STRATEGIC PARTNERS
September 9, 2002
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- In an attempt to gain a greater share of the youth market and to recruit clients from a younger age, Standard Bank has formed a partnership with Warner Brothers to produce cartoon branded ATM and debit cards.
The new product, to be called (sum)1, will be aimed at people below the age of 24, a market that Standard Bank estimates to be in the region of 1.75 million people, according to an article in the Business Report. Standard Bank says it already has 360,000 such account holders.
Standard Bank is also offering a non-branded debit and ATM card.
Just over 50 percent of South Africa's population is younger than 18 years, though only 1 million people in the youth category are banked, leaving 40 percent of the market unbanked. Research showed that 87 percent of the people in the market opened bank accounts where their parents banked and that 67 percent of students continued to use brands with which they grew up.
The bank plans to spend 4.5 million rand (approximately $424,800 U.S.) on a marketing campaign to introduce the branded card.
