Case Studies

The Client

Awarded numerous times as the “Best Retail Bank” in India, HDFC Bank Limited, incorporated in the year 1994, has created a niche for itself in the private banking sector. Providing customer convenience is a priority for the bank that is focused with a singular ambition, to achieve its mission of being a "World-class Indian Bank" with product quality and service excellence.

Keeping on the good work, the bank introduced HDFC Bank Meritus Scholarships - A national level scholarship program for school children between fourth to ninth grades. The core target audience of HDFC Bank Meritus Scholarships- the parents, were estimated to be in the age-group of thirty upwards.

The Brief

HDFC Bank Meritus Scholarships was designed by HDFC Bank to engage prospective customers through an interactive contest for children. Specifically outlining its target audience, the bank needed to generate and simultaneously map database of working professionals - age group 30 upwards with children studying between grades fourth to ninth. A quiz, for children, was to be designed that engaged them and also judged their intelligence and aptitude simultaneously.

The Approach

Designing a quiz and its integration were secondary issues that were to be addressed, the primary concern being information collection of users and generating a database for the bank in a cohesive format. Starting from scratch, HGS Interactive, proposed a step-by-step approach wherein, on one hand the contest and relevant content was generated and showcased on the HDFC Bank website and integrated with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platform. A uniform registration process across online and off-line platform ensured sanctity of data.

The Solution

• HGS Interactive devised a scholarship program online which was timer based and served questions intelligently.
• The application was tightly coupled with the IVR scholarship program, so that students could complete one test on the IVR and the next one online.
• There were three rounds in the scholarship program. While the initial two rounds were available online, the final round was integrated in the HDFC Bank intranet and students visited their nearest branch to appear for the test.

The Result

The registration process helped HDFC Bank to get a huge data base of approximately 70,000 registrations. The Meritus contest was a huge success in terms of lead generation. Over 5,000 winners were to be decided based on the final round scores, extra-curricular achievements and academics. The winners were decided by an independent panel of qualified judges. A scholarship amount ranging from INR 2,500 to INR 1,000,000 was awarded to the winners. Every participant who had participated (taken an IVR test - Telephonic Test) irrespective of winning a scholarship received certificate based on the level crossed. The biggest achievement was that 70% of registrations for the contest were made online and a mere 30% happened off-line.