Read the following case study and answer the questions. 1*6=6
RBC’s Youth Marketing Strategy
As stated above, the marketing strategy consists of selecting atarget market and designing the marketing mix of your product,price, place, and promotion to appeal to your competitors. RBC,Canada’s largest bank, obviously has many different target markets,which results in the key managing different marketing mixes. Onekey target market for the bank is university students and recentgraduates. The group is particularly important as they are juststarting to form relationships with companies and the bank realizedthat if it captures a young customer’s business now it may be ableto retain the customer for a lifetime. To achieve this result, RBCtries to differentiate itself from the other banks by creating asuperior “student-focused” marketing mix.
While all banks in Canada are offeringstudent banking packages, student lines of credit, credit cards forstudents and so forth, RBC is attempting to differentiate itselffirst and foremost by using promotions that appeal to youth. Thebank spends upwards of 120$ million to sponsor the 2010 Olympics,including the “Own the Podium” campaign, which consisted ofdirecting money to athletes who had the best chance to capture anOlympic medal, and the “Torch Relay”, a 45000 kilometer trip acrossthe country that stopped in cities and towns and featuredyouth-focused entertainment. RBC has followed up that promotionwith a commitment to the “Road to Excellence” program, whichreplaced “Own the Podium. “Royal Bank has now committed to beingthe Premier National Partner of the Canadian Olympic Committeethrough 2016 and is proving additional support for the Paralympicteams.
In addition, RBC is considered the social media leader among thebig banks in Canada. RBC has invested heavily in social mediaincluding Twitter, Facebook, blogs, avatars, and online completionsand communities to attract young clients. For example, a recentonline contest focused on recent university graduates who wereasked to provide the best advice they could to new universitystudents.
Questions:
- What markets in RBC targeting with social media?
- Are there other things RBC could be doing with its marketingmix to appeals to the youth markets?
