This entire program was about unlocking insights on a hyper local level, and putting personalised data at the heart of the execution certainly drove significant engagement rates with the communication. The videos garnered engagement rates five times greater than previous Barclays emails sent to MPs, which featured only static PDFs. The emails themselves had a 60% click-through rate, and over 80% of those that clicked through watched the video.

We created consumer versions of the videos for each constituency and hosted them on YouTube, which also had some traction without any form of promotion. A specially created YouTube page, carrying different branding from the main Barclays channel for commercial reasons, has had over a thousand unique views to date.

The personalised videos for MPs have also had a galvanising effect on Barclays’ internal culture. Having seen their impact, more than 30 different areas of the business within Barclays are considering how they can deliver some form of personalised experience for their customers, as well as aligning their marketing strategies to truly put the customer front and centre.

As for the personalised MPs videos, Barclays will be updating the campaign following the 2015 General Election, so new MPs can begin benefiting from the data immediately, as well as developing desktop and Android versions of the app.

MPs are busy people with even busier inboxes. A simple email or a piece of direct mail launching the app would struggle to cut through. And even if a piece like those did catch an MP’s eye, would it really be able the telegraph the potential for truly meaningful change? Barclays knew a more engaging approach was needed – something that was not “business as usual.”

So Barclays developed a personalised video for each and every MP and his or her team, bringing to life a snapshot of the data they could unlock about their constituency by downloading the app. This was supported by a personalised email and website, each meaning to reinforce the very individualized and highly local nature of the programme.

The data and insights available through the app were put front and centre of the creative execution. Specific information from the local insights programme was used to tell a unique story about each MP’s constituency. An engaging narrative was woven seamlessly throughout. This left them wanting to download the app to know even more about what was happening in their local area.

Everything worked together to demonstrate the invaluable insights MPs can unlock from within their constituency, thanks to Barclays Local Insights data. It highlighted the unique nature of the data in the programme, the fact that it was uniquely valuable to the very people it came from, and that it was a bit of community good only Barclays could provide. It showed the bank’s commitment to giving something back to communities, supporting political decision makers on a cross-party basis, and building trust with all of their customers, wherever they may be.