Banks capture social distancing as marketing opportunity

A girl is asked about “credit cards” in a video on Shinhan Bank's YouTube channel / Captured from YouTube

By Kim Bo-eun

Banks are revamping their YouTube channels and offering diversified content as social distancing to contain the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing the time people spend online. This is seen as a means to reach out to a larger, mostly younger, audience to better promote themselves.

Shinhan Bank renewed its YouTube channel earlier this month, to offer short and easy, fun-to-watch content.

It is running a series where a bank employee explains economic terms to young children. In another, Shinhan is introducing restaurants that offer affordable but good meals near to its bank branches nationwide. A Shinhan official said this was part of efforts to support the self-employed, who are affected by social distancing.

Woori Bank has its official YouTube channel and another entertainment-purpose channel. On the latter channel, young bank employees talk about various topics such as, "Will artificial intelligence take over bankers' jobs?" On Instagram, Woori posted a web drama series set in its bank branches.

Web dramas are an increasingly popular means of brand promotion. Suhyup Bank posted a web drama on its YouTube channel last month, which outlines the gap between millennials and the older generation, in an office setting at the lender.

The Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) posted a series on its YouTube channel, which “investigates the disappearance of salaries” and offers advice on how young office workers can save up money for wedding expenses or how newlyweds can save up to buy a home.

On Hana Bank's YouTube channel are interviews with figures including Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee and financial product recommendation platform Finda's CEO Lee Hye-min.

Kookmin Bank has been posting a series on Instagram, which depicts the everyday life of office workers and addresses topics such as gaining weight as a worker in an office, or counting down the number of hours until work ends.

Lenders' focus on YouTube and social media platforms such as Instagram is seen as a means to appeal to millennials and Generation Z, who actively seek content on such platforms. Generation Z, born in the mid-to-late 1990s through the early 2010s, have “succeeded” millennials.

According to the Korea Information Society Development Institute, eight out of 10 millennials access social media and Generation Z spend the longest time on such platforms daily.

“We have been seeking to offer more entertaining content as young people spend a lot of time online, amid the coronavirus outbreak,” a bank official said. “The new videos are drawing an increasing number of viewers.”