Sri Lanka’s most digitally–savvy bank HNB PLC recently took home the Gold Award for Best Search Engine Optimisation/Search Engine Marketing and the Silver for the Best Use of Experiential Digital Marketing at the SLIM DIGIs 2.2 Awards.
Hosted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the awards recognise the most innovative, impactful and unique marketing endeavours employing digital media in the country.
Commenting on the wins, HNB Head of Marketing, Upul Adikari said, “We have faced numerous unique challenges over the past three years as individuals and as a nation. Alongside these changes consumer behavior too has evolved dramatically, and we have had to take a step back to recalibrate, learn and understand this evolution in the digital sphere. Our strategy over the last year was to be in the right place with the right messages to fully leverage the organic traffic driven into our platforms and we are delighted to be recognized in these efforts at the SLIM DIGIs 2.2.”
The Gold award for Best SEO/SEM Campaign was presented for the Bank’s ‘Maximising Organic Traffic’ campaign. Under this category, HNB was adjudged on its ability to conduct comprehensive search campaigns encompassing elements of search engine optimisation and digital marketing.
The bank was also presented with a Silver Award for its innovative approach to experiential digital marketing, leveraging campaigns like the SOLO Experiential Drive with SOLO Pola and SOLO Podi Podi Business to raise awareness and engage customers with HNB’s digital innovations.
“Given the challenges that businesses face due to the ongoing economic crisis, we at HNB have worked tirelessly towards creating digital solutions backed new market places and supply chains by leveraging our extensive MSME portfolio. The SOLO Pola and SOLO Podi Podi Business are initiatives that help small businesses assimilate digital methods of cashless and contactless transactions with our assistance. We are delighted to have been recognized in our efforts to provide our MSME customers with hands on experience of the exclusive range of digital payment products from HNB,” HNB AGM Digital Business Chammika Weerasinghe said.
The campaigns prompted HNB’s customers to be active participants through sampling, hands-on product demos, immersive events, tours or online and offline activities. Moreover, the Bank successfully demonstrated how its customers interacted with its product or service via a sensory experience that made a lasting impression.
Last year, HNB and the nation’s leading e-commerce platform, ikman.lk, was presented with the Silver Award for Best Use of Data at the SLIM DIGIs 2.1 for their ground-breaking ‘Leasing Guru’ campaign.
Reiterating its commitment to innovation, HNB recently partnered with South Asia’s leading e-commerce platform Daraz to onboard the Bank’s extensive network of MSMEs. The bank also signed on as an Official Banking Partner for ‘Sri Lanka Internet Day 2022’, organised by The Digital Services Chapter of the Federation of Information Technology in Sri Lanka (FITIS).