Postbank: Student market

Postbank traditionally holds a strong position among students, but that position comes under pressure. Not only in volume, but in loyalty. Many market initiatives focus on getting students in, using promotions, discounts and “student” perks. But the underlying challenge is more fundamental. Studying is no longer a carefree party phase. Students combine study with work, social obligations and future planning. Studying does not feel light; it feels like the foundation for later.

In that reality, students experience banks as functionally necessary, but emotionally distant. Propositions look similar and get copied quickly. Real added value therefore does not emerge at product level, but at meaning level.

That insight becomes the turning point. Postbank deliberately chooses a different strategic position. It does not join the race to be the most fun but claims the territory of serious help. From that thought the organizing idea StudyTime is developed. It names the study period as a unique life phase in which students learn to deal with scarce time, money, responsibility and choices that affect their future. StudyTime gives meaning without preaching and without marketing language.

Within this framework we develop a coherent set of products, services and interventions that help students organize their study time more effectively and consciously. Not as isolated actions, but as a structural line that grows with the phases of study. From receiving student finance and part-time income, via internships and entrepreneurship, to graduation and a first job. One question leads each step: what genuinely helps the student here, and how does that logically fit the role of a bank?

Our role is strategic, developmental and facilitative. Strategic by reframing the original marketing question into a positioning question. Developmental by formulating and loading StudyTime as the guiding principle for choices. Facilitative through co-creation with the project team and qualitative student research. And continuously focused on embedding: StudyTime is not a campaign, but a durable framework that guides product development, communication and prioritization.

Embedding ensures StudyTime works for MBO, HBO and university students, including those living at home or those who do not identify with the traditional student stereotype. The language matches their reality and supports responsibility without losing the human scale. Postbank becomes a serious, reliable and involved partner that understands what is at stake.

In collaboration with:
• Geert Frank