Apart from the challenges posed by COVID, there were significant strategic developments at NCB during 2020. At a recent meeting with divisional managers, it had been noted that after four decades as a fixture in the Jamaican financial market, NCB had taken the bitter/sweet decision of discontinuing the issuance of its flag ship credit card, KeyCard.KeyCard was first introduced in 1981 at a time when no other credit cards were available to Jamaicans.

Naturally, Claudette Rodriquez, Senior Assistant General Manager, Payment Services Division. was reluctant in discontinuing the KeyCard" as she felt it was a true representation of NCB's legacy of innovation and ingenuity to serve itscustomers. She had proudly recalled how, over the years, KeyCard facilitated access to credit financing and provided attractive rewards such as the travel rewards programme designated Lovebird KeyCard. A percentage of KeyCard sales also funded the educational programmes of the N.C.B. Foundation.

Unfortunately, Keycard, despite being low priced, could only be used in Jamaica and this was a major disadvantage of the card. This glaring weakness was also a threat against the current marketing environment of increased push towards digitisation and the heightened desire of customers to shop internationally and online.

This trend has prompted the need for a card that can support international payment solutions. The major competitor, Bank of Nova Scotia offers both Visa and MasterCard international credit cards which are very competitively priced with some of their cards having the lowest fee and interest rates in the Jamaican credit card market.

Basically, Visa cards offer credit facilities to customers who pay for the service via monthly interest rate charges and repayment of balances used.Customers can easily get information on competing card offerings as well as get special treatment in terms of cash back, guarantees, and perks. Application for credit cards can be done in branch, via online or by Apps on smart phones. The cards are normally mailed or available for pick up in branches. Credit card balances can be paid online, via ABMs, phones and kiosks. The card also facilitates online shopping from overseas merchants such as Amazon and Walmart.

The initial roll-out of the new Visa cards was however a fiasco. In November 2020, advertisements were placed in the press and on electronic media such as radio and television, advising current key card holders of the changeover and instructed them to go to the branch to collect cards based on their surnames.

However, the COVID pandemic and its social distancing made the logistics difficult. At times, the issuance procedure was chaotic and slow, resulting in long lines with too many customers who at times were justifiably noisy and boisterous. Compounding the issue was the fact that some customers wanted their keycard balances which were in Jamaican dollars transferred to US dollars currency which required a different department and process steps.

With a constant slide in its operating profit and share value, the NCB Group is worried about its current cardholder base defecting to the competition because of the mismanagement of the rollout exercise.

Of course, this was of major concern to top management and many credit card service division staff were worrying about their jobs.Although the reasons for the poor rollout would be the responsibility of the card services division, the branch network, and the customers themselves were contributing factors to the unsuccessful exercise.

A few of the key players believed that the promotion campaign was not clear and did not properly communicated the objectives of the Visa card migration and or how to get the new card.

This was against the backdrop that NCB had run a $40,000,000 campaign for the month, November 2020 which should have seen both a smooth migration and a rise in card sales. Indeed, although card sales had increased by 15% to $550,000,000 for that month, however only $150,000,000 million sales were as a direct result of the advertising campaign.

Nevertheless, the Card Services manager was adamant that the Bank should have used self service technology to help with the migration and rollout of the replacement cards. She insisted that in Phase 2, customers should be directly contacted and advised when and how to expect their card.

Develop an appropriate advertisement campaign for the NCB Visa card migration. The advertisement should lead to behavioral change in the way the card distribution exercise is done. Your answer must include the communication objectives, primary target market audience for this campaign, media selection and show how the campaign will change the current behaviour.

Develop a media plan for the NCB Visa card migration exercise. Your response should show the scheduling as well as the placement strategies or techniques to be used for the first three (3) months of the campaign.