The Italian market is one of the most growing markets in N26, we want to achieve an even higher impact in the country. We have recently announced 100k customers in Italy and we are now eager to double this number over the next 6 month. Please develop one campaign idea which you would implement in order to boost growth and retention within your first 3 months at N26.

1. Marketing
Communications Manager IT
- Case for N26 -

2. Summary
• Business Brief
• N26 to the next level
• Answers a & b
• Marketing Strategy

3. BUSINESS
BRIEF

4. “Build a bank the world loves to use”
VISION

5. How?
• Putting people at the heart of the product.
• Making N26 as human as possible and creating
an emotional connection with its users.
• Digitalizing all the traditional banking
processes and introducing new ones.
• Building trust through transparency.

6. N26 focuses on digital natives.
The CEO Valentin Stalf explains: “Maybe we don’t
have to get the non-digital natives. Maybe we start
with the digital natives — there are around 60 million
in Europe. If we win 6 million out of that, 10%, I think
it’s going to be pretty successful.”
What is the specific niche N26 is
tapping into?

7. What value N26 can add?
N26 promotes itself as the first mobile bank in
Europe, building a global bank the world loves to
use.
N26 wants to improve people life offering them
everything they can do with a traditional bank, but
making banking easier, and from anywhere.
In order to do so, technology and design empower
everything it does.

8. N26 wants to revolutionize the way banking services
were delivered in the digital generation.
Its goal is to become a full replacement for any other
bank account in the markets it operates in and reach
5 million customers by 2020.
What is the business goal of N26?

9. Highlights
24 markets
across Europe
2 million
Customers
1.5 billion
Monthly transactions
5 thousand
Daily new customers
Germany, Austria, France, Spain, UK, Italy
Core markets
100 thousand
Customers in Italy (Jul 2017)

10. TO THE
NEXT
LEVEL

11. In order to take N26 to the next level in the Italian
market, I’d need to understand the scenario:
1. Analyzing the market
2. Understanding who are N26 competitors and which
are their marketing activities.
and where N26 is now:
1. Which marketing channels is N26 focusing on?
2. What is the purpose of the N26 in those channels?
Which are N26 goals and objectives?
3. What are the current performances?
How would you take N26 to next level?

12. Digital-only challenger banks are consolidating their
presence in Italy and in particular player such as
Revolut, Hype from Banca Sella, Tinaba from Banca
Profilo, Atom from BBVA, BuddyBank
from Unicredit want to play a role into the Italian market.
Their focus is on digital delivery channels that are
dedicated to improving on incumbent retail banks’
weakest point — customer experience — both through
their products and their online presence.
Different financial businesses as well, such as Oval
Money and Satispay, are having their moment in Italy
too.
Scenario

13. Competitors
Revolut Hype Atom BuddyBank Tinaba Oval Money Satispay
Facebook
RevolutItalia
Hype.MoneyIsJust
aTool
AtomBankOf
fial
n.a TinabaOfficial OvalMoney Satispay
n.a. 67K 10K n.a 22K 7K 65k
Twitter
n.a. @Hype_tw n.a.
@mybuddyb
an
@TinabaOffi
cial
@OvalMoney @satispay
n.a. 9.4K n.a. 3K 1.2K 1.6K 3.6K
Instagram
hypeapp n.a. n.a. n.a. ovalmoney satispay
5K n.a. n.a. n.a. 13K 8K
Youtube
n.a. n.a n.a. n.a. Tinaba Oval Money Satispay
n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 300 4K 2.6K

14. Competitors
All those player have one thing in common, they are not
shying away from social like the traditional banks did.
Hype and Satispay are doing a great communication on
Social Media, overseeing different channels such as
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
All the players are very focused in delivery educational
content and this makes very sense in Italy where there is
a huge lack in trust in banks and a sceptical behavior in
general for financial institutions.

15. Competitors
Their activities on social media are meant to increase:
Brand awareness.
- through a personalized social presence ( recognizable
style, unique voice and format)
- creating own hashtags
- mentioning other business to amplify the content
- through animated short clips to explain products
- through engaging Facebook stories

16. Community Engagement
- through polls
- through teasers of the products
- celebrating milestones
- through educational videos about the product and finance
in general (ex. Satispay Vlog).
asking questions to the community to engage users
Customer satisfaction
- offering customer support

17. Increase web traffic and content distribution
- sharing blog articles
- sharing website landing pages
Increase brand advocacy from customers
- sharing ambassador programs
Lead acquisition
- through contests (see Oval Money) and giveaways
( ex. Revolut).

18. - Social Media Marketing
✓Facebook
From my previous case study, I’ve noticed that N26 has a “glocal strategy” with
localized accounts for its core market. For the Italian audience it has only a
dedicated Facebook Page (@N26IT) with more than 42K likes.
- Content Marketing
✓Blog & ✓Magazine
Localization of the global communication.
- Influencer Marketing
✓Youtuber & ✓Blogger
Paid sponsorship with tech and lifestyle influencers.
- Adv
- Offline marketing
✓ printed campaign
Which marketing channels is N26 focusing on?

19. Facebook is used to:
• brand awareness, through the promotion of new product launches,
of news about N26, of new milestones and the sharing of blog
articles and posts from the magazine.
• website traffic, through the sharing of product related contents.
✓Blog & ✓Magazine
• brand awareness, though the localization of the global
communication.
- Influencer Marketing
✓Youtuber & ✓Blogger
• brand awareness, through paid sponsorship with tech and lifestyle
influencers.
✓printed campaign
brand awareness, through a massive diffusion.
What is the purpose of the N26 in those channels?

20. Facebook is scoring very low performances in terms of
engagement. (0.51% Average Weekly Growth, 0.024 Engagement*).
N26 has a dedicated page for its Italian audience but no presence
since the communication is slow and the interaction with its users
is lacking.
N26 has on average 1 new blog post a month on its Italian blog and
less than 1 new article a month on the magazine. They are mainly
translations from the global content and not tailored on the Italian
audience.
At the same time, N26 articles are designed to add value to attract
its prospects and to help current customers get more from its
products.
Influencer marketing though Tech Youtubers is registering high
engagement and views. Lifestyle influencers instead, have worse
performances.
What are the current performances?
*Source: FanpageKarma

21. ANSWERS
a. & b.

22. Having the N26’s growth as main goal from day 1 and, in order to
expand its reach, I would take the following actions:
1. N26 social media accounts optimization and go multi-channels.
The key demographics that N26 appeals to is Italian millennials. They
are on multiple platforms and mainly on Facebook, Youtube,
Instagram and Twitter* so I’d expand N26’s presence on the 3 latter
platforms with dedicated Italian accounts.
In order to educate the market and establish trust, I’d post tailored
content regularly, experimenting with video.
2. Increase the blog posting frequency
Blog is a crucial tool for the content strategy as it helps retention and
acquisition. I would keep on using the N26 blog to generate buzz
around products and attract new customers as well as retain the
existing ones.
*data: Digital Report 2018

23. 3. Join the conversation on social media to improve
customers satisfaction.
Acquiring new users is an important goal for N26 as well as
retaining the current ones. Happy users are more likely to stay loyal
to a brand and recommend it to its friends circle.
For this reason, N26 should empower its relationship with its Italian
users and establish a human conversation with them.
Following the example of Oval Money, N26 could integrate existing
community, such as the Facebook group N26 Italia, and empower
its brand advocates .

24.
Having brand advocates regularly pushing N26 will provide extra
referrals and brand reputation benefits.
N26 needs to cultivate its advocates giving them more exposure,
social proof and benefits.
In order to do so, N26 could:
- organize exclusive events for its Ambassadors.
- create a community on Facebook (through a private Facebook
group) to facilitate their mutual interaction.
- reward the best Ambassadors with prizes
- giving them exposure on N26 blog
- organize bi-monthly meet ups with them
4. Empower the Ambassador program.

25.
N26 loves to tell stories and podcasting is gaining the interest of
Italians thanks to the boost Spotify is giving to this communication
channel.
Brands are slowly approaching to the podcasting world including
podcasts in their marketing communication strategy.
N26 could deliver stories from its community or follow the
educational approach and share financial content for becoming a
trusted source of information as Paypal did.
5. Start a podcast

26.
I would host simple giveaways and contest on Facebook, to increase
N26 brand awareness and social engagement.
A creative way to deliver contests could be leveraging the HQ trivia
format + Facebook Live.
5. Promote giveaways and contests
N26 could create 10 min live shows
where to asks its follower to answer
correctly to 3 questions.
The first 5 users who answer correctly
to the questions win 1 metal card for 1
year.

27. MARKETING
STRATEGY

28. Marketing Strategy Process
1. Marketing
Goal
2. Target
Customers
and Market
3. Strategic
Plan
4.Plan
Implementation
5. Evaluation

29. 1. MARKETING
GOALS

30. Marketing Goal
The Italian market is one of the most growing markets in
N26, we want to achieve an even
higher impact in the country.
We have recently announced 100k customers in Italy and we
are now eager to double this number over the next 6 month.
- LONG TERM GOAL
Though a marketing campaign, boost growth and retention
within the first 3 months.
- SHORT TERM GOAL

31. KPIs
Goal #1: - Customer Acquisition
100k new customers in 6 months
Goal #2: - Retention

32. 2. TARGET
CUSTOMERS

33. N26 focuses on the younger generations (Millennials
and Post-Millennials) who are digital natives and
heavy users of their mobile phone.

34. DEMOGRAPHICS
IDENTIFIERS
• Male
• Single
• Recently graduated
• Part-time Dj
• 24 years old
• 400€/month
• Turin
• Smart
• Confident / Knows what he wants
• Communication via social app
GOALS
CHALLENGES
WHAT CAN N26 DO
• Lorenzo wants to find a job and save money for recreational
activities (gym, travels, etc)
• Lorenzo wants to use is mobile phone to do everything, from
listening to music to contactless payments in shops, to sharing
money with his friends.
• Helps organize money in order to make saving very easy through
its Spaces.
• Makes it possible to pay with the mobile phone thanks to the
Google Pay integration.
• Makes it possible to send money to friends or start collecting
money
MARKETING
MESSAGING
• Fresh , young, jargon - free
W H A T T Y P E O F L A N G U A G E W I L L T H E Y R E S P O N D T O ?
W H A T I N F O R M A T I O N W I L L G E T T H E I R A T T E N T I O N ?
• Lifestyle, Technology
BEHAVIOR
• Hobbies: running, clubbing with friends
• Habits: Technologically savvy (runs his life
through apps)
• Recently opened apps: Instagram,
Facebook, Netflix, Youtube, Spotify Tinder
L O R E N Z O

35. DEMOGRAPHICS
IDENTIFIERS
• Female
• Engaged
• Marketing Manager
• 28 years old
• 2000€/month
• Milan
• Ambitious
• Good planner
• Money saver
GOALS
CHALLENGES
• Gessica is saving money to buy an house with his boyfriend.
• Gessica loves to do online shopping to access the best offers and
at the same time she is obsessed with security and reluctant to
use her credit card to do transactions. She needs to track her
monthly expenses to be sure not to exceed her budget.
• Offers purchases automatically categorized and an instant
creation of Spaces sub-accounts to easily set financial goals.
• Instant push notifications on all account activity & card lock via
app
• Informative, Trust-building communication
W H A T T Y P E O F L A N G U A G E W I L L T H E Y R E S P O N D T O ?
W H A T I N F O R M A T I O N W I L L G E T T H E I R A T T E N T I O N ?
• Banking, technology
BEHAVIOR
• Hobbies: yoga, reading, online shopping
• Habits: Familiar with the new technologies
• Recently opened apps: Instagram, Twitter,
Pinterest, Amazon, Google Maps
G E S S I C A
WHAT CAN N26 DO
MARKETING
MESSAGING

36. DEMOGRAPHICS
IDENTIFIERS
• Male
• Single
• Law Student
• 19 years old
• No income
• Parma
• Goal Oriented
• Heavy computer user
• Willing to attend the Erasmus Program
and study abroad
GOALS
CHALLENGES
• Alessandro wants to keep himself focused on his education.
• Wants to use the latest technologies to improve his life.
• Wants to be recognized as a trendsetter in his circle of friends
• Alessandro leaves in a small city and often he needs to withdraw
money because the most of the shops doesn’t accept credit cards
• Offers no fees to open the N26 free bank account and reward
when friends open an account through the referral program.
• Offers free cash withdrawal from any ATM (in Italy).
• Fresh and Engaging
W H A T T Y P E O F L A N G U A G E W I L L T H E Y R E S P O N D T O ?
W H A T I N F O R M A T I O N W I L L G E T T H E I R A T T E N T I O N ?
• Informative
BEHAVIOR
• Hobbies: travels, Tv series, concerts
• Habits: Early adopter
• Recently opened apps: Instagram,
Whatsapp, Google Flights and Mobike
A L E S S A N D R O
WHAT CAN N26 DO
MARKETING
MESSAGING

37. DEMOGRAPHICS
IDENTIFIERS
• Female
• Single
• Sales Director
• 32 years old
• 2800€ month
• Rome
• Goal oriented and hard working
• Trendy young professional
GOALS
CHALLENGES
• Federica wants to be an entrepreneur and start her own
startup in the near future
• Federica has a fast pace life and she depends on Siri notifications.
She needs more effective ways to organize her recurring payment
and monitor her transactions.
• She does 1-5 business travels a month and she finds herself
working from different locations after her meetings.
• Allows to set recurring payments and easily schedule payments.
• Offers a premium banking product that gives access to the best
services in a few taps within the N26 app.
• Informative, Trust-building communication
W H A T T Y P E O F L A N G U A G E W I L L T H E Y R E S P O N D T O ?
W H A T I N F O R M A T I O N W I L L G E T T H E I R A T T E N T I O N ?
• Banking, technology
BEHAVIOR
• Hobbies: networking at events, vegan
cooking, monthly massages
• Habits: Familiar with the new technologies
• Recently opened apps: Instagram, Meetup,
LinkedIn, Telegram, Uber
F E D E R I C A
WHAT CAN N26 DO
MARKETING
MESSAGING

38. DEMOGRAPHICS
IDENTIFIERS
• Male
• In a relationship
• Android Engineer
• 35 years old
• 4000€ month
• Bologna
• Nerd and geek
• Enthusiastic about every newly released
high-tech products
GOALS
CHALLENGES
• Mattia wants to have an international work experience
• Mattia travels a lot and hates to manage money abroad
• He wants to control his finances entirely from his smartphone and
pay through GPay
• Offers a better exchange rate & no transaction fees
• Lets to quickly and easily pay with phones thanks to the GPay
support
• Informative, Professional
W H A T T Y P E O F L A N G U A G E W I L L T H E Y R E S P O N D T O ?
W H A T I N F O R M A T I O N W I L L G E T T H E I R A T T E N T I O N ?
• Banking, Update on new products
BEHAVIOR
• Hobbies: football, video games, travels
• Habits: knowledgeable in popular staffs
• Recently opened apps: Feedly, Twitter,
LikedIn, N26
M A T T I A
WHAT CAN N26 DO
MARKETING
MESSAGING

39. Customer journey
Search the
web for banks
offering free or
low fees
accounts
Read online
reviews on
those banks
Chat online
with friends to
seek their
feedback on
different
banks
Go to website
of selected
bank and click
button to start
A/C opening
Submit info
online, do live
video call to
verify ID with
bank clerk
A/c
opened
in 8
minuted
AWARENESS EVALUATION PURCHASE
POST
PURCHASE

40. 3. TARGET
MARKET

41. Italian Market
The impact of last financial crisis (2007-08) and
subsequent global recession (2008-09), is affecting
Millennials from different perspectives:
1. in Italy, 66% young adults aged 18 to 34 were still
living with their parents in 2016.*
* Eurostat

42. Data: Financial Services 2017
2. In Italy, parents direction on financial choices have
an highly relevance on young people between the
ages of 18 and 35

43. 3. Millennials shows that incomes of young adults
have fallen so far when compared with the rest of
society.
This is particularly true in Italy were under-30s are
now poorer than retired people.
* Source: Guardian
“Millennials
interviewed by the
Guardian said they
felt their generation
was facing far
greater hurdles to
establish
themselves as
independent adults
than previous
generations did.”

44. 4. in Italy, unemployment for those aged 15-24
remains high at around 40% according to data
from Eurostat .

45. The consequences of this situation reflect on the way
Millennials spend, save and manage their money.
✓ They are risk averse and self reliant.
✓ They don’t trust banks and show high resistance to
becoming a loyal customer.
✓ They tent to save money as the see the future
unstable.

46. ! Digital in Italy in 2018
- almost 3/4 of the population is online, that is to
say more than 43 million people, with more than
half who regularly use social media
- Italians spend about 6 hours a day online (almost
double the time they spend watching TV). Of these
hours, 2 have passed using a social media
platform.
- the social networks in which the users are most
active are YouTube (62%), Facebook (60%) and
Instagram (33%) while, for messaging apps,
WhatsApp (59%) and Facebook Messenger (39%)
Data: Report Global Digital 2018

47. 4. STRATEGIC
PLAN

48. Nuova Banca.
Nuova Generazione.
Nuove Storie
#GenerazioneN Campaign

49. N26 is inventing the new banking experience.
Always combining the latest technologies and customer centric approach,
N26 constantly and rapidly changes to shape itself on digital natives needs.
But it’s 2018 and the early 2000s born generation,
the #GenerazioneN, is here with its unique traits.
Digital technology has shaped their identities and their social and cultural
attitudes.
They are growing up connected to the world.
They go fast.
They adapt themselves.
They say that technology makes life easier.
They say that technology brings people closer together.
They say that technology let people use their time more efficiently.
And N26 is their bank. You can join them.
Campaign Concept

50. #GenerazioneN. You can join them.
The generation N is the next generation, but you can join
them because the #GenerazioneN embraces “N” concepts.
The entity “N” itself doesn’t have limits and evolves.
N can stand for:
N of Noi:
Noi siamo la nuova generazione
We are the next generation.
N of Nuovo
Nuove abitudini, nuove opportunità, nuove storie
New habits, opportunities/stories.
N of Niente più
Niente più limiti, confini.
No more limits, constraints.
N of Next
Next generation
Next generation

51. Real Bank
Real People
Real Stories
Nuova Banca
Nuova Generazione
Nuove Storie

52. Io faccio spazio hai miei sogni.
#GenerazioneN
#GenerazioneN
Il mio portafoglio
è nello smartphone.

53. The campaign will have #GenerazioneN as hashtag to
promote on social media.
Every slogan will state one trait at time of the Generation
N creating a direct connection with N26 products (for
example, here 👇 we refer to N26 Spaces)

54. Io faccio spazio
ai miei sogni
#GenerazioneN

55. Every statement will identify people from the Generation
N but not exclusively.
Everyone can feel to be part of the Generation if share the
same characteristics and habits.

56. Content Marketing
Display remarketing
YouTube 'pre-rolls' and True View
Facebook advertising
Offline advertising (billboards)
Blog
Facebook page
Twitter account
Instagram account
Youtube channel
Influencer outreach
Pay per click
Search engine optimization
Program sponsorship
Email
Press releases
Marketing Channels
Content
Advertising
Social
Search Mktg
PR
Email
TV

58. During the 3 months campaign, the social media editorial
calendar will focus on sharing stories from the
#GenerazioneN and on collecting new ones from N26
followers in order to leverage users generated content.
“Stories from #GenerazioneN” will be delivered as images,
videos and through blog posts.
Social

59. The heart of the campaign will be a contest hosted on
Facebook that will aim to boost customers acquisition.
It will start from the already mentioned assumption that
#GenerazioneN is not a matter of age but habits, and everyone
can be part of it.
Rules:
Having said that, users will be asked to bring his/her friends in
N26 and to mention them below our posts in order to enter the
competition.
The more friends invites, more chances he/her will have to be
extract as winner ( for every friends we will consider one more
entries for the user).
The competition will last 2 weeks and the reward is a 2 years of
Metal card for the winner.
Social

60. Apart from the competition, social media will be used
to promote N26 products and to explain them to users
in order to increase brand awareness and retention.
- the tone of the voice will be young and engaging.
- custom hashtags will be used for each post
- questions will be frequently in order to boost the
engagement.

61. Brand awareness KPIs
• Social media reach: number of shares the social content is getting
on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
• Brand mentions: number of times N26 is mentioned by customers,
influencers and other brands.
• Media mentions: number of mentions from press.
• Branded Search: number of people who are searching for N26 on
search engines
Content KPIs
• Unique visits: number of people who have viewed the N26 content
• Time on page: time spent on the blog article page.

62. PR
For the launch of the #GenerazioneN, a PR activity will be needed
in order to increase the campaign reach.
Active coverage: amount of coverage
Potential reach. Sum of viewership for publications and websites
in which N26 coverage is featured
Facebook Advertising
Different Facebook Campaigns will run in order to:
- boost some content and increase its reach
- promote contests on Facebook
- manage user acquisition.

63. Digitalizing all the traditional banking
processes and introducing new ones.
Time Plan

64. As far as I know, N26 as an internal design team dedicated
to the communication.
The #nobullshit campaign was an in-house campaign but I
guess that, now that N26 has established its presence in
many European countries and it’s leading the
communication in different languages, shared resources
need to be coordinated in the most efficient way to not
cause delays.
Also, in a fast growing company as N26, things change
continuously and I guess that the main challenge could be
keep myself on the same page and assure the Italian
communication is aligned to the global one.
Being flexible and stay focused on the goals would be my
motto in order to face changes and assure the
deliverability of my tasks.

65. END

66. Sources
• Mastering Digital Transformation
• N26 says it now has more than 2M customers
• Building the bank of the future with Monzo, N26, and Revolut
• Interview with Christian Hertlein — Head of Design at N26
• "Designing for Emotional Impact"
• 5 Years Ago Nobody Took Their Bank Seriously. Today This Fintech
Attracts 2,000 Customers a Day
• Mobile-first banking takes off in Ireland with 10,000 customers for N26
• Mastering Digital Transformation – Part 3 | Thinkergy
• N26: A bank suiting the needs of a digital native
• Build a Bank: N26 with Pat Kua
• Number26 Launches Its Bank Of The Future In 6 New Countries
• Well-Funded N26 Mobile First Banking App Headed From Europe To US
• N26: interview with Matteo Concas, General Manager Italy
• Tencent-backed mobile bank N26 launches in the UK and plans US
expansion by early 2019
• How Top Finance Brands Use Content Marketing to Win in a Customer-
Centric World
•