The improbable story of the content marketing Goldfish!
Content marketing by financial services companies is commonly based on meeting informational needs of consumers in order to convert prospects or develop existing customer relationships. Choosing a new credit card may be a lower engagement decision than, say, selecting a pension plan, but innovative credit card company Goldfish is taking a different approach to content strategy nonetheless.
Associating itself with National Storytelling Week which kicked off yesterday, the focal point of the campaign is the stories told at the website meandmygoldfish.com by respected British celebrities about the relationships they have built with their credit cards.
Comedian and writer Meera Syal tells a tale of motherhood and sleep deprivation. Anthony Horowitz , author and script writer, of a diving holiday in Egypt. Comedian Rik Mayall writes of a planned trip to the pub which turns into a surreal adventure. The stories are written around the 'Me and My Goldfish' brief with the Goldfish less of the flexible plastic friend and more taking on the personality and dialogue of the 'sole' (as one of the storyteller puns) mate. Adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes portrays his Goldfish as a trusty compass for a treacherous journey across frozen wastes.
It shouldn't really work but it kind of does. Far from being the strongest fiction ever written, it's quirkiness is charming. You can read the tales or you can listen to or watch the authors narrate them. And you can bookmark the stories or email them to a friend.
The distinctive thing about the fishy tales is that they have absolutely nothing to do with product. Why? Because, 'these stories tell us more and more about the relationships we have built with our cardholders over the last 12 years.' This is using content for a pure branding exercise. Even the calls-to-action are understated on the marketing site, although when you go through to goldfish.com proper, the copy and design embodies direct marketing best practice.
But is it effective? Without access to the key data, it's difficult to say but they've certainly differentiated and - with the help of teaser billboards throughout the UK - grabbed attention. And in a world where one credit card is much the same as another, that's not a bad thing.
Be relevant, be valued and get your customers to act.
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