Social listening has helped TSB to develop more empathetic campaigns and boost trust in the banking brand’s, according to TSB’s outgoing CMO Pete Markey. 

“We built a campaign specifically to answer what we were being asked on social channels…You need to provide a drum beat of helpful empathetic communication. It’s really important to focus on messages that really matter to customers,” said Markey. 

Markey, who will join Boots as CMO next month, also said that the pandemic has prompted the brand to reconsider its paid media investment: “The paid media mix needed to change, OOH became less relevant, TV became increasingly important.

“We’re seeing a shift towards messaging with real people that addresses real problems and challenges. It’s less about the brand, less about the product and more about service…How are we here to help, how are we here to innovate?”, he added.

Markey was speaking alongside industry leaders including Sir Martin Sorrell, Patagonia EMEA Marketing Director Alex Weller and Boots CMO Kristof Neirynck.