ASB Like Loan is the world’s first home loan campaign powered by ‘likes.’ The more ‘likes’ the home loan rate receives throughout the day via the Facebook app, the lower it went for one lucky winner.

The challenge was simple, activate ASB’s strong social media following to advocate for ASB’s home lending, differentiate ASB in a fiercely competitive home lending market, and deliver qualified leads for conversion.

The strategy, use crowd-sourcing and social sharing to entice our audience to engage with the campaign by helping lower a special home loan rate.

The success of the campaign relied purely on the social community’s ability to collaborate with their social networks to help drop the rate as much as possible throughout the day.

The core element of this social campaign is the countdown ticker that shows the rate dropping as people ‘like’ it.

An innovative solution allowed us to share the LIVE rate across multiple channels, including TV, radio, online and outdoor, so people could see the interest rate dropping with every ‘like’ in real time, creating a significant motivator to enter their details for a chance to win the final rate.

Each week, for a total of seven weeks, we announced our lucky winner to our social community and encouraged them to participate the following week.

The campaign created significant social effects reversing ASB’s sentiment on Facebook to be overwhelming positive, drove brand love and was haled both internationally and nationally.

While most brands on Facebook continuously compete for ‘likes’, they never seem to gain any actual real value. Especially for banks.

Like Loan successfully monetised Facebook from being a complementary service channel to a revenue generator by building a database of home leads for conversion.

This social campaign was specifically relevant for ASB as they had more Facebook fans than all of its competitor’s combined, plus a reputation for digital and social media innovation.

The groundswell of positive comments received, from existing and competitors’ customers, proved we genuinely connected with New Zealanders by actively helping them achieve home ownership.

From just 7 draws, Like Loan attracted 30,618 unique entries, 26,382 who have opted to give us their contact details. A staggering 86% conversion rate.

So far, this has generated over NZ$167 million in new lending and revenue of more than NZ$9.9 million net profit through interest gained on loans.

Our social reach covered the entire population, twice over.

ASB’s Facebook fan base increased by 46%.

One lucky winner took home the country’s lowest-ever home loan rate!

But most importantly, ASB achieved a world-first in the financial services industry: proving that a bank can monetise social media marketing activity.