2023 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

BMO needed to connect with a generation of customers that actively ignores them. BMO (Bank of Montreal) is the 8th largest bank in North America, but their customer base was aging and they needed to connect with a younger demographic. However, young adults hate traditional banks. New online options and the desire for personalization have driven many younger millennial and Gen Z customers to turn to fintech and non-banks.

Traditional banks, like BMO, were getting left behind and actively ignored by younger consumers. To reverse this trend and connect with younger customers, BMO needed an initiative to stimulate authentic and active engagement. An ad campaign was not going to resonate, the brand needed to do something a bank had never done before.

The primary objective was to find a new channel where the bank could connect with younger audiences to provide a level of personalized service and banking capabilities. This new channel needed to drive engagement, elevate brand perception, and ultimately lead non-customers to consider BMO and
open new accounts.

For gamers, the progress, skills, and success they experience in-game builds confidence. However, this confidence doesn't always extend into their daily lives, especially when it comes to their finances.

BMO NXT LVL is a first-of-its-kind Twitch stream that lives at the intersection of gaming culture and banking to help gamers reach the next level in gaming and personal finances.

After selecting Twitch as their launchpad, they knew a bank branch on Twitch required a special kind of banker to host it, someone who understands gaming. They found a BMO employee, Sean Frame, who was a Personal Banker at a local branch and a devoted gamer. BMO created a new full-time position for him, called the Gaming Relations Specialist (GRS).

Gamers tuned in to BMO’s 50+ live streams in large numbers, including unplanned visits from famous esports personalities. In the live chat, BMO was bombarded with questions, many of which revealed a clear lack of financial knowledge. They quickly realized that gamers, under the cover of their anonymous gamer tags, were more than happy to ask questions that may otherwise be embarrassing for them while banking in person.

Over time, they were able to tightly integrate banking products and services within the NXT LVL platform. BMO had proven it can authentically live within gaming, and now needed to drive business results through new banking account sign-ups. By providing direct access to account registrations in a live gaming environment, BMO was successful in driving a massive uptick in new account sign-ups.

BMO changed the gaming community's opinion of what a bank can be. All this despite the objections of Twitch, who recommended against a bank creating a Twitch channel. BMO NXT LVL took a bank to a place no bank had been before, showing younger consumers that a traditional bank knew them better than they thought, and proving there is room for a bank to live and thrive within gaming culture.

Results included a 13% increase in new Everyday Banking accounts, a 24% increase in student account openings, and a 4% improvement in consideration/purchase intent. The brand also saw a 40% improvement in unaided awareness and 100+ hours of searchable Twitch clips developed for Discord. There was also a 30% improvement in gaming association and a 15% improvement in the perception of innovativeness, with 15,000+ hours spent watching BMO live content on Twitch and 123,245 unique views, as well as
8.5 million video views.

Credits

Client: BMO
Chief Marketing Officer: Maja Neable
Managing Director, Personal Banking: Mike Stean
Director, Customer Growth Marketing: Bessie Lam
Sr Manager, Segments Marketing: Alexis Chen
Sr Marketing Manager: Matthew Tang
Marketing Manager: Samantha DeGregorio
Gaming Relations Specialist: Sean Frame
Social Media Coordinator: Kenya Marcelline
Sr Manager, Media Communications: Kate Simandl

Agency: FCB Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
Global Creative Director: Danilo Boer
Executive Creative Director: Andrew MacPhee
VP, Creative Innovation: Eli Ferrara
Creative Director: Mike Kotevich
Sr. Copywriter: Caleb McMullen
Art Director: Hussein Rumaithi
Copywriter: Patrick Gravel
EVP, General Manager: Tracy Little
VP, Group Account Director: Jessica Lax
Group Account Director: Hailey Scott
Director, Integrated Production: Maia Spetter
VP, Managing Director: Tim Welsh
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Strategy Director: Stephanie Gyles
Jr. Strategist: Shao Xu
VP, Strategy 1:1 Practice Lead: John Fung
Sr. Social Content Strategist: Daisy Qin
UX/UI Tech Specialist: Lara Goldsmith
Full Stack Developer: Lily Han
Jr. Quality Assurance Analyst: Natasha Phillip
Broadcast Producer: Tania Overholt

Augmented Reality Room: FlyAR
Production Company: Unified Content
Executive Producer: Laurie Jones
Executive Producer: Michi Lepik-Stahl
Director: Tom Feiler
Line Producer: Caitlin Cucco
DOP: TJ Derry
DOP: Adam Madrzyk
Editor: Peter Miller
Assist Editor: Luke Ionico
VFX: Jay Ryan
Colourist: Kristina Mileska
Online: Rebecca Burtnik
Producer: Rebecca Burtnik
Music/Sound Company: Oso
Creative Director: Daenen Bramberger
Engineer: Leo Hicks
Executive Producer: Hannah Graham
Producer: Jane Heath

Media Agency: UM
Ryan Hunter: VP, Client Business Partner
Sarah Fraser: Sr Director, Connections Planning