Storytelling @ Deutsche Bank

The German bank is aware of the vital role digital communication plays in the modern economy. It came up with a new format to create engaging quality content.

Digital communication is an integral part of corporate communications, both strategically and operationally. By making it a central focus, we can achieve predefined communications objectives, while at the operational level, it is important to align content to channels and use company-wide communications platforms.

As a result of this focus on digital communications, Deutsche Bank developed clear guidelines for digital communication activities, based on four principles: first, digital communication has to support the company’s reputation; second, it should help to give the brand a “positive charge”; third, it should intensify the dialogue with stakeholders; and last, it must support operating business divisions by communicating with current clients and targeting potential clients.

We now apply these criteria not only to digital content itself, but also to the distribution channels we use.

Content and content marketing are about more than just producing digital formats for channels, however. They are about being relevant, owning topics, and becoming the “go-to” source for our stakeholders. This means we have to create quality content that is interesting for our audiences.

The result is our new format #EconomyStories. When we created this, our objective was to develop a new storytelling format, which would transform relevant topics into shareable, or “liquid”, content, which could reach a wider audience online and demonstrate Deutsche Bank’s expertise.

Relevance is key and forms the basis of our content strategy, which is why we began by asking our stakeholders—private and business clients, journalists, and so on—which subjects they find most relevant. Topping the list were finance and the economy—both subjects our stakeholders find interesting and also expect Deutsche Bank to explore. We took these findings and launched our new storytelling format, #EconomyStories, at the end of 2015, with regular content added since.

The format showcases people from the world of business, science, and society and focuses on important issues that are changing society. These issues include digitalisation, globalisation, the post-industrial revolution, the on-demand society, and what urbanisation means for infrastructure.

By regularly publishing relevant content, and as the creator and enabler of the storytelling format #EconomyStories, Deutsche Bank has been able to present itself as a driver of modern economy.

The films average 2.30 minutes in length, with some shorter and longer formats, appearing initially on the Deutsche Bank YouTube channel and distributed via social networks, such as Twitter, with key quotes, images, and links.

We’ve seen some good results, reaching around 1 million people on YouTube so far, across different regions and age ranges. On Twitter and Facebook our combined reach totals 1.8 million people.

Compared to other content on Deutsche Bank’s social media channels, #EconomyStories outperforms in reach, views, and engagement. The younger target group of digital natives has responded particularly well to the format, driven by bloggers spreading the word.

The new format has also encouraged valuable online debate and conversation on social media sites around topics relevant to Deutsche Bank, helping to contribute to our online agenda setting goals. Not least for this reason, #EconomyStories will remain a key component of Deutsche Bank’s digital communication strategy going forward.