Apart from having a very funny ad the Barclays Pingit app is
a genius piece of consumer focused innovation. Pingit allows you to transfer friends
money via their phone number. This is a genuinely desirable product that will
help Barclays acquire new customers. Operating in a notoriously difficult environment
(you are more likely to get divorced than change your bank account + everyone
hates banks) Barclays have made some very smart strategic decisions in the
conception and introduction of Pinigit. These decisions have helped transform it
from just being a branded app for existing customers to a powerful strategic
marketing tool which will help them steal market share. I believe Pingit will be a massive success
with longevity and here are three reasons why;
1. Barclays have started to build real value into their mobile
offering rather than just borrowing it from their existing online platforms.
They are now in a position to develop a really strong mobile community around
making banking easier in a similar way Nike+ has built a community around
helping runners train harder.
2. The strategic decision to make this product available
to all (regardless of whether you have a Barclays account) is very significant.
Everyone using the app will store small amounts of cash in a ‘Pingit Wallet’ in
effect becoming a mini Barclays customer. We are then already one step closer
to becoming fully blown Barclays customers and as they become known for making
banking easier by interacting with consumers in the mobile space, I would argue
the likelihood of making that last step will massively increase.
3. And finally the name Pingit is a neat strategic creative
execution for the product. By coining the phrase Pingit (as in “Can I have that
£20 you owe me?” – “Yeah I’ll ping it to
you now”) early on we will use it to describe that action going forwards (like
Hoover) regardless of whose technology we are using, thereby adding to the
brand value.
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