Cross-media campaign helps Rabobank achieve huge increase in consideration and preference

Rabobank pays tribute to entrepreneurs who demonstrate that they make each other stronger on the basis of cooperation, innovation or sustainability. To strengthen this ode, DPG Media (in collaboration with media agency PHD) developed the impactful cross-media campaign 'Sterke Schakels'. Wondering how the campaign contributed to a higher consideration and preference for Rabobank? Read on quickly!

The Netherlands as an entrepreneurial country

Our country has more than two million companies. The Netherlands is therefore a true entrepreneurial country. For entrepreneurs, working together with suppliers, colleagues and customers is crucial: a successful business benefits from strong collaborations. This creates a chain of different companies that help each other achieve sustainable growth.

Rabobank as thought leader

The campaign aimed to position Rabobank as a thought leader in collaboration, sustainable growth and strengthen the association 'the bank with a cooperative mindset'. Besides attitude, the central aim was to increase consideration and preference for Rabobank and achieve high reach within the business target group.

Sterke Schakels

This led to the concept of 'Sterke Schakels'. At the heart of this campaign was De Ondernemer, DPG Media's business platform and authority on SMEs. To highlight the entrepreneurial stories, a rich cross-media campaign was deployed using branded content, videos, its own online content platform, print publications, podcast and a national election, among others.

Did you know that Thijs van der Zande also discusses Rabobank's case in this video? In the video, Thijs shows how advertisers find their added value.

Video series 

Central to the campaign is a video series in which Naomi van As and Ellen Hoog visit three entrepreneurs (the links) who together form a successful chain. Naomi and Ellen are starting entrepreneurs themselves and know exactly how important it is to work together from their sporting past. The videos share inspiring success stories that showcase the power of strong chains. To give the cooperative and locally positioned Rabobank a national reach, it was decided to use example chains from various regions. The content forms and distribution channels were also specifically designed with this in mind.

Besides broadcasting, Rabobank also wanted to interact with the target group. For this reason, an engagement strategy was implemented with the election "De Sterke Schakel van Nederland" (The Strong Link of the Netherlands) for which entrepreneurs could register themselves. Initially intended as a physical event, but influenced by Corona, it was ultimately decided to run an online election campaign.

Strong media results

The campaign shows very strong media results, in line with the previously set KPIs: the cross-media campaign ultimately reached 77.9% of the business target group in the Netherlands (index 111 compared to the set KPI). Engagement with the content is also high and clearly shows the power of the branded content deployment: high CTR of 0.42% on average, high time-on-site of 2.32 minutes and an overscore on landings and quality views.

Rise on consideration and preference

Independent research by DVJ Insights also shows a strong effect among the exposed group (the people who came into contact with the campaign): 9 percentage points increase on consideration and preference for the Rabobank brand almost doubled.
The image effects show that the campaign was able to contribute to strengthening the association between Rabobank and the brand values. For instance, the group exposed to the campaign sees a stronger association with 'Rabobank has a positive impact on society', 'Rabobank helps entrepreneurs' and 'Rabobank thinks along with entrepreneurs'. In addition, an increase can be seen on (positive) attitudes towards Rabobank.

Joining forces

All in all, a cross-media collaboration to be very proud of with excellent results!