, comprehensive business area, and barrage area.
In Su Xiaorui's view, the reason for building e-sports theme outlets is that through cooperation in other industries, the innovative service model of "e-sports outlets" can gain good market attention, thereby building an institutional brand; the second is to attract young users, whether it is Bilibili or the label elements of e-sports, its youthful business characteristics are obvious, and it is also the ideal target customer group of many banks; the third is to resist external competition, which can attract customers to a certain extent, especially in attracting new customers. How to "encircle" young people in
?
In fact, whether it is an e-sports theme credit card or an e-sports theme outlet, banks are trying to explore connection points with Generation Z users in order to gain young customers and conduct precise marketing. For example, China Merchants Bank mentioned in its 2021 semi-annual report that the bank is constantly exploring ways to connect with Generation Z, conducting high-frequency interactive operations for young users, and forming a link to communicate and interact with young people.
So can credit cards or outlets with e-sports themes truly "encircle" young people? Su Xiaorui said that the launch of bank e-sports credit cards can first promote customer acquisition and attract new users through the design of card surfaces and rights; the second is to promote customer activation and stimulate cardholders' use and transactions. From the current perspective, most theme credit cards are still focused on the customer acquisition stage, and subsequent customer acquisition methods still need to be improved.
Su Xiaorui suggested that banks should follow the trends and fashion hotspots that young people love to design related themes and products, second, promote and promote scenes with a large number of young people's traffic, and third, optimize user experience.
Beijing Business Daily reporter noticed that on a certain Tieba platform, there were users who reported that they had applied for a related e-sports credit card, but they were cancelled after using it for a few months, just to collect the card surface. In an interview on November 8, some bankers also said that the previously launched e-sports theme credit cards will no longer be issued after the contract period. As for whether there will be corresponding e-sports theme credit cards in the future, the person said that there is no specific plan at the moment, and the person did not respond to the number of applications for the card, the issuance scale, etc.
Dong Zheng said that credit cards with e-sports themes can attract some e-sports fan groups to a certain extent to open cards, but how to continue to operate around this part of customer groups and enhance the number of card usage and stickiness of users also requires banks to dig deep into user needs. He suggested that while meeting simple image design, banks should also provide relevant actual rights and interests, such as using e-sports theme credit cards to purchase e-sports equipment at low discounts, enjoy quotas for meetings with e-sports teams, etc.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Meng Fanxia Li Haiyan
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