Mr Akhtar : Barclays Power kids , Empowerment at Grass-Root -

"When you enchant People, your goal is not to make money from them or to get them
to do what you want,but to fill them with great delight".This great delight is at boom when parents see their kids playing , having fun and engaging in something useful , completely in-lined with the latest brand launch of Barclays Power Kids. An immediate intimacy is created by the Barclays Power Kids for "kids" , but above all their parents, who get so involved and emotional when kids do something useful- like playing educational games.


Barclays Power Kids

Pakistan second biggest mutinational bank after ICBC has entered into the junior account segment with a positioning to strengthen their potential account holders' kids by allowing these kids to open an account linked with their parent's account.Thus , to open a Barclays Power Kids account the guardian needs to have an account too , this is called a linked product.The soft opening of Barclays Power Kids happened few weeks prior to the grand opening in Park towers on 22-23rd October 2011.
All pictures are available on BARCLAYS POWER KIDS PICTURES

The selection of the location and days raises few concerns regarding the taget audience Barclays Power kids is expecting to reach.Its known that the target market of Barclays are rich people. By rich I mean really rich. If Barclays Power kids was aiming for the kids of these people , was a weekend in park towers the right place strategy? On weekends park towers is filled with mostly SEC C and SEC D crowd. Was it an effective place strategy?Is my Perception wrong? What could have been alternative place strategy?Could they have created a new place?Could they have used the football ground at zamzama for a festive occasion?




Furthermore , the target market of Barclays Power kids can be assessed from their brochure. The artwork has a dog! There is no dog council in karachi from which I can see how many dogs have homes but its seen by many that this hobby is mostly picked by Sec A and Sec B.



Furthermore , the partners chosen by Barclays Power kids are Crocs(Clifton) , Zamzama united(DHA) ,Choco le lounge(DHA), XPark(Clifton) , Easy learning centre(Zamzama and Tariq Road) , Mothercare(Zamzama and Tariq Road) , Liberty book store( inside top hotels , loads in clofton , Merto , Hydery and Aghakan), Pie in the sky(3 in DHA , 1 in Gulshan) and Arena. Therefore , we can say that Barclays Power kids target market are living in DHA,Clifton and Gulshan.

To discuss the actual product strategy of Barclays Power kids , this product is more like a discount card for Kids. As kids can not operate this card financially(except at Debit card) ,the only use of this card is for availing discounts at the partners'outlets.Thus , one can view this as card with loads of gifts or a Discount card.

To compare the product and Branding(communication) in juxtaposition, there could have better engagement with kids , if Barclays Power Kids would have done something to actually allow kids perform financial transactions like :

(1)Collaborating with school cafeteria to accept Barclays Power kids Debit Cards

(2)Barclays Power Kids card holder could do a free signup with their mobile network and in return their networks would send them a complete colorful bill of their monthly record showing total number of sms and calls made with total prices.What's their most favorite number? Bunch of their favorite numbers? Investment made on a particular friend so far ?Projected Investment for next month on a bunch of their favorite friends/Numbers? This would allow them to be aware of their financial transactions and the financial value of their friends.Benefits for Networks : This bill would have many perks as it can be used by the network itself to recommend their packages and ads on those bills- direct selling(not direct marketing :P)

(3) Barclays Power kids can take this brand where it can live - to schools. To build this brand , Barclays Power kids can issue its cards to position holders bi-annually in prestigious schools. Of course , once cards are issued their parents have to open an account with Barclays. Result : These top students will act as Barclays Power kids Brand ambassadors.

Do you like my work and passion ? Share my CV with your HR for a marketing position or an internship :http://goo.gl/JSyd7 or contact me ati.arsalan@hotmail.com

After discussing the Segments, Targeting , Positioning and the Ps , Let's wait and see what Barclays Power kids has next for the kids.