At a glance
With a collective spending power of £2.1 billion, it’s surprising how often the 2.7 million Muslims in the UK are overlooked by mainstream brands. Nationwide is on a mission to embrace the diversity of modern British society and engage more meaningfully with Gen M (young British Muslims).
We helped Nationwide discover what drives this audience, understand the shared values that unite them, and helped develop a new proposition tailored to them.
The full story
In order to get closer to Gen M, we created a two-week, mobile lifelogging study. This fresh take on mobile ethnography produced unfiltered, in-the-moment insights into how their faith intersects with their lives. We also discovered that Gen M’ers are often uncomfortable with mainstream banks and financial products which don’t fit with their ethical aspirations.
We ran co-creation sessions with young Muslims, which allowed them to input into new product, service and communication ideas, and to identify, test and refine new product propositions.
We discovered a true meeting of hearts and minds in the shared values of Nationwide and Gen M – in particular, a shared desire to be a force for good in society. By reinforcing this purpose and focusing on shared values, we challenged the perception of Nationwide as a traditional brand for older people, and instead crystallised the opportunity for Nationwide to be the brand of choice amongst the Gen M audience.
The insight generated by our qualitative research fuelled the development of a new proposition aimed specifically at Gen M.
To validate the proposition quantitatively, we conducted an online survey with a nationally representative sample of UK adults and a sub-sample of British Muslims.
The research demonstrated that the proposition would resonate well with the target audience and was seen to reflect well on the Nationwide brand by the wider public. This gave Nationwide confidence to move forward with the proposition.
Finalists Virginia Valentine Award for Cultural Insights
MRS Awards 2018
