Conduct research and analyze the challenges and opportunities that the Agricultural Bank of China(ABC) faces. Map out a brand strategy for ABC and design multiple consumer touchpoints
to implement the strategy.
May - Aug 2020
Research, Brand Strategy, Concept Development, App Design
Sept - Dec 2020
Concept Refinement, Branch Design, Branding Video
Echo Zhan
Research + Strategy
Concept Design
Spatial Design
Vision Video
App Design
Xinyi Shao
Graphic Design
Logo Design
Poster Design
Concept Development
Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), also known as AgBank, is one of the "Big Four" banks in the People's Republic of China. ABC is known for its extensive branch network and its dedication to supporting "Sannong," which stands for agriculture, rural area, and farmer.
We now live in an economy where technologies such as Big Data, AI analytics, and cloud computing are widely applied.
Fierce Competition
Emerging fintech companies are introducing more and more innovative financial services, taking market share, and setting new expectations on financial services.
Big tech’s unfair advantage in data
Big Tech, such as Alibaba, has hoarded many data from their e-commerce and e-payment businesses. These data allow them to provide tailored finance product selection, to have more reference when issuing micro-loans.
Large adoption of FinTech services
FinTech services' adoption has moved steadily upward, from 16% in 2015 to 33% in 2017, to 64% in 2019. China has the highest consumer FinTech adoption rate of 87%.
Consumer's behavior and attitude towards choosing a brand are also changing.
Sustainable Consumptions
Concern about the environment is increasing worldwide. In response, they are increasingly ‘voting with their wallet’ and choosing brands whose values align with their own.
Scenario-based service
Consumers are also getting used to scenario-based services. They expect services to relate to their life more, to be put into context.
Personalization v.s. Data Privacy
Consumer's attitudes towards providing personal data in exchange for convenience and personalization are becoming more positive, especially after COVID-19.
Branches are no longer the only channel for consumers to get information and get things done. Especially for the younger generation, people prefer going online.
Retail banking faces disruption in three areas: e-payments, deposit-like funds, and consumer lending. Banks are losing to tech company's competitive edge of having customer data in their life to provide more personalized service.
People are 'voting with their wallet' and choosing brands whose values align with their own. One of the primary criteria is to evaluate the brands' dedication to sustainability development.
A banking app that helps people optimize their financial spending and planning.
With ABC pocket, transactions are not only labeled with price but also carbon footprint of the activity.
Fulfill ABC's social responsibility as a third-party authority figure to nudge consumers making responsible decisions when making purchases.
Puts pressure on other consumer brands to reduce their carbon footprint.
Help people to be aware of the impact of their purchases so that they are able to make educated decisions.
Provide channels for environment-concious user to contribute to the sustainability development.
Make responsible purchasing decisions.
For brands that are part of the ABC "New Price Tag" initiative, customers can see a detailed breakdown of the product's carbon footprint before making a purchase.
Customers will receive a certain amount of green seed in relation to the price and the carbon footprint after making a purchase.
Be aware of your daily impact on the environment
Customers can overview their impact on the environment based on products that they buy and their activities.
They can also choose to donate the accumulated green seeds from these activities.
Contribute to carbon offset projects
Customer can donate their seed to carbon offset projects sponsored by ABC and other brands.
They can also receive vouchers for doing so.
Money Bucket is a concept of putting money in different conceptual buckets and so that people can manage to use, save, or invest them accordingly.
Help ABC to portrait a more vivid image of their client, to understand their needs and aspiration so that ABC can provide personalized recommendations and design tailored finance product for its user.
The money bucket provides monetization opportunities for ABC to establish partnerships based on the scenario.
Help users plan and manage their assets based on their needs instead of forcing them to learn the rule of investment and adapt to it.
To ease the stress of a future full of uncertainty.
Dreams and purposes of each buckets
Customers would define each bucket with their dreams, goals, or perspective future scenarios. Each bucket has a unique set up as either a long term or short term.
More than money
While each bucket holds its dreams and goals in various categories, ABC would recommend relevant financial products and related information and opportunities to connect with people with similar aims.
An offline banking experience that focuses on providing expert financial advising and learning opportunities.
From Bank Teller to Financial Consultant
As the presencense of cash are vanishing and more and more jobs are getting done with self-service machine and on people’s phone.
We still want to preserve the human presence in a offline banking experience but to act as an expert who can give financial advices instead of just helping you get things done.
A series of campaign celebrating individual’s stories and how ABC plays a supporting role
along the way.