2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

BMO has constantly sought innovative ways to engage communities. BMO launched NXT LVL in 2022 for the under-35 demographic, who are uncomfortable talking about their personal finances because it makes them feel vulnerable and embarrassed. But, by not talking about their finances, they aren’t dealing with their finances. While the initial launch campaign managed to get them talking, the objective for year two was to get them banking.

Last year, BMO planted roots in an unexpected platform: Twitch, a haven for gamers that thrives on anonymity and open conversations. This year, the brand employed the anonymity that appealed to gamers on platforms like Twitch and Discord, to encourage them to explore banking without fear or apprehension, to transition from discussion to action. This catered to the community's comfort, capitalizing on their penchant for open, candid discussions.

The campaigns ambitious objective was twofold: to initiate engaging, financial interactions and to ignite a 10% increase in digital account openings.

By bridging the seemingly disparate worlds of gaming and banking, the brand aimed to establish a new paradigm of financial management, one where the brand’s target could navigate their financial journey anonymously and therefore, confidently.

Young adults view financial discussions as daunting and prefer engaging through digital platforms where they feel most comfortable and secure. Guided by a critical insight, BMO's strategic plan took form. A staggering 37% of Millennials and Gen Z were more uncomfortable discussing personal finances than engaging in political or religious discussions. Clearly, financial apprehension had erected a barrier to their
financial progress.

In response, BMO sought to break down this barrier by transforming their comfort zones – gaming platforms – into arenas for open, judgement-free financial discussions. This approach's novelty lay in leveraging the anonymity of these platforms, a realm seldom explored by the banking sector. The strategy was to weave together the gaming world's inherent sense of progression and skill with financial management, thus turning these platforms into launchpads for financial confidence.

Targeting the under-35 gaming community, BMO knew this group was not only comfortable with digital platforms but also more inclined to engage in anonymous financial discussions online. Data supported this, revealing that 59% of Gen Z and 55% of Millennials preferred this Format.

With this strategy, BMO aimed to ignite an attitude shift, moving banking from a daunting task into an empowering, engaging facet of their lifestyle. The goal was to instil a proactive financial mindset and inspire these young consumers to confidently manage their money.

BMO “NXT NXT LVL” empowers financial confidence through digital familiarity and demystifying banking for young adults.

BMO’s strategy manifested into a much needed banking innovation, BMO “NXT NXT LVL”, that harnessed the power of anonymity. Riding on the success of BMO NXT LVL, the first banking experience on Twitch, BMO broke new ground by offering the gaming community a golden ticket to an anonymous way to bank,
live on Twitch.

As the brand streamed, they connected their anonymous audience to expert advice and the financial resources needed but were too embarrassed to ask for IRL. Then in a B2B approach, other BMO lines-of-business got in on the action by sponsoring streams to introduce the brand’s growing audience to specific services like online investing, small business banking solutions, and student specific financial products. And because gaming doesn’t sleep, they created an always-on financial database consisting of 100s of hours of live streamed content, another anonymous way the brand helped gamers level up in their personal finances.

This daring, first-of-its- kind campaign utilised a multitude of channels – Twitch, Discord, Twitter, TikTok, and others – seamlessly interweaving the spheres of gaming and finance, and turned the place gamers were most confident into the place they could bank confidently too.

The BMO “NXT NXT LVL” campaign led to a remarkable 15% surge in digital account openings among the under-35 gaming community. The brand successfully bridged the gap between gaming and finance, leading to thousands of hours spent discussing finances, executing banking transactions, and connecting young gamers to often avoided financial resources. Anonymity within this platform played a crucial role in fostering financial confidence.

BMO’s revolutionary campaign breathed new life into the financial engagement landscape for younger audiences, masterfully transforming the space where gamers were most comfortable into a financial fortress they could confidently bank on.

The campaign also achieved 40% improvement in unaided awareness, over 100 hours of searchable Twitch clips developed for Discord.

More than 24,000 hours were spent watching BMO live content on Twitch with 278,388 unique views and 8.8 million video views. The campaign also had a 30% improvement in gaming association and 15% improvement in perception of innovativeness.

“NXT NXT LVL” drove 15% increase in new Everyday Banking accounts and 24% increase in student
account openings.

Credits

Client: BMO
Chief Marketing Officer: Maja Neable
Managing Director, Personal Banking: Mike Stean
Senior Manager, Segments Marketing: Alexis Chen
Gaming Relations Specialist: Sean Frame
Social Media Manager: Kenya Marcelline
Senior Manager, Media Communications: Kate Simandl
Agency: FCB Canada
CCO: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
EVP, Global Creative Director: Danilo Boer
ECD: Andrew MacPhee, Jeremiah McNama
VP, Creative Innovation: Eli Ferrara
CD: Mike Kotevich
ACD: Caleb McMullen
ACD: Hussein Rumaithi
Copywriter: Caleb McMullen
Art Director: Hussein Rumaithi
Copywriter: Patrick Gravel, Jacqueline Lee, Dawson Courson
Art Director: Logan Novak
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
Account Executive: Daniella Okezie
Chief Strategy Officer: Shelley Brown
Strategy Director: Stephanie Gyles
Strategy Director: Amanda Soares
VP, Strategy 1:1 Practice Lead: John Fung
Strategy Director, Content: 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
Casting: Jesse Griffiths Casting Inc.
Production Company: Unified Content
Executive Producer: Laurie Jones
Executive Producer: Michi Lepik-Stahl
Director: Tom Feiler
Line Producer: Caitlin Cucco
Director of Photography: TJ Derry
Director of Photography: Adam Madrzyk
Editor: Peter Miller
Assistant Editor: Luke Ionico
VFX: Jay Ryan
Colourist: Kristina Mileska
Online & Producer: Rebecca Burtnik
Post Production:
Animator: Brent Bergerson, Think Tank Creative
Music/Sound Company: Oso
CD: Daenen Bramberger
Engineer: Leo Hicks
Executive Producer: Hannah Graham
Producer: Jane Heath
Media Agency: UM
Ryan Hunter – Vice President, Client Business Partner
Sarah Fraser - Senior Director, Connections Planning