SUB CATEGORY :

INNOVATION IN LOCAL CULTURE APPLICATION

ENTRANT COMPANY :

MCCANN WORLDGROUP INDIA, MUMBAI

TITLE :

DABBA SAVINGS ACCOUNT

BRAND :

ESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK

ADVERTISER :

ESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK

AGENCY :

MCCANN WORLDGROUP INDIA, GURGAON

CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER :

JAVIER CAMPOPIANO/PRASOON JOSHI/ADRIAN BOTAN/
VALERIE MADON

EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR :

ASHISH CHAKRAVARTY/SAMBIT MOHANTY/SHARATH KUTTIKAT

CREATIVE DIRECTOR :

UNNIKRISHNAN R

ART DIRECTOR :

GOKUL M T

COPYWRITER :

BHARATH S KULKARNI/INÊS BARROS

CLIENT SERVICE DIRECTOR :

VISHAL AHLUWALIA

FILM PRODUCTION COMPANY :

VIRTUAL EYE FILMS, KOCHI

DIRECTOR :

VINOD A K

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR :

SUMESH CHANDRAN

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY :

PRAMOD A K

PHOTOGRAPHER :

RATHEESH R NAIR

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR :

VIPIN OSCAR

MUSIC DIRECTOR :

VIMALJITH VIJAYAN/DHANUSH HARIKUMAR

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY :

Rural Indian women didn’t find formal banking very feasible.
25% of them don’t have bank accounts. They save cash in a ‘Dabba’ (a steel rice canister) in their kitchens, believing it is auspicious. But their men take it away.

ESAF Bank catering to the marginalised, wanted to take banking to them.

Dabba Savings Account is an innovative banking system centred around their rural lives. We first re-created the rice Dabba with a hidden partition for cash. So the women could continue saving, safely.

Further, to get these micro savings to the safety of the bank,
we built a whole banking system for them in the village and around their rural lives.

Our female employees infiltrated their women-only gatherings in the village to distribute the new dabbas, open savings accounts, and accept their deposits regularly. We placed micro-ATMs at village rice shops, for easy withdrawals.

For the first time, rural women started formal banking. But we did not publicise any of it – for their privacy. ESAF Bank empowered these women by making them part of the banking system.

CREATIVITY/IDEA/INSIGHT :

Marginalised women in rural India are intimidated by the formal banking system. So they save their loose cash inside a ‘Dabba’
(a steel rice canister) in their kitchen, believing it is auspicious. But the men in their families take it away.

Introducing the Dabba Savings Account – the secret savings bank account in the kitchen. To make their saving tradition safer, we re-created the steel rice dabba to have a partition hidden in plain sight. While the top section continues to store rice, the hidden bottom section could safely store the women’s cash.

Further, we provided a Savings Bank Account for them. We also facilitated easy deposit and withdrawal systems that were a part of their daily rural lives. So they don’t have to forego their household chores, while spending a day traveling to the town, just to go to the bank.

STRATEGY :

While marginalised rural Indian women could definitely benefit from a bank account, it was clear that it needed to be kept a secret.

ESAF Bank, catering to the marginalised, aimed to bring these savings safely to the bank and make the women a part of the banking system.

We started by making their existing saving tradition safer, by re-designing the rice Dabba. And further created a whole banking system for them around their rural lives in the village.

We used traditions and spaces where the women felt safe or in control, as our touchpoints to integrate simple banking facilities. We identified their women-only village gatherings, to reach out to them and collect their deposits without the men knowing.
We also figured it is important to provide an easy withdrawal facility for them, which we placed at their frequented neighbourhood rice shops.

For the sake of their privacy, we wanted to keep the whole project a secret amongst the women.

EXECUTION :

We began by manufacturing rice Dabbas having an additional partition for cash, hidden in plain sight.

To distribute them, our female bank employees began attending the women’s monthly gatherings. We demonstrated how the new Dabba works and where they could hide their cash.
We distributed these Dabbas to them while opening ESAF Savings Accounts in their names.

The women continued their habit of saving, now with safety.
They brought these savings to the subsequent meetings, which we collected and deposited in their accounts.

For an easy withdrawal system in the neighbourhood, we tied up with rice shop owners to place our micro-ATMs having India’s unique biometric technology - Aadhaar. The women could authenticate with a fingerprint, and the shopkeepers handed them the cash.

We launched this project in eight of the under-served districts in Southern India as the first phase. However, we did not to do any advertising, publicity, or PR – so the women could keep it a secret amongst themselves.

RESULT :

Within the first few months, we managed to get 121,670 women to open accounts, secretly.

They started doing bank transactions for the first time, no longer fearing banking formalities.

The feedback we got was very encouraging. Thanks to their new Dabba, they felt their savings reached the bank safely. They were content in knowing that the money they saved for their children is now growing. All without visiting a bank. They felt empowered, no longer depending too much on their husbands.

ESAF Small Finance Bank is now enjoying an image of a very understanding and trusted partner to these rural women.