2024 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

As Gen Z begins to enter adulthood and make their own money, they’re faced with inflating prices and an unstable economy. Combined with entry-level salaries and gig economy paycheques, Gen Z are racking up more credit card debt than any other previous generation. BMO’s brand promise is to help Gen Z make real financial progress, so they created a credit card that was built in the best interests of the people who use it, rather than to accumulate interest for the bank.

Instead of earning rewards for spending more, the BMO eclipse rise Visa Card is designed to reward Gen Z for using credit well: paying off their balance and paying their bills on time, reinforcing good financial habits. For a new product, the brand was looking to connect with the brand’s Gen Z target, engage their interest, and ultimately drive sign-ups for the card. But the brand needed to launch it in a way that would not only pique the interest of their Gen Z target, while also getting good financial habits to stick.

Gen Z goes to TikTok for financial advice, but it’s the music that sticks with them. While young Canadians want to learn more about finance, they avoid engaging with banks, preferring to get financial advice from almost anyone, almost anywhere, rather than go to a bank. In fact, 76%1 of Gen Z look to TikTok to learn about finance, so the brand wanted to activate there, where they are, and on their terms.

But simply launching on TikTok wasn’t enough. The brand’s ambition was to help their target establish better financial habits. The brand wanted to get those good habits stuck in their heads. Research among TikTok users shows that, if a brand uses a song that they like in the video, 68% of listeners remember the brand better, 58% feel a stronger connection to the brand, and 62% are more curious to learn more
about the brand.

BMO dropped the first TikTok track that acts as a reminder to pay your bills. The brand partnered with viral TikTok sensation, bbno$, as their Gen Z ambassador to encourage good financial habits. Based on his 3M followers and viral earworm fame with singles La La La and Edamame, the brand knew bbno$ was perfect for the job – right down to his name.

They recorded a new, custom TikTok track, “Bills Paid On Time” (BPOT) with lyrics that touched on the experience of starting to make money and emphasized that paying bills on time is the key thing that will help you make real financial progress.

BMO then dropped the track on a key bill paying date and pushed reminders to ensure their new bill-paying behaviour extended past the campaign.

The song and corresponding video were teased out days before the drop to get the TikTok algorithm working in the brand’s favour. The official premiere of the video came on a key bill paying date – January 30th. With bbno$ as their Gen Z liaison, the brand ensured he maintained creative control in order to maintain authenticity with their audience.

With minimal branding and subtle brand cues, their audience was engaged with the content as content, instead of as an ad. To continue to get good financial habits to stick post-launch, the brand partnered with Community, the leading messaging and engagement platform, to send customized messages penned by bbno$ himself to remind young Canadians to pay their bills, in-full and on-time.

With the equity already built through their partnership with bbno$, BMO collaborated with the artist to ensure the messages are entertaining and written in his voice, with reminders and tips to help make new bill paying habits stick. Using snippets and motifs from BPOT, texts from Community will allow the song to live on outside of TikTok and YouTube and reinforce Gen Z’s valuable engagement with BMO.

The brand also wanted to expand the virality of their track into real life. BMO became a sponsor for bbno$’s charity music festival, bb’s bonanza, and used fun, tangible concert staples like beach balls and animated stage visuals to work as tactical reminders of the song lyrics. The sing-along lyrics were printed onto beach balls, so that when bbno$ performs BPOT, people could sing along, engage, and be reminded to pay their
bills on time.

The campaign connected with the brand’s audience and exceeded benchmarks. The CTR on the music video was more than triple the benchmark and the overall TikTok engagement rate was more than 9x benchmark. While the overall Meta engagement rates was more than 14x benchmark and turned into one of the top songs of the year.

Upon launch, the campaign’s video got 14M views in the first 24 hours. Which later grew to a major hit at 30M views with 98% positive sentiment, becoming the most liked Financial Services ad on TikTok.

Most importantly, drove credit card sign-ups and ultimately, drove a 229% increase in BMO eclipse Rise sign-ups within the first month of launch.

Credits

Client: BMO
Michelle Feeney – CMO, Personal and Business Banking (North America)
Caspian Yu – Managing Director, Payments Marketing
Louise Adams – Senior Manager, Credit Card Marketing
Jordan Woods – Senior Marketing Manager, Credit Card Acquisition
Naveed Khan - Marketing Coordinator, Credit Card Acquisition

Creative Agency: FCB
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna – Chief Creative Officer
Jennifer Rossini – Executive Creative Director
Angeline Parsons – Associate Creative Director
Angeline Parsons – Copywriter
Eric Carriere – Senior Art Director
Logan Novak – Junior Art Director
Dawson Courson – Junior Copywriter
Shelley Brown – Chief Strategy Officer
Ally Dwyer-Joyce – Senior Strategist
Daisy Qin – Strategy Director, Content
Tracy Little – EVP, General Manager
Jessica Lax – VP, Client Service Lead
Samantha Ward – Group Account Director
Caiti Murray – Account Supervisor

Media Agency: UM Canada
Ryan Hunter – VP, Client Business Partner
Sarah Fraser – Senior Director, Connections Planning
Jack Williams – Manager, Connections Planning
Michael Medves – Planner, Connections Planning

Influencer Management & Execution: Media brands Content Studio
Annelie Gutgesell – Director, Talent and Influencer Content
Grace Austin – Associate Director, Content Mediabrands Content Studio
Melissa Hoffman – Senior Content Strategist

Production (bbno$ assets): Made You Look Media
Directed by Shiraz Higgins
Produced by Heather Lindsay
Director of Photography – Jon Thomas
1st AC – Sam Berringer
Key Grip – Lance Ziska
Gaffer – Jordan Shelton
Gaff Assistant – Nico Wainer
Storyboard Artist – Hank Pine
Swing – Tristen Moriarty-Lyttle

SMS Customer Engagement Platform: Community

456 Studios:
VP, Director of Studio Production: Kendra Plantt
Sr. Integrated Producer: Anastasia Gal