How content marketing agency Switch helps one of the UAE's leading banks communicate more effectively with staff, stakeholders and customers. English version.

1. Case
Study
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank

2. Intelligence
Client:
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
Communication Tool: Excellency Magazine
Frequency: Quarterly
Objectives:
Wealth Management Sales /
Member Loyalty
Target Audience: B > C
Communication Tool:
Focus Magazine
Frequency: Quarterly
Objectives: Mass Affluent Sales / External
Loyalty / Acquisition / Engagement
Target Audience: B > C
Communication Tool:
Channel Newspaper
Frequency: Quarterly
Objectives: Internal Communications / Engagement
Target Audience: Internal
talktoswitch.com
~ 01 ~

3. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
pride themselves on staying
ahead of the curve.

4. Overview
Excellency magazine has a special place in our hearts. It was our first
magazine, and remains one of our flagship quarterly titles.
The story begins in 2005, when Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB)
decided to embark on the most aggressive sales and marketing
strategy of any Gulf bank in living memory. Its new CEO, Eirvin Knox,
empowered what had traditionally been an afterthought in regional
banking – its sales and marketing team – to create a vibrant, powerful,
and instantly recognisable re-brand that not only shook up the bank,
but became part of a much broader drive for new business.
Switch has been working with ADCB ever since then to drive that
new business by creating content that extends the bank’s brand
story across different audience segments – from the very top of
the tree to the very simplest account holder or new employee. Our
ability to create a coherent voice for an otherwise faceless institution,
understanding and distilling often highly complex relationships and
concepts into clear written prose – and then translating it into beautiful
Arabic – has become our forte.
talktoswitch.com
~ 02 ~

5. Reaching a
new generation.

6. The Challenge
ADCB recognised that the older generation of
wealthy Emirati account holders were not being
properly serviced, and that the new generation of
younger Emiratis and wealthy foreign residents were
not being attracted to the bank at all.
Enter the Excellency Wealth Management
programme, launched as a comprehensive wealth
management proposition. The bank tasked Switch
with creating a product, Excellency magazine, that
brought these offerings to life in a subtle manner, but
one that had to be intensely culturally sensitive.
This mattered because the bulk of ADCB’s audience
were conservative men in their 60s, 70s and 80s.
But at the same time, these men had sons and
daughters – an emergent new generation of wealthy
young Emiratis who were, perhaps, more worldlywise. We needed to create something that tweaked
their interest in modern financial management too,
but also something that indulged their desire to
spend the fruits of their fathers’ labours.
talktoswitch.com
~ 03 ~

7. Introducing a
world of luxury.

8. The Solution
Switch created a luxury quarterly
magazine, Excellency, that weaved
the bank’s Ultra High Net Worth
products and services into a mix of
in-depth articles on Middle Eastern
and international art, culture, couture,
travel and motoring – all of which appeal
directly to both groups. We developed
a ‘by hand’ distribution model with the
bank’s relationship management team,
further reinforcing the link between the
title and the services it subtly sold.
talktoswitch.com
~ 04 ~

9. A voyage of exclusivity.

10. The Result
The magazine has been a success with
Excellency customers from the word ‘go’.
It has helped add hundreds of clients
to the Excellency programme, and has
been a key tool with which ADCB has
managed change. In 2010, the bank used
a series of articles in Excellency to help
manage the customer-transition following
its purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland’s
regional UHNW ‘book’, adding another
5,000 clients to the Excellency programme
almost overnight.
Indeed the magazine represents solidity,
continuity, style and substance for both
those that receive it, and those that use it
to sell, assisting the bank in its four year
winning streak as ‘Best Retail Bank in the
UAE’ at the annual Asian Banker awards
as well as a series of further awards for
‘Best Bank’ at the Banker Middle East
Industry Awards.
talktoswitch.com
~ 05 ~

11. The butterfly effect.

12. The Law of Intended Consequences
Such was the success of Excellency
magazine that in late 2009 ADCB’s marketing
and business development teams suggested
that Switch might wish to broaden out the
publishing model to fit other demographics
for the bank.
Focus magazine was the result. Aimed
squarely at the ‘Mass Affluent Segment’
– defined as those earning approximately
$8,000 a month or more; both current
customers and prospects – the new title was
scripted to be a much more aggressive sales
and acquisition platform cast out to a large
and culturally diverse clientele.
talktoswitch.com
~ 07 ~

13. Relationships are built on
trust and understanding.

14. The Solution
Launched in early 2010, Focus took a different approach to most
print communications of its time. Instead of marketing bank products,
it worked on what customers could do through their relationship
with the bank. From travel (booked through ADCB’s travel scheme,
naturally), motoring (a mid-range car loan is available straight away),
fashion (with loyalty scheme partners happy to help) to education (for
savings plans, just dial this number), the content drew the audience
into a fully supportive financial world where anything, with the right
resources and bank relationships in place, was possible.
talktoswitch.com
~ 08 ~

15. A publication full
of opportunities.

16. The Result
n 0,000
3
copies of the free-to-customer Focus have flooded
ADCB’s 50-plus branches across the United Arab Emirates
each quarter, often ‘selling out’ in a matter of days
n DCB
A
reports a major uplift in relevant lifestyle loan and
investment sales
n uch
S
was the success of the printed edition, Focus’ content
has been made available to an even wider audience though
an online version hosted on the bank’s website since 2012
n n
I
December 2012, Focus was integral to ADCB’s winning
poll position in the KW Digital Webranking survey as ‘the
top listed company in UAE’ for ‘Success in Digital Investor
Relations’. A second award recognised ADCB’s ‘commitment
to digital investor relations and advanced corporate online
communications at a regional level’, ranking it first in the
Middle East from a list of 138 of the most prominent listed
companies in the Middle East and North Africa
n he
T
successful migration of Focus to the online environment
proved a case in point for Switch. We have since built in
cross-platform appeal to most of our publications
talktoswitch.com
~ 09 ~

17. A happy workplace.

18. Inside, Outside
In 2011, ADCB turned its attention
to internal communications. Given
Switch’s experience in community
building through contracts with large
government entities in the region, we
suggested we take their current, lowimpact staff booklet and turn it into
a printed internal newspaper, aimed
directly at the more than 5,000 ADCB
staff across the Emirates.
The Solution
The paper provided space for
everything from explanations of
complex new bank strategies to what
an employee does in their spare time.
This helped strengthen the feeling of
community within the bank, making
employees better informed and better
engaged with its core values.
talktoswitch.com
switch.ae
~ 10 ~

19. Full throttle.

20. The Result
ADCB has a single, living, breathing content marketing strategy
that covers each one of its audiences. From UHNW individuals
it seeks to maintain and develop the account of, to the young
people serving customers and protecting the bank as security
guards, ADCB has a channel of communication that is directly
relevant to them. As bank communications evolve, Switch is
helping it shift these channels into digital.
talktoswitch.com
~ 11 ~

21. Gold standard.

22. Testimonial
Helpful, innovative and full of new ideas,
Switch offers consistently good service
through their team of outstanding
writers, editors and designers. Having
worked closely with the company for
seven years, I am amazed by the depth
and breadth of their expertise from
producing high-end luxury publications
to cutting-edge digital solutions. I
highly doubt there is a better content
publisher in the Middle East.
Prameela Nair
Head - Marketing Services
Marketing Services Department
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank
talktoswitch.com
~ 13 ~

24. In Numbers

25. 8 year partnership
3 publications
Super luxury
Mass market
Internal
Ultra luxury,
high net worth
print magazine
Mass affluent
digital magazine
Internal
newspaper
US$1 million
average reader
net worth
+
10,000
readership
= US$10,000,000,000
net worth of readership

26. Always talking about you.
If you want your customers in Asia
and the Middle East to talk about you,
you need to talk to us.
talktoswitch.com
Switch Limited
Switch Communications
Switch Limited
1103A, Business Central Towers
Dubai Media City
PO Box 24173
Dubai, UAE
48b Amoy Street
Singapore, 069874
Al Fardan Office Tower
Office 950, 9th Floor
Al Funduq 61
PO Box 31316
Doha, Qatar
Office: +971 4435 5711
Mobile: +971 55711 8499
Email: charlie@switch.ae
Office: +65 6438 1998
Mobile: +65 9005 4753
Email: owen@switchsg.sg
Direct: +974 4410 1719
Mobile: +974 7786 3136
Email: ridwaan@switch.qa