Fun in Every Chew, Bursting with Flavour – Irresistibly Chewy
Brand
KUN Jelly
Success Story
Novaon Digital partnered with KUN to turn its jelly’s chewy, springy, and wobbly texture into a creative language of music, expressions, and playful dance movements. The campaign overview reported 109 million views, achieving 117% of plan, and approximately 391,000 engagements. The content connected children’s enjoyment with mothers’ reasons for choosing the product.
Background & Objectives
Jelly-category communication largely focused on sales, reviews, and always-on content, leaving room for a distinctive emotional territory for children. KUN needed to stand out through a playful product experience that was memorable and easy to imitate. The campaign addressed two audiences: children aged 6–11 who enjoyed flavour, colour, and games, and mothers who considered ingredients, safety, and convenience.
Brand Experience Implementations
Under “Wacky-Wiggly Stickman”, the campaign translated the jelly-eating experience into playful expressions and movements. An iTVC introduced KUN’s jelly world, while a signature jingle and dance created consistent memory cues. Always-on content combined product attributes with joyful KUN moments, and KOLs/KOCs brought the experience into everyday family life. A social contest encouraged mothers to capture, name, and share their children’s expressions while enjoying the product.
Campaign Objectives
-Increase awareness of KUN Jelly and the campaign message.
-Showcase fruity flavours and the chewy, springy texture.
-Build children’s affinity through music, characters, and games.
-Strengthen mothers’ reasons to choose KUN through product information and family moments.
-Encourage reviews, comments, minigame participation, and content sharing.
Novaon Digital’s Scope of Work
-Creative Direction: Expressed product enjoyment through a jingle, playful expressions, and signature dance movements.
-iTVC: Introduced KUN’s jelly world, connecting animated characters with the product experience.
-Always-on Content: Product-focused and emotional content pillars tailored to children and mothers.
-Social Outreach: KOL/KOC reviews, mother-and-child content, child creators, and fun challenges.
Novaon Digital partnered with SUNHOUSE to create a Tết campaign centred on the kitchen as an emotional touchpoint, connecting a music video, KOLs/KOCs, social content, and cross-platform media. The campaign recorded over 31.18 million impressions, 11.28 million reach, 8.76 million video views, and 4.31 million post engagements, amplifying “Bật Chất Tết Việt”.
Background & Objectives
As familiar Tết reunion narratives became saturated, the pressures of cooking and holiday preparation offered a more relatable angle for modern families. SUNHOUSE needed to elevate its image to international standards while retaining its Vietnamese identity. The campaign aimed to strengthen emotional connections and demonstrate how home appliances support a healthier, more convenient, and relaxed Tet.
Brand Experience Implementations
“Bật Chất Tết Việt” presented Tet preparation as a chess game, with SUNHOUSE appliances as the winning piece that helps families overcome holiday pressures. A central music video integrated products through entertaining music and storytelling. KOLs/KOCs, communities, challenges, and OOH extended the concept, while media connected audiences across Teasing, Booming, and Sustain phases.
Campaign Objectives
-Reinforce international standards alongside a proud Vietnamese identity.
-Strengthen emotional connections with Vietnamese families during Tết.
-Associate products with health, convenience, and durability.
-Amplify the campaign message and encourage engagement across touchpoints.
Novaon Digital’s Scope of Work
-Creative Strategy: Big idea, chess-game concept, key message, and key visual.
-TVC/MV & Social Content: Music video, teasers, cutdowns, the “SUNHOUSE gõ cửa trao tiện dụng” series, and phase-specific content.
-KOL/KOC & Seeding: Role-based deployment of macro influencers, micro influencers, and groups/pages.
-Engagement & Visibility: Challenges, CapCut templates, and OOH.
-Media Strategy: Cross-platform advertising, retargeting across campaign phases, and lookalike audience expansion.
Novaon Digital partnered with Omoda & Jaecoo to build a TikTok content and livestream ecosystem connecting trust-building with business conversion. The case study reports an increase in Share of Voice from 2% to 54.8%, over 188 million earned views, and 94% positive sentiment. TikTok activities generated over 375 qualified leads, contributed 10% of total vehicle sales in 2025, and delivered a marketing ROI of 4.5x.
Background & Objectives
Entering a competitive SUV market with just 2% Share of Voice, Omoda & Jaecoo needed to address scepticism about the quality, durability, after-sales support, and long-term commitment of a Chinese automotive brand. The challenge was to grow visibility, establish credible proof, and turn social interest into consultations, test-drive registrations, and vehicle purchases.
Brand Experience Implementations
The campaign positioned TikTok Livestream at the intersection of branding and conversion, building trust through leadership authority, product evidence, and real interaction. Always-on content featuring executives, KOLs, customers, and dealers enabled audiences to listen, ask questions, and assess the brand’s claims. CTAs, lead forms, and retargeting then guided interested users towards consultations and test drives.
Campaign Objectives
-Increase Omoda & Jaecoo’s awareness and Share of Voice in Vietnam.
-Address consumer concerns and gradually reduce brand scepticism.
-Build social proof and grow positive conversations.
-Collect first-party data, generate qualified leads, and encourage test drives.
-Connect social activities with vehicle sales.
Novaon Digital’s Scope of Work
-Social Teasing & New Media: Short-form content revealing design, technology, comfort, and driving experiences.
-Leadership Communication: Executive livestreams, live Q&A, and executive personal-branding content.
-KOL & Event Amplification: Content featuring Xuân Son and Bảo Ngọc, alongside amplification of brand activities.
-Evidence-based Content: Vehicle experiences, handovers, dealer networks, and test-drive programmes.
-Performance Activation: Connected livestreams with CTAs, lead forms, retargeting, and consultation and test-drive registration journeys.
Novaon Digital partnered with Subaru to launch the sixth-generation Forester, combining brand repositioning, tailored content, and real driving experiences to drive conversion. The campaign generated 88 bookings from 289 leads, achieved 126% of the booking target and 148% of the test-drive registration KPI, and reached over 7 million people on social media.
Background & Objectives
In an SUV market competing heavily on price, design, and technology, Subaru needed to broaden Forester’s appeal amid limited brand awareness and a price increase. The campaign aimed to position Forester as a premium, modern Japanese SUV for urban families while preserving the driving qualities that had built Subaru’s loyal customer base.
Brand Experience Implementations
The campaign developed two content journeys: loyal customers were engaged through Boxer, S-AWD, and driving performance, while new customers were approached through design, comfort, and family safety. Both journeys converged at livestreams, showrooms, and test drives. A Media Road Trip involving 46 automotive journalists and experts, alongside SATD activities, turned technical strengths into tangible product experiences.
Campaign Objectives
– Reposition Forester as a premium, modern SUV for urban living.
– Engage loyal customers and attract new audiences.
– Demonstrate product value through reviews and real driving experiences.
– Generate qualified leads, test-drive registrations, and bookings.
Novaon Digital’s Scope of Work
– Strategy & Content: Dual-audience strategy across Teaser, Launch, and Sustenance phases.
– Creative Production: Teaser videos, two audience-specific TVCs, and a launch livestream.
– PR & Experience: Sa Pa Media Road Trip, PR, reviews, community seeding, and SATD.
– Digital Media: Facebook and Zalo Lead Ads, retargeting, and A/B testing.
– Lead Management: Onlead integration with Subaru’s CRM, lead routing, and optimisation using customer service feedback.
Novaon Digital partnered with WorldFirst to create Golden Ember, an appreciation night that translated trust, connection, and long-term partnership into a cohesive brand experience. The event welcomed over 120 customers, received positive feedback, and inspired sharing on personal social channels, helping strengthen customer and partner relationships ahead of 2026.
Context & Objectives
As product and technology differences among international payment platforms narrowed, trust and relationship quality became increasingly important to business customers. WorldFirst needed an appreciation night that recognised the contributions of customers, partners, and employees while reinforcing its image as a professional, transparent global financial brand committed to long-term partnership.
Brand Experience Implementations
Novaon Digital developed “Golden Ember”, using enduring embers to symbolise the contributions of customers, partners, and employees. Art Deco and The Great Gatsby inspirations, paired with black, red, and gold, created a consistent visual identity across touchpoints. The Raise – Praise – Amaze journey guided guests through welcoming, recognition, networking, and entertainment, connecting 2025 achievements with a shared commitment to 2026.
Campaign Objectives
– Recognise and appreciate the contributions of customers, partners, and employees.
– Strengthen connections, trust, and long-term loyalty.
– Reinforce WorldFirst’s professional, reliable brand image and commitment to businesses.
– Build a foundation for collaboration and growth opportunities in 2026.
Novaon Digital’s Scope of Work
– Creative Concept & Visual Identity: Developed Golden Ember, the key visual, and consistent designs for invitations, photowalls, stage, and décor.
– Guest Experience: Video invitations, red carpet, welcome drinks, lapel pins, and 360 Glam Cam.
– Recognition & Key Moment: 2025 recap video, WorldFirst Awards, a Broadway performance featuring an LED Sphere, and a ceremonial toast.
– Entertainment & Engagement: Gala dinner, Jazz, Lucky Draw, Golden Ball Roll, The Best Outfit, and networking.
– Event Operations: Coordinated delivery within 2–3 weeks, optimised the budget, and prioritised key experience touchpoints.
Consumers expect more than fast transactions. They increasingly seek relevant, secure, and meaningful experiences that deliver tangible value. Against this backdrop, Brand Experience has emerged as a strategic approach that enables financial brands to engage customers at key moments, strengthen trust, and become their preferred choice. As consumer behaviors evolve and experience-driven strategies gain momentum, how can Bank & Finance brands leverage Brand Experience to build a competitive advantage during the festive season?
I. MARKET LANDSCAPE AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
In 2026, Vietnam’s consumer market maintains its growth momentum, alongside the rapid expansion of digital financial services.
1. Bank & Finance Market Overview 2026
Vietnam’s consumer market continued to grow in 2026, alongside the expansion of digital financial services. According to the National Statistics Office’s October 2026 report, total retail sales of consumer goods and services reached VND 5,925.7 trillion in the first nine months of 2026, an increase of 13.4% year over year.
In the payments sector, according to a July 2026 article published by Thanh Tra Newspaper citing the State Bank of Vietnam, the number of cashless transactions increased by 34.77% in the first five months of 2026, reflecting the growing adoption of digital payment methods. In particular, the 2026 year-end festive season and Lunar New Year 2027 are expected to generate substantial demand for shopping, travel, money transfers, and budget management. This creates opportunities for financial brands to engage consumers throughout their everyday activities, rather than only when they actively seek banking products.
2. Shifts in Festive Season Spending Behavior
According to Ipsos’ Tet 2026 in Vietnam: Festive Hearts, Sharper Carts, which surveyed 500 consumers across four major cities: 84% spent the same amount or more during Tet 2026 compared with the previous year, 53% completed most of their Tet shopping within one to two weeks before the holiday, 62% chose to spend the holiday at home with their families. These findings suggest that consumers continue to prioritize meaningful spending while becoming more selective about value and purchase timing.
Meanwhile, Visa’s January 2026 report found that 52% of surveyed Vietnamese consumers expressed concerns about fraud, scams, or transferring money to the wrong recipient. This highlights the need for convenience to be accompanied by transparency and greater control over transactions. Based on these findings, three key consumer needs emerge: Planned Spending – Convenient Payments – Secure Financial Management These needs provide a foundation for Bank & Finance brands to design experiences relevant to different moments throughout the festive season.
3. The Brand Competition Challenge in Bank & Finance
According to the Accenture Banking Consumer Study 2025, which surveyed 49,300 customers across 39 countries, 73% use services from multiple banks, while 58% purchased a financial product from a new provider within the previous 12 months. Meanwhile, the Brand Finance Banking 500 Journal 2026 highlights the growth of digital banks while reaffirming the importance of trust in major financial decisions.
As consumers gain access to more financial service providers and promotional offers become increasingly similar, the challenge for brands extends beyond driving transactions. The priority is to give customers compelling reasons to trust the brand, choose it over competitors, and continue using its services.
II. BRAND EXPERIENCE: A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO DIFFERENTIATION DURING THE FESTIVE SEASON
Brand Experience shifts the focus from promoting offers to personalizing experiences, addressing customer needs and strengthening engagement.
1. The Role of Brand Experience in Bank & Finance
In the financial sector, brand experience is shaped by multiple touchpoints, including marketing communications, in-app interactions, product usage, financial consultation, and post-transaction customer service. Therefore, a campaign that successfully captures attention is not necessarily enough to establish long-term customer relationships.
Brand Experience shifts the focus from communicating product features and promotional offers to designing experiences around customer needs. This approach enables brands to engage consumers at relevant moments, deliver tangible value, and maintain meaningful connections throughout the customer journey.
2. Three Key Brand Experience Strategies for the 2026 Year-End Festive Season
2.1. Moment-based Brand Experience: Engaging Consumers at Key Spending Moments
Rather than promoting a single product throughout the festive season, financial brands need to identify the moments when customers genuinely experience financial needs. The customer journey can be divided into five stages: Planning – Shopping – Payment – Expense Management – Savings. Each stage requires a different approach.
Before Lunar New Year, customers may focus on budgeting, selecting promotional offers, or booking travel. During the peak festive period, priorities may shift toward convenient payments and maximizing card benefits. After the holiday, expense tracking and setting new savings goals become more relevant. Banks can therefore develop budgeting content, needs-based promotions, interactive tools, and partnerships with retail and travel businesses.
For example, a festive credit card campaign could engage customers through Tet travel planning content, combining destination recommendations with card benefits and payment offers. Rather than simply promoting financial features, the brand becomes part of the customer’s travel preparation journey.
By focusing on meaningful spending moments, brands can improve message relevance, encourage more natural interactions, and increase their likelihood of being chosen when financial needs arise.
2.2. Trust-centric Brand Experience: Building Experiences Around Trust
In Bank & Finance, trust is established not only through a reputable brand image but also through how customers receive information, complete transactions, and access support. The Brand Finance Banking 500 Journal 2026 emphasizes that while technology and AI improve efficiency, human interaction remains essential in complex financial decisions.
This creates a need to balance digital convenience with trustworthy customer experiences. During the festive season, brands can develop trust-centered experiences across three stages:
Before the transaction: Communicate benefits, promotional terms, and financial safety guidance transparently.
During the transaction: Help customers use services conveniently while clearly understanding each step and transaction status.
After the transaction: Provide educational content, accessible support channels, and expense-tracking tools.
For example, a campaign could use Interactive Content or experiential activations to simulate common financial scams, allowing participants to identify risks and practice appropriate responses. By improving the quality of support throughout the transaction journey, brands move beyond communicating trustworthiness toward creating experiences through which customers can evaluate that trust for themselves.
This approach can contribute to stronger long-term customer relationships.
2.3. Connected Omnichannel Experience: Creating a Seamless Journey Across Touchpoints
Financial customers often interact with brands across multiple channels. A customer might discover a promotional offer on social media, explore product details on a website, participate in an activation, and eventually apply for a product through mobile banking.
When these channels operate independently, the customer experience can become fragmented. Connected Omnichannel Experience addresses this challenge by integrating touchpoints into a unified customer journey: Media & Social – Interactive Content & Activation – Website & Mobile App – Conversion – CRM.
For example, a bank launching a Tet credit card campaign could begin with social media content focused on festive shopping plans. Interested customers could then be directed to an interactive experience highlighting card benefits before proceeding to the bank’s app to submit an application. The journey would continue with card usage guidance, promotional updates, and post-registration customer engagement.
To improve effectiveness, brands can use legally collected interaction data to segment audiences, personalize content, and measure performance across touchpoints. By supporting customers throughout the journey of identifying needs, researching options, making decisions, and completing payments, financial brands can go beyond expanding media reach. They can connect experiences with meaningful actions, reduce friction, and strengthen customer relationships beyond the campaign period.
3. From Brand Experience to Brand Growth
The three strategies are not independent. They complement one another: Moment-based Experience drives relevance – Trust-centric Experience strengthens trust – Connected Omnichannel Experience connects the journey and encourages action.
Brand Experience not only creates engagement but can also contribute to customer preference, loyalty, and business performance. According to Forrester (2025), companies that improve both Brand Experience and Customer Experience can achieve revenue growth rates up to 3.5 times higher. Within the banking industry, Accenture (2025) found that banks with the highest levels of customer advocacy achieved revenue growth 1.7 times faster.
These findings highlight the importance of connecting customer experience with the broader brand journey: Brand Awareness – Brand Consideration – Brand Preference – Customer Loyalty. Rather than focusing solely on reach and engagement, brands should evaluate how experience contributes to customer relationships and long-term business outcomes.
III. CASE STUDIES: BRAND EXPERIENCE IN BANK & FINANCE
During the festive season, financial brands compete not only through promotional offers and payment convenience but also by becoming part of meaningful moments in customers’ lives.
From Lunar New Year gifting traditions and safer Christmas shopping to personalized rewards journeys, the following three campaigns demonstrate different approaches to Brand Experience: Moment-based Brand Experience, Trust-centric Brand Experience, and Connected Omnichannel Experience.
Case 1. Dah Sing Bank – Voice Laisee 2026: Personalizing Lunar New Year Gifting
Dah Sing Bank enhances digital red envelopes with personalized voice greetings, creating a more meaningful and engaging gifting experience. Source: On-us
Giving lucky money is a cherished Lunar New Year tradition, closely associated with good wishes, prosperity, and family connections. However, as digital red packets become increasingly common, the experience risks becoming a simple money transfer, losing some of the warmth associated with traditional gifting.
For Dah Sing Bank, the challenge was to integrate a familiar cultural tradition into digital banking while encouraging customers to engage more frequently with its mobile app. Rather than merely digitizing red packets, Dah Sing Bank introduced an experience that allowed users to attach personalized voice greetings. This transformed a financial transaction into an emotional connection, enabling the bank to become a natural part of the Lunar New Year tradition.
Working with On-us, Dah Sing Bank integrated Voice Laisee directly into its mobile banking platform, enabling customers to send digital red packets accompanied by recorded greetings. Participants also had opportunities to receive vouchers from brands in the dining, entertainment, and lifestyle sectors. A Year of the Horse lucky draw was introduced alongside the campaign to encourage users to complete digital banking activities and continue interacting with the app.
According to On-us, Voice Laisee usage increased by 80% compared with the previous Lunar New Year. The redemption rate for multi-brand vouchers was 2.8 times higher than that of single-brand vouchers. The solution reduced costs by 60% compared with traditional physical gift incentives.
Dah Sing Bank demonstrates that the value of Moment-based Brand Experience lies in understanding the emotional meaning behind financial behaviors. By combining money transfers with personalized greetings, the bank not only facilitated transactions but also enriched the Lunar New Year gifting experience. When a brand appears at the right moment and delivers value that resonates with cultural traditions, an ordinary transaction can become a meaningful reason for customers to engage.
Case 2. Santander – All “AI” Want For Christmas 2025: Building Trust Through Safer Shopping Experiences
Santander uses AI-generated fake Christmas advertisements to raise awareness and educate consumers on identifying potential online scams. Source: Santander.
Christmas is a peak period for gift searches and online shopping, while AI-generated fraudulent advertisements are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
According to a November 2025 survey conducted by Santander in partnership with Opinium among 2,000 UK adults, 74% failed to correctly identify AI-generated fake advertisements, while 56% were concerned that they or their loved ones could become victims of scams. Against this backdrop, Santander needed to increase customer awareness without relying on conventional fraud warnings that might be overlooked.
Santander used AI itself to demonstrate how convincing fraudulent Christmas gift advertisements could appear. The bank developed AI-generated fake gift advertisements as creative communication materials, accompanied by guidance on identifying warning signs such as unrealistic prices, unusual images, suspicious links, and insecure payment pages. Santander illustrates how Trust-centric Brand Experience can be developed around real risks in the consumer journey. By making fraudulent tactics more visible and providing practical prevention guidance, the bank moved beyond communicating security as a brand promise and delivered useful educational content.
Trust is built not only through a bank’s commitments but also through its ability to help customers feel more confident when making financial decisions.
Case 3. Banco de Bogotá – Compra y Gana tus Recompensas: Connecting Omnichannel Experiences to Drive Spending
Inspired by Colombia’s Christmas piñata tradition, the bank personalizes transaction goals and rewards based on individual customer behavior. Source: Banco de Bogotá.
While Santander focused on reducing concerns surrounding online shopping, Banco de Bogotá addressed another festive-season challenge: turning credit card promotions into actual customer spending.
In Colombia’s competitive credit card market, loyalty programs and promotional offers have become increasingly common, making generic rewards less compelling. Banco de Bogotá sought to increase card spending, encourage more frequent transactions, and reactivate less engaged cardholders. To achieve these objectives, the bank needed a festive experience that also reflected the needs and spending behaviors of different customer segments.
Inspired by Colombian Christmas traditions and the piñata, a festive symbol associated with surprise gifts, the bank developed a campaign in which every qualifying transaction could bring customers closer to a reward. Rather than offering the same spending threshold and incentive to all customers, the campaign introduced personalized spending goals informed by previous transaction behavior.
Working with Mastercard Marketing Services, Banco de Bogotá analyzed transaction frequency, value, and history to segment customers. Each customer received two personalized spending goals and could select a preferred rewards partner. The journey was connected through email, WhatsApp, the bank’s owned channels, and a mobile-optimized landing page. Customers could register, select their goals, and track their progress in real time.
Communication content and frequency were continuously adjusted based on engagement data, helping maintain customer interest throughout the nine-week campaign. According to Mastercard: Card spending increased by 6.4%. Customers who registered for the program achieved a 23% increase in spending. Customers who selected spending goals recorded growth four times the campaign’s average increase.
These results demonstrate the potential of combining personalization, rewards mechanisms, and data-driven communication. Banco de Bogotá shows that Connected Omnichannel Experience is not simply about being present across multiple channels. It is about connecting messages, data, and actions into a coherent customer journey. When customers can receive information, select benefits, monitor progress, and continue interacting through relevant touchpoints, a rewards program becomes more than a standalone promotion.
It becomes an experience capable of encouraging product usage and deeper customer engagement.
IV. BRAND EXPERIENCE SOLUTIONS FROM NOVAON DIGITAL
Novaon Digital optimizes festive Brand Experience through integrated marketing solutions, combining Consumer Insights, Creative Strategy, and IMC.
As festive-season spending behaviors continue to evolve, Bank & Finance brands need to move beyond isolated marketing campaigns toward integrated Brand Experience strategies that connect customer needs with communication touchpoints and conversion opportunities.
To maximize the impact of Brand Experience, Novaon Digital develops integrated communication solutions combining Consumer Insights, Creative Strategy, and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to create relevant brand experiences tailored to different consumer needs and festive spending moments. By strategically integrating Digital Advertising, Social Media, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, OOH/DOOH, Experiential Activation, and Strategic Partnerships, Novaon Digital connects touchpoints into a consistent customer journey.
From building awareness and driving engagement to encouraging conversion, these integrated solutions are designed to maximize Brand Experience, strengthen Brand Preference, and enhance marketing effectiveness for Bank & Finance brands.
V. CONCLUSION
The 2026 year-end festive season and Lunar New Year 2027 present more than opportunities to increase transactions. They also intensify competition around trust and experience in the Bank & Finance industry.
As consumers place greater emphasis on spending value, convenience, and security, Brand Experience enables financial brands to move beyond product-focused communication toward experiences that address real customer needs. Moment-based Brand Experience builds relevance, Trust-centric Brand Experience strengthens confidence, and Connected Omnichannel Experience connects the journey from awareness to product usage.
Through its integrated communication capabilities, Novaon Digital aims to help Bank & Finance brands translate market understanding into differentiated brand experiences, strengthen customer relationships, and support long-term growth.
Year-end is a highly competitive period for the Automotive market, as car manufacturers intensify their Marketing activities, introduce promotions, and accelerate sales. However, as consumers increasingly search for information, watch reviews, and compare products across digital platforms, competition is no longer limited to discounts or the ability to attract customers to showrooms.
The shift from a Showroom-first to a Digital-first Journey presents new challenges for Automotive businesses: How can they connect online interactions with physical experiences, effectively manage customer data, and turn interest into sales opportunities? In this context, Omnichannel Journey, Digital-to-Physical Experience, and Lead Nurturing have become three strategic approaches that help brands improve Marketing effectiveness and drive conversions during the year-end peak season.
I. THE CHALLENGE: AS THE CAR BUYING JOURNEY EVOLVES, BUSINESS CHALLENGES BECOME MORE COMPLEX
New series of journeys
1. Year-end Automotive Market:
The final months of the year are typically a crucial sales period for the Automotive industry, as car manufacturers and dealership networks focus on driving sales, achieving business targets, and capitalizing on consumer demand ahead of the new year. According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), vehicle sales reached 47,067 units in December 2025, up 20% from the previous month and 49% compared to the same period in 2024, reflecting strong purchasing demand toward year-end.
However, growth opportunities also bring greater competitive pressure. The diversity of vehicle segments, technologies, pricing, and financing policies gives customers more options, while discount programs, registration fee support, and complimentary insurance offers are widely available. As more brands use promotions to stimulate demand, pricing gradually becomes a competitive requirement rather than a differentiating advantage. Therefore, businesses need not only to attract attention but also to build trust and provide compelling reasons for customers to choose their products among comparable alternatives.
2. Digital-first Journey:
The development of digital is significantly changing how consumers research and choose cars. According to J.D. Power’s “Vietnam Sales Satisfaction Index 2019” study of 1,512 new vehicle owners in Vietnam, among customers who both searched for information online and contacted dealerships, 89% had visited dealership websites and 57% had visited dealership Facebook pages. Although the survey data dates back to 2019, the findings already demonstrated the significant role of digital touchpoints in the car buying journey.
A 2024 study by ABeam Consulting across six Vietnamese cities further showed that the journey from initial research to purchase decisions typically takes 2-3 months. Google remains the primary source of online information, while dealerships continue to play an important role during in-person research and purchasing stages. Factors such as safety, fuel efficiency, and driving experience also have a significant influence on purchase decisions.
In this context, the car buying journey can be summarized through six touchpoints: Search – Social – Review – Website – Test Drive – Showroom. Customers search for vehicle prices and ownership costs on Google, discover products through Social, consult expert or community reviews, verify information on Websites, and then register for a Test Drive before visiting a showroom. Although these touchpoints do not necessarily follow a fixed sequence, digital has become an important part of building awareness, trust, and purchase intent.
3. Three Business Challenges Facing Automotive Companies
Changes in customer behavior are creating three direct challenges for Marketing and sales activities:
First, Marketing effectiveness is not always proportional to investment. Businesses may generate millions of impressions, engagements, or website visits, but these metrics do not necessarily translate into Test Drive registrations or sales if the content does not match customer needs or lacks effective mechanisms to encourage action.
Second, customer data can easily become fragmented across touchpoints. A customer may interact with an advertisement, explore a website, submit information through a chatbot, and later contact a dealership. If data from Marketing, CRM, and Sales is not connected, brands struggle to gain a complete view of the customer journey, while customers may have to provide the same information again and receive messages that no longer match their needs.
Third, lead volume may increase while quality remains inconsistent. Year-end promotional programs can attract large numbers of consultation requests, but not every customer is ready to make an immediate purchase. Without proper segmentation and nurturing based on interest levels, sales resources may become dispersed, while high-value conversion opportunities may not receive timely attention.
II. STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS: CONNECTING TOUCHPOINTS TO DRIVE CONVERSIONS
Problem-solving strategies connecting touchpoints
To simultaneously address challenges related to Marketing effectiveness, fragmented data, and lead quality, Automotive brands need to shift from managing individual Marketing channels independently to designing a connected customer journey. Omnichannel Journey, Digital-to-Physical Experience, and Lead Nurturing are three complementary approaches that help businesses guide customers from initial interest to product experiences and vehicle purchases.
1. Omnichannel Journey: Connecting Marketing Activities and Improving Touchpoint Effectiveness
As customers continuously move between Search, Social, Review, and Website, optimizing individual channels is no longer sufficient to ensure the effectiveness of the entire journey. Omnichannel Journey helps businesses define the role of each touchpoint and connect messaging, content, and data to create a consistent experience.
For example, when customers search for information about a family SUV, brands can reach them through SEO content or Search Ads addressing their concerns about pricing, safety, and operating costs. Social Content, video reviews, and testimonials from actual users can then reinforce their interest, while the Website provides official information about vehicle versions, promotions, and Test Drive registration options.
Particularly during the year-end season, content needs to adapt to different levels of purchase readiness. Customers in the early research stage need to be convinced of the product’s value. Those comparing options require evidence of features, driving experience, and ownership costs, while customers with high purchase intent are more interested in financing options, delivery timelines, and specific promotions.
2. Digital-to-Physical Experience: Turning Online Interactions into Physical Experiences
For high-value products such as cars, digital plays an important role in the research process, but in-person experiences still have a significant influence on purchase decisions. Therefore, Digital-to-Physical Experience focuses on bridging the gap between online Marketing effectiveness and the ability to generate sales opportunities at showrooms.
To achieve this, brands need to design digital touchpoints that encourage specific actions. Websites, landing pages, chatbots, and consultation livestreams should not only provide product information but also help customers request quotations, find suitable dealerships, and conveniently register for Test Drives.
More importantly, information collected through digital channels needs to be transferred to the sales/dealer teams. When customers register for a Test Drive, sales consultants can access information about their preferred vehicle models, financing needs, locations, and preferred schedules, allowing them to prepare more relevant consultations. Conversely, results from showroom interactions should also be fed back into the Marketing system to track conversion progress.
3. Lead Nurturing: Optimizing Lead Quality Rather Than Simply Increasing Volume
During the year-end promotional season, the number of customers submitting their information may increase rapidly, but purchase readiness often varies across customer groups. A customer researching prices for a planned purchase several months later requires a different approach from someone who has already selected a vehicle version and wants delivery before Tet.
Lead Nurturing helps businesses segment and engage customers based on signals such as registration sources, interaction behavior, preferred vehicle models, financing needs, and expected purchase timing. For customers in the early research stage, content should focus on product value and ownership experience. Those considering their options need additional reviews, comparisons, and answers to potential concerns, while customers with high purchase intent should be prioritized for consultations, quotations, and Test Drive appointments.
Through CRM, Lead Scoring, and automation tools, businesses can track customer status, establish appropriate nurturing workflows, and transfer high-value opportunities to sales teams. Feedback on lead handling outcomes also enables Marketing teams to refine messaging, advertising audiences, and budget allocation more effectively.
III. CASE STUDY: CONNECTING DIGITAL MARKETING WITH YEAR-END BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
Novaon Digital’s experience working with Subaru and Peugeot demonstrates two different approaches to addressing conversion challenges during peak sales periods: building a multi-touchpoint journey to drive bookings for a new product and leveraging data and technology to improve sales effectiveness within a short period.
1. SUBARU FORESTER – FROM PRODUCT LAUNCH TO DRIVING BOOKINGS THROUGH PHYSICAL EXPERIENCES
Case study Subaru Forester
Background and Challenge: Subaru launched the sixth-generation Forester in Vietnam amid intense competition in the C-SUV segment, where customers had numerous options in terms of design, technology, and pricing. The transition to fully imported vehicles from Japan resulted in a higher price for the new Forester compared to its predecessor, while the brand also needed to expand its appeal beyond loyal customers who valued its distinctive engineering features. The challenge was to reposition the Forester as a premium, modern SUV for urban families while building trust and encouraging customers to proceed to Test Drives, showroom visits, and bookings during the year-end launch period.
Strategy and Execution: Novaon Digital developed a Marketing strategy targeting two customer groups: loyal customers were reached through messaging focused on the Boxer engine, S-AWD system, and driving performance, while new customers were engaged through design, comfort, and family experiences. The campaign was implemented across three phases: Teaser – Launch – Sustenance, combining product teasers, Digital Ads, a launch livestream, two TVC versions, and a Media Road Trip involving 46 journalists and Automotive experts. Their firsthand reviews were further amplified through PR and Social, while Lead Ads on Facebook and Zalo, supported by the Onlead – CRM system, facilitated lead collection, segmentation, and transfer. SATD Test Drive activities and showroom experiences became important touchpoints, allowing customers to directly evaluate the product’s value before making purchase decisions.
Results: According to Novaon Digital’s campaign report, the campaign generated 88 bookings from 289 leads, achieving 126% of the booking target, while Test Drive registrations reached 148% of KPI. The campaign also generated more than 7 million Social reach, over 250 PR articles and video reviews, and a 160% increase in Forester-related searches, according to the reported data.
2. PEUGEOT – LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY TO OPTIMIZE CONVERSIONS AND RECOVER YEAR-END SALES
Case study Peugeot
Background and Challenge: As Vietnam’s Automotive market gradually recovered from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peugeot identified an opportunity to accelerate sales and strengthen its position in the European SUV segment. However, following a period of declining purchasing demand, the brand faced the challenge of recovering business performance within an implementation period of just one month. The objective was not simply to expand customer reach, but also to identify the right audiences, optimize advertising activities, and improve conversion rates from online interactions.
Strategy and Execution: Novaon Digital partnered with Peugeot to implement a technology-integrated Marketing solution, using customer data as the foundation for optimizing Marketing activities. AI was applied to analyze advertising performance and identify suitable messages and content for different audience segments. At the same time, the Sales – CRM system was upgraded to leverage online behavioral data and support lead management and nurturing. The combination of data-optimized advertising and customer nurturing systems enabled Peugeot to focus resources on high-value customer segments and improve the conversion process from initial interest to vehicle purchases.
Results: According to the case study published by Novaon Digital, Peugeot’s sales increased fourfold compared to the same period in the previous year, market share rose 1.6 times, and the brand achieved the leading position in the reported European vehicle segment during the campaign period. These results demonstrate the role of data and technology in optimizing Lead Generation, supporting customer nurturing activities, and improving business performance, particularly when businesses need to achieve growth within a short timeframe.
IV. NOVAON DIGITAL’S PERSPECTIVE:
Changes in the car buying journey require Automotive businesses not only to adjust their Marketing activities but also to rethink how Marketing effectiveness is approached. As customers actively research and evaluate products before visiting showrooms, activities that build awareness, establish trust, and drive sales need to be designed as interconnected stages of the same journey.
First, businesses should start with their business challenges rather than selecting Marketing channels. For brands with low awareness, the priority may be developing product content and real-world experiences. Meanwhile, businesses generating large numbers of leads but achieving low purchase conversion rates should prioritize improving lead quality, nurturing mechanisms, and connectivity with dealership networks.
Next, content must be developed according to each stage of the decision-making process. Creative should not only attract attention but also address specific buyer concerns, from product value and driving performance to financing options and ownership experiences. Touchpoints such as Review, Test Drive, and Showroom need to be connected with digital Marketing to turn customer interest into trust and action.
At the same time, data should become the bridge between Marketing and Sales. CRM integration, lead segmentation, automated nurturing, and dealership performance tracking allow businesses to evaluate effectiveness beyond initial registration numbers, thereby prioritizing budgets for activities with greater potential to generate actual conversions.
With its Strategy – Creative – Technology approach, Novaon Digital views Automotive Marketing as an integrated experience system: Strategy identifies the right insights and customer journey, Creative develops content that guides customers, and Technology supports data management and conversion optimization. When these three capabilities operate in alignment, businesses can pursue growth based on the quality of sales opportunities rather than simply expanding Marketing reach.
V. CONCLUSION
During the year-end peak season, the competitive advantage of Automotive brands lies not only in promotions or their ability to attract customers to showrooms, but also in effectively connecting the journey from Search, Social, Review, and Website to Test Drive and Showroom. The Subaru Forester 2025 and Peugeot campaigns demonstrate how integrating Marketing, customer experiences, and data can help businesses improve lead quality, drive conversions, and enhance business performance. With its Strategy – Creative – Technology capabilities, Novaon Digital partners with Automotive brands to create seamless Marketing journeys, turning every touchpoint into an opportunity for tangible growth.
The 2026 year-end holiday season creates a continuous stream of consumer needs, from preparation and gifting to gatherings and post-holiday replenishment, while consumers are becoming more deliberate in assessing product value. To turn interest into purchase decisions, FMCG brands need to connect content, engagement, and points of purchase around each specific need. Based on Novaon Digital’s Strategy – Creative – Technology (SCT) model, this article structures a five-step framework for designing and delivering experiences that help brands capture growth opportunities throughout the holiday season.
The FMCG holiday challenge: Clarifying product value, building trust, and supporting purchase decisions
Source: Novaon Digital
The holiday season creates significant consumption opportunities for FMCG brands. However, to be chosen, products must meet increasingly specific expectations around value. According to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the first eight months of 2026 increased by 4.45% year over year. Worldpanel by Numerator also reported that rising food costs, along with concerns over product quality and counterfeits, are prompting consumers to evaluate brands more carefully. In this context, the emotional appeal of gifting or gathering must be supported by product relevance, appropriate pricing, and credible reasons to trust the brand.
At the same time, content and commerce are becoming increasingly interconnected across digital platforms. TikTok Shop reported that Vietnam’s Grocery category grew by 71% in gross merchandise value in 2025, highlighting the opportunity for consumer brands to expand both reach and sales. The platform also observed that users combine content discovery with active searches and review checking before making a purchase. For brands, every piece of content that captures attention should therefore be followed by clear product information and a straightforward path to purchase.
Seasonal opportunities also extend across a longer period. Decision Lab and Meta’s Unveiling Tet Consumer Trends 2025 report found that 68% of shoppers begin their Tet purchases at least 20 days before the holiday, while demand for food and grocery products rises again after the holiday period. This suggests that campaigns should be structured across multiple stages: consumers begin by seeking inspiration and preparing early, then select products for gifting or gatherings, and later make additional replenishment purchases. Each stage requires a different approach to content and experience.
These shifts create a clear challenge for FMCG brands: turning seasonal attention into purchase decisions at every stage of consumer demand. To do so, brands need to identify the right consumption occasions, clarify why their products should be chosen, and make points of purchase easy to access. Content that stimulates demand must be followed by information that supports evaluation and a consistent purchasing experience. The Holiday Experience Framework proposed by Novaon Digital introduces five steps that connect these responsibilities, helping brands capture growth opportunities throughout the holiday season.
2. Holiday Experience Framework: Five Steps to Connect Holiday Emotions with the Purchase Experience
As holiday needs evolve across different moments and purchasing channels, brands must determine how to turn consumer interest into product choice at each stage. This requires content that activates the right need, information that addresses consumer concerns, and a purchasing experience that delivers on the promises made through communication.
The SCT model combines Strategy, Creative, and Technology to connect communication with the brand experience
Source: Novaon Digital
Novaon Digital approaches Brand Experience through the Strategy – Creative – Technology (SCT) model. Strategy identifies the target consumer, their needs, and the role of the product; Creative develops the story and defines how consumers participate; and Technology helps connect interactions, purchase points, and data. Based on this model, the Holiday Experience Framework is structured into five steps, from identifying opportunities to execution and performance measurement.
Five steps connecting holiday emotions with the purchase experience through Strategy – Creative – Technology
Source: Novaon Digital
Step 1. Identify the Priority Need and the Role of the Product
Before developing a message, brands need to identify consumer needs that are both relevant to the product and commercially promising. Purchasing for gifting, preparing for gatherings, or replenishing after the holiday can differ significantly in terms of budget, packaging format, quality expectations, and delivery timing. Strategy therefore needs to clarify who makes the purchase decision, who the product is for, in what context it will be used, and what concerns may still prevent the consumer from buying.
Consumer research, sales data, in-store feedback, and social media conversations can help identify motivations and barriers within each context. From there, brands can establish a clear reason for choice based on product attributes and benefits that can be substantiated. The prioritized consumer need then becomes the foundation for defining the message, selecting the right product offering, and allocating campaign resources.
Step 2. Design a Journey That Supports Purchase Decisions
Once the priority need has been identified, brands need to determine what information consumers require at each stage and how to guide them toward the next action. When looking for ideas, consumers need to recognize that the product is suitable for their intended purpose. During consideration, they need sufficient information to evaluate and compare options. When preparing to purchase, details such as price, availability, stock status, and delivery become essential. After use, satisfaction influences the likelihood of recommendation or repeat purchase.
The journey map should clearly define the role of each touchpoint. Social media content generates interest; experiential content and reviews clarify product value; while product pages, consultation services, and physical stores support evaluation and selection. These touchpoints need to be designed so consumers can continue exploring or purchasing even when moving from online channels to physical stores. This helps brands identify where information is missing or where unnecessary steps may create friction in the buying process.
Step 3. Develop Creative Ideas Connected to the Product Experience
Once the need and journey are clear, creativity plays the role of embedding product value into a story that feels meaningful to consumers. The emotions associated with gifting, gathering, or sharing should be connected to a specific role the product plays in those moments. Product attributes and distinctive brand elements must remain consistently visible so that consumers understand the value proposition and remember the right brand.
Participation mechanisms should also contribute to the experience by helping consumers discover suitable options, experience the product, express personal messages, or share moments of use. The story told through content, in-store activities, and packaging should maintain a consistent spirit. This enables the creative idea to continue seamlessly from the moment consumers encounter the content to the moment they select and use the product.
Step 4. Connect Channels and Ensure the Experience Can Be Delivered
Once the journey and creative idea have been defined, technology must work together with operations to turn the experience design into reality. If Step 2 determines what information consumers need and how they should move forward, this step ensures that different channels can actually support that progression. Content needs to lead to the correct product; information about pricing, promotions, and availability must remain consistent; and consultation should help consumers continue the selection process based on the needs they have already expressed.
Technology can support product discovery, consultation, ordering, and data collection according to the capabilities of each channel. At the same time, communication, sales, customer service, and operations teams need to align on commitments and execution responsibilities. The purchasing journey should be tested before a campaign is scaled, particularly at channel transitions, payment stages, and delivery points. Convenience only creates value when the actual product and service experience meet the expectations established by the communication.
Step 5. Measure Sources of Growth and Optimize Through Data
The measurement plan should be defined from the beginning, with a clear understanding of the intended source of growth: acquiring more buyers, increasing average order value, or generating additional repeat purchases. This objective determines the metrics, data sources, and benchmarks required to evaluate how each activity contributes to business outcomes.
Measurement should follow the entire consumer journey. Views and engagement indicate initial interest; product exploration and consultation requests reflect consideration; while conversion rates, completed orders, average order value, and revenue indicate purchase outcomes. Post-use feedback and repeat purchase rates within an appropriate timeframe help assess the brand’s ability to maintain the relationship. Where possible, online data should also be compared with point-of-sale data to avoid evaluating each channel in isolation.
From these insights, brands can identify where additional content is needed, where processes should be improved, or where operational commitments require adjustment. Performance should be compared with campaign targets or equivalent holiday periods, while accounting for changes in pricing, promotions, media budgets, and distribution coverage. Where conditions allow, testing with comparison groups can provide a clearer understanding of the contribution made by specific changes to the experience. With customer consent and appropriate data, brands can also continue recommending products that address the consumer’s next need.
Together, these five steps connect Strategy, Creative, and Technology around the consumer journey. Data generated through execution feeds back into the framework, helping brands continuously refine priority needs, content, and experiences to capture growth opportunities throughout the holiday season.
3. Bringing the Framework into campaign execution: One direction across every channel
Connecting content, points of purchase, and data to turn holiday demand into purchase decisions
Source: Novaon Digital
For the five steps to work as one consistent campaign, brands need to connect the priority consumer need, product value, and business objectives. For occasions such as Vietnamese Women’s Day on October 20 or Teachers’ Day on November 20, the focus may be on helping consumers choose a gift that suits both the recipient and their budget. During Christmas or Tet, demand expands further into preparing for gatherings, entertaining guests, and replenishing household products. Consumer research and strategic planning should clarify this priority before decisions are made regarding messaging, content, and channel execution.
From this shared direction, every piece of content should serve a specific role in the decision-making process. Content that evokes the emotion of gifting should be followed by clear information about the product, packaging options, and price points. Content built around gatherings should explain product usage, pack sizes, and suitability for different group sizes. Creative services, content production, creator partnerships, and product sampling experiences should therefore be selected according to the consumer questions they need to address. Continuity between different pieces of content helps consumers move from feeling that a product is relevant to having sufficient reasons to choose it.
Once consumers show interest, the campaign needs to guide them toward a convenient purchase point. Storefront optimization, product pages, store information, and consultation services should be developed alongside communication activities. For gifting occasions, delivery deadlines and gift-wrapping services can directly influence purchase decisions. During peak Tet periods, inventory availability and delivery schedules need to be communicated clearly. Technology and operations play a critical role in ensuring that information remains consistent and that the promises created through content can actually be fulfilled.
Purchase data and post-use feedback then provide further opportunities to optimize the campaign. If consumers show interest but do not select a product, brands need to review whether information and reasons to buy are sufficiently clear. If consumers abandon the checkout process, friction related to user experience, costs, or delivery capabilities should be investigated. Measurement, data analytics, and post-purchase care should identify areas for improvement while also revealing opportunities associated with the consumer’s next need. During Tet, analyzing performance across different stages can also help brands distinguish the effectiveness of early preparation purchases, gifting purchases, and post-holiday replenishment.
4. Conclusion
For FMCG brands, capturing holiday opportunities begins with identifying a consumer need that the product can clearly address. The Holiday Experience Framework helps brands move from selecting the right need to designing content, organizing interactions, supporting purchases, and evaluating results. The value of these five steps lies in their ability to align every communication decision around one shared objective: helping consumers understand, choose, and experience the right product.
Built on Novaon Digital’s Strategy – Creative – Technology foundation, consumer research guides content development, while technology connects interactions, points of purchase, and feedback data. When consumer interest is followed by sufficiently clear information and a convenient buying process, campaigns have a stronger foundation for converting attention into sales. When the product ultimately delivers on expectations, the brand creates a greater opportunity to be chosen again in the future.
Holiday Bank – Finance 2026: Experience as the new competitive edge in banking
The holiday season has always been a highly competitive “race” for the Bank – Finance sector, with countless offers competing for customer attention at the same time. As cashback and vouchers are no longer enough to create differentiation, the advantage now lies in understanding the right needs, showing up at the right moment, and delivering a seamless experience. Holiday 2026 therefore marks a shift from Promotion-led Campaign to Experience-led Financial Journey, where every financial touchpoint not only drives transactions but also becomes a useful and memorable part of the customer journey.
I. THE CONTEXT
Finance meets everyday life
1. Market context
The holiday season is a peak period for the Bank – Finance sector, when banks, e-wallets, and fintech brands simultaneously launch cashback, vouchers, card offers, and other demand-stimulation programs. However, as promotions increasingly become a market standard, while fast payments, eKYC, QR Payment, and Mobile Banking become more common, the gap in products and features between brands is also narrowing.
In this context, competition is no longer only about the size of an offer or the number of transactions. It increasingly depends on how well a brand understands customer needs and delivers the right value at the right moment. Accenture’s Banking Consumer Study, conducted with 49,300 customers across 39 countries, found that 73% use banks beyond their primary bank, while 58% purchased a financial product from a new provider in the previous 12 months; personalization is also an important driver of customer advocacy. Brands therefore need to understand not only who their customers are, but what they need at each moment.
2. Customer behavior
Users are increasingly less likely to begin with a need to open a card or take out a loan. Instead, they start with real-life goals such as shopping, travel, dining, entertainment, or family needs. According to Mastercard, 70% of APAC consumers are already using or want an all-in-one app that connects payments, shopping, and multiple services; in Vietnam, 56% have purchased through a social or messaging app.
Financial decisions are therefore increasingly embedded in everyday journeys: travel involves ticket booking, international payments, and insurance; shopping is linked to installment plans, cashback, and budget management; while Tet brings family spending, gifting, and saving needs. Visa data for 2026 shows that 76% of Vietnamese consumers shop online 2-3 times per month, up 19 percentage points from 2024; 56% own a multi-currency card and 34% have used one.
This shows that financial behavior is becoming closely connected to everyday needs rather than taking place as a separate journey. Customers expect financial solutions to appear naturally, at the right time, and in a way that fits the context they are in.
II. THE CHALLENGE: WHEN BRANDS NEED TO MOVE BEYOND THE PROMOTION BATTLE
When brands need to move beyond the promotional battle
1. Promotions are becoming less effective at creating brand differentiation
During the holiday season, cashback, vouchers, refunds, annual-fee waivers, and gifts for new cardholders have almost become the “common language” of the Bank – Finance sector. As promotion mechanics become increasingly similar, customers are more likely to compare brands based on immediate benefits rather than brand value or the overall experience.
The issue is not that promotions have stopped working, but that their ability to create differentiation is declining. If the only reason to choose a brand is a higher cashback rate, customers can just as easily switch when a competitor makes a more attractive offer. Brands can therefore be pulled into a cycle of rising promotional costs, while Brand Recall, Brand Preference, and Loyalty fail to grow at the same pace.
2. Customer relationships can easily stop at the transaction level
Many holiday campaigns still focus on short-term objectives such as opening cards, increasing transactions, activating payments, or driving voucher usage. This approach can generate quick results, but it can also reduce the brand experience to a single action.
Customers may open a card for a gift, pay for cashback, or use an app for a promotion, but once that motivation disappears, engagement may not continue. If each campaign only solves for one transaction, the relationship from acquisition to engagement, retention, and cross-sell becomes difficult to sustain.
3. Customer experience remains fragmented across touchpoints
Today’s financial journey spans multiple touchpoints such as Social, Partner, App, Payment, CRM, and Loyalty. However, being present across multiple channels does not automatically create a seamless experience.
When channels operate independently, customers can encounter inconsistent messages, irrelevant offers, or repetitive actions. Disconnected data also makes it difficult for brands to understand where customers are in the journey and what they may need next. More touchpoints do not necessarily mean a more connected experience.
4. The tension between short-term performance and long-term brand value
The holiday season often comes with strong pressure on transactions, customer acquisition and conversion, new card openings, or GMV, making brands more likely to prioritize tactics that trigger immediate action.
However, if brands optimize only for the short term, they may face high promotion costs, low repeat rates, or a user base that is active only when incentives are available. A campaign that achieves transaction KPIs does not necessarily build stronger Brand Preference, Trust, or long-term customer value.
III. HOLIDAY 2026 STRATEGIC TRENDS FOR BANK – FINANCE
5 Bank – Finance strategies: Shaping 2026 Festive Season
1. Hyper-Personalization: Personalizing experiences for each customer
Hyper-Personalization goes deeper than traditional Personalization. Instead of relying mainly on age, gender, location, or transaction history, it uses multiple layers of data to understand who the customer is, what situation they are in, what they need, and what action is most relevant at that moment.
For Bank – Finance, the same product can carry different meanings for different customers. A credit card can be a travel-points tool for a frequent traveler, an installment solution for someone making a major purchase, or a spending-management tool for a young family. Personalization therefore should not stop at “recommending the right product”; it should recommend the right value of that product in the right usage context.
Case study: Bancolombia x Dynamic Yield
Case study: Bancolombia x Dynamic Yield
a. Market context
Amid a major shift toward digital transactions and a base of more than 10.6 million users, Bancolombia faced a mass-content distribution problem that overloaded customers with information and reduced engagement. To build long-term relationships through personalization at scale, the bank leveraged real-time behavioral data across digital channels and continuously adjusted experiences, products, and messages based on each individual’s level of interest and actual needs.
b. Customer needs
Customers did not simply want more products or more offers; they wanted to quickly see options that matched their real needs. The bank already had extensive behavioral data, but the traditional Digital experience did not fully reflect these signals. Bancolombia therefore moved from relatively static segmentation to real-time product affinity recognition, allowing it to understand what customers were currently interested in and what needs might come next.
c. Strategic idea
Bancolombia built the experience around one principle: “let the content adapt to the customer,” rather than forcing customers to adapt to a fixed campaign. The brand shifted from promotion-led – starting with an offer and then finding people to distribute it to – toward experience-led: identifying needs, personalizing the experience, and then presenting the right offer. Promotion therefore became part of a journey driven by actual customer interest instead of the center of the campaign.
d. How the brand executed it
Bancolombia used Dynamic Yield to build Affinity Profiles from real-time behavior, personalizing banners, landing pages, content, and offers for different need states. Personalization was expanded from pre-login and post-login experiences to the Tu360Compras ecosystem, connecting multiple Digital touchpoints. First-party data was combined with decisioning technology to automatically select the most relevant experience, while social proof increased trust and encouraged discovery of less familiar products.
e. Results
The personalization program increased CTR by as much as 1,000% at certain points, lifted average time on website by 66%, and increased engagement with selected product groups by 428.8%. On Tu360Compras, offers triggered by customer interest increased conversion by 18%. More importantly, Bancolombia strengthened its image as a bank that understands customers and turns data into relevant experiences, rather than competing only through products or promotions.
2. Embedded Finance: Integrating finance into the consumer journey
Embedded Finance brings services such as payments, installments, insurance, or loyalty directly into the consumer journey instead of keeping them as separate steps. Customers do not necessarily begin with a need to open a card or take out a loan; they begin with life goals such as shopping, travel, entertainment, or preparing for family needs.
For Bank – Finance, this means appearing at the exact moment a need occurs: integrating into the checkout step during shopping; connecting international payments, insurance, and travel offers; or linking financial services with tickets, membership, or exclusive entertainment benefits. Financial products then become a natural part of the experience instead of having to seek customers out separately.
Case study: Fresha Capital x Adyen
Case study: Fresha Capital x Adyen
a. Market context
The Beauty & Wellness industry continues to face strong cash-flow pressure. According to Adyen, 67% of businesses in the sector regularly experience cash flow issues, while 77% could not continue operating for more than three weeks without receiving payment revenue. Traditional lending processes, meanwhile, involve significant paperwork and long approval times. Fresha – a platform serving more than 140,000 businesses and 450,000 professionals – saw an opportunity to embed access to capital directly into its existing ecosystem.
b. Customer needs
Salons and spas need capital that is fast, flexible, and available at the right moment, rather than having to go through a separate lending process. 86% of Beauty & Wellness businesses said limited access to capital could lead to staff cuts or closure, while 37% wanted to receive financial support directly from the software platform they already use. Fresha Capital addressed this need through pre-approved offers and direct disbursement into Fresha Wallet.
c. Strategic idea
Fresha evolved from a management and payment platform into an ecosystem capable of delivering financial services directly within the business operating journey. Capital was not sold as a separate lending product. Instead, it appeared at the moment of need – when a business required funding to maintain or expand operations. This is Embedded Finance in its true sense: finance becoming part of the experience rather than a separate journey.
d. How the brand executed it
Fresha integrated Adyen Capital directly into its digital wallet. Eligible businesses received pre-approved offers based on payment history, could access funding quickly, and repaid automatically as a percentage of daily revenue. Fresha controlled the user experience, while Adyen handled the lending infrastructure, compliance, and credit risk. The solution was rolled out across 7 markets in only around 3 weeks.
e. Results
Within just a few weeks of launch, Fresha had provided more than USD 8 million in capital; 89% of customers who borrowed once returned to use Capital a second time. One business that used the funding for a December marketing campaign recorded a 22% increase in gift card sales, showing how Embedded Finance can directly help businesses capture peak-season demand.
3. Connected Omnichannel Experience: Connecting touchpoints into one seamless journey
Connected Omnichannel Experience is not simply about being present across multiple channels. It is about connecting data, content, and actions to create one continuous journey. Social media creates demand, Application continues the personalized experience, Payment captures behavior, Partner Ecosystem expands consumption contexts, while CRM and Loyalty sustain the relationship after the transaction.
For Bank – Finance, this matters because customer journeys are often fragmented. A customer may first see an offer on Social, explore it in the App, use it with a partner, pay by card, and then receive follow-up communication through CRM. If these touchpoints are not connected, the experience can become repetitive, inconsistent, and less relevant.
Case study: DBS PayLah! – Connected Everyday Banking Experience
Case study: DBS PayLah! – Connected Everyday Banking Experience
a. Market context
As digital payments became mainstream in Singapore, DBS’s challenge was no longer simply getting users to download the app, but keeping PayLah! relevant in everyday life. When customers had to use multiple touchpoints for payments, cards, offers, and loyalty, DBS saw an opportunity to bring them together into an “everyday banking” ecosystem that connected financial transactions with shopping, dining, transport, and lifestyle.
b. Customer needs
Customers wanted to make payments, check spending, receive offers, and use reward points without switching between multiple platforms. The previous experience was fragmented across PayLah!, DBS/POSB cards, and a separate rewards app. The core need was therefore not simply more offers, but a convenient experience where benefits and financial behavior could be managed in one place.
c. Strategic idea
DBS repositioned PayLah! from a mobile wallet into an everyday app, connecting Payment, Rewards, and Lifestyle within a single journey. Instead of using individual cashback programs to stimulate one-off transactions, the bank created a loop of payment – benefit – spending tracking – reward redemption – continued ecosystem usage. Promotion became part of a long-term experience rather than the end point of a campaign.
d. How the brand executed it
DBS integrated rewards into PayLah! so customers could view spending history, receive personalized offers, and redeem rewards within the same app, while also linking DBS/POSB cards to the payment platform. The ecosystem expanded through partnership with yuu Rewards, supermarket, F&B, transport, and a wide range of lifestyle merchants, connecting the experience from App to Payment and then Loyalty at the point of sale. yuu enables customers to earn and redeem the same loyalty currency across more than 1,000 locations, while the DBS yuu card adds another rewards layer across the partner ecosystem.
e. Results
PayLah! surpassed 3 million users and processed more than 60% of QR transactions at hawker centres; by 2026, more than 5 million customers were using DBS/POSB cards and/or PayLah! to receive rewards across more than 850 merchant touchpoints. Customers saved a combined SGD 13.7 million through cashback and rewards in the previous year; grocery spending on everyday card portfolios increased 7%, while transport spending increased 5%. This model strengthened DBS’s positioning from a transactional bank into a brand that is regularly present in everyday life.
Gamification & Interactive Engagement brings game mechanics and interactive elements into the financial journey, turning customers from passive transaction makers into active participants. Instead of simply receiving cashback or a voucher after payment, users can complete missions, collect points, unlock rewards, or join challenges tied directly to their financial behaviors.
This trend makes activities such as payments, saving, card usage, or spending management more approachable and motivating. Gamification also creates repeated interaction points, encouraging customers to return to the App or ecosystem more frequently rather than only when they need to make a transaction.
Case study: ACB – “Mã đáo phát tài” 2026
Case study: ACB – “Mã đáo phát tài” 2026
a. Market context
Tet is a period when banks simultaneously launch offers to stimulate deposits, payments, and card usage, making promotion alone increasingly difficult to differentiate. ACB therefore introduced game mechanics into everyday transactions, turning financial activity into a Tet experience with entertainment and interaction built in.
b. Customer needs
During Tet, customers still make deposits, pay, shop, and use cards, but financial offers can easily feel similar across brands. ACB tapped into the desire for luck, entertainment, and instant rewards, turning transactions into activities that gave customers a reason to return rather than simply receive cashback after payment.
c. Strategic idea
ACB built “Mã đáo phát tài” around a loop of transaction – game turn – interaction – reward – return. Gamification did not exist as a separate mini game; it was directly linked to banking behavior, giving each transaction an added layer of experience and another reason to continue using ACB ONE.
d. How the brand executed it
Customers received game turns when completing eligible transactions at branches or on ACB ONE, such as making deposits, purchasing certificates of deposit, making payments, shopping, or using credit cards. In the app, users could roll dice, collect gold coins, and join “Săn thần mã,” with rewards including gold, E-vouchers, and ACB Rewards. Gamification therefore connected directly with Transaction, App Engagement, and Loyalty.
e. Results
The online program alone recorded more than 2 million transactions that earned game turns and more than 600,000 participating customers. At branches, ACB also recorded more than 8,000 participants. This shows that gamification created substantial interaction at scale around banking behaviors that would otherwise feel routine.
5. Financial Wellbeing: From encouraging spending to helping customers spend better
Financial Wellbeing reflects a shift in the role of financial brands: from primarily driving transactions to helping customers manage money better and make more appropriate financial decisions. Instead of appearing only through cashback, vouchers, or card offers, brands can support customers through Spending Insight, Budget Planning, Smart Recommendation, or Spending Alert.
At the core of Financial Wellbeing is the use of financial data to create practical value. Transaction data is not only used for cross-selling, but also to provide recommendations that fit each customer’s financial capacity and goals, making the brand more useful in everyday life while strengthening Trust and Loyalty.
Case study: MoMo – “Quản Lý Chi Tiêu” (Expense Management)
Case study: MoMo – “Quản Lý Chi Tiêu” (Expense Management)
a. Market context
As digital payments become more common, Vietnamese users make many transactions every day but often struggle to see the overall picture of their cash flow. According to MoMo, more than 90% of users have a need for personal financial management, yet only around 8% manage their finances systematically. MoMo’s opportunity was to leverage existing transaction data to expand its role from a payment platform into a tool that supports personal financial management.
b. Customer needs
Users want to understand where their money goes, control budgets, and avoid overspending, but manual tracking is time-consuming and difficult to maintain. The gap lies in the fact that transaction data already exists, but has not yet been translated into easy-to-understand insight that supports decision-making.
c. Strategic idea
Instead of only encouraging more payments through vouchers and cashback, MoMo turned transaction data into an expense-management assistant. The objective shifted from driving transactions to helping users understand their financial behavior, control budgets, and build better money-management habits.
d. How the brand executed it
MoMo uses AI to automatically capture and categorize transactions, compile weekly/monthly reports, allow users to set budgets by category, and send alerts when they are close to or have exceeded their limits. The AI assistant can also answer questions about spending, support goal-setting, and suggest ways to manage money. Everything is integrated directly into the MoMo ecosystem, so users do not need to switch to a separate financial-management app.
e. Results
According to MoMo, the Quản Lý Chi Tiêu feature has been used by more than 3 million users to track monthly income and expenses. This scale shows that the need for personal financial management is real and that the solution has achieved significant adoption. More importantly, MoMo has expanded its role from a payment platform into a tool that helps users track, understand, and manage cash flow more effectively.
KEY TAKEAWAY
All five trends show that Holiday 2026 in Bank – Finance is shifting from simply pushing transactions toward creating more relevant customer experiences. Hyper-Personalization personalizes value, Embedded Finance places finance directly within the moment of need, Connected Omnichannel Experience connects the journey, Gamification increases interaction and repeat usage, while Financial Wellbeing helps customers manage money better. The focus is therefore no longer just on promotions, but on creating value at the right moment and sustaining long-term relationships.
IV. PERSPECTIVE & RECOMMENDATIONS FROM NOVAON DIGITAL
Insights & Recommendations from Novaon Digital
1. Shift from bigger promotions to the right value at the right time
During the holiday season, increasing cashback or vouchers can drive short-term results, but it is difficult to create sustainable differentiation this way. Brands should begin with real needs such as year-end shopping, travel, gifting, Tet preparation, or family spending, then design benefits that fit each context. The value of an offer therefore lies not only in the size of the discount, but in how relevant it is to customer needs.
2. Connect touchpoints to extend the customer journey
A transaction should not be the end point of a campaign. Social, App, Payment, Partner, CRM, and Loyalty need to be connected into one continuous journey, where data from one touchpoint supports the next experience. After a card is opened, a payment is made, or an offer is redeemed, brands should continue creating reasons for customers to return through content, benefits, and personalized offers.
3. Expand measurement from short-term conversion to long-term value
Transaction, Acquisition, and Conversion remain important, but they are not enough to reflect the quality of growth. Brands should also track Repeat Usage, Engagement, Retention, Cross-sell, and the ability to retain customers after the campaign to assess whether growth is coming only from short-term promotions or is genuinely creating long-term value for the brand-customer relationship.
4. From strategy to execution: a connected experience system is required
To ensure these directions do not remain only as ideas, brands need to build Brand Experience across three layers: Strategy – Creative – Technology. Strategy helps understand users, identify the right financial moments, and design the customer journey; Creative turns Insight into Big Idea, Storytelling, and memorable experiences; Technology connects touchpoints, personalization, interaction, and data so the journey can be sustained end to end.
For Holiday Marketing, this approach allows brands to do more than participate in the festive season with a short-term campaign. Over time, they can own a Holiday Moment and turn it into a Brand-owned Moment. This is also how Novaon Digital connects Media, Activation, Digital, and Martech within one system, aiming to deliver the right experience to the right person, at the right time, through the right touchpoint – ultimately creating Engagement – Conversion – Loyalty – Growth.
V. CONCLUSION
Holiday 2026 shows a clear shift in how Bank – Finance brands compete. As cashback, vouchers, and other promotions become increasingly common and easy to replicate, advantage no longer comes from who “gives more,” but from who understands customers more deeply and appears at the exact moment they genuinely need support.
This also means that brand objectives need to go beyond a single transaction. From Hyper-Personalization and Embedded Finance to Connected Omnichannel Experience, Gamification, and Financial Wellbeing, the common goal is to extend the customer relationship and turn every touchpoint into part of a consistent and valuable experience.
Therefore, in Holiday 2026, the winning financial brand will not be the one offering the biggest promotion, but the one that designs an experience that makes customers feel understood, supported, and gives them a reason to stay for the long term.
Novaon Digital harnesses the power of Strategy, Technology, and Creativity to drive brand growth. Drawing inspiration from crafting transformative experiences, we aim to enhance customer understanding and appreciation of your brand.
