2022 Winner
SilverBest in Brand Integration
BronzeBest in Finance and Services
BronzeBest in Social Media
BronzeBest Disruption
BMO
"NXT LVL"
UM, FCB, Twitch
"NXT LVL"
UM, FCB, Twitch
BMO needed to connect with a generation of customers that actively ignores them. Young adults don’t prefer traditional banks. New options and the desire for personalization have driven many younger millennial and Gen Z customers to dislike traditional banking and turn to big tech
= and non-banks. Traditional banks are getting left behind and having a hard time engaging these younger consumers. To reverse this trend and connect with younger current and potential customers, BMO needed a new initiative to meet them where they are.
Seeing explosive growth, and a global revenue of $220B, surpassing the global film industry and all North American sports combined, gaming is where young adults are. While many brands are dipping their toes into gaming, banks have been slow to make significant commitments.
BMO saw this as an opportunity to be the first bank to own the gaming space, provide value and play a more relevant role in their consumers' lives as they connect with their passions.
Success would be measured by a combination of factors including: improved consideration/purchase intent, campaign engagement, improved gaming association and a lift in perceived innovativeness. BMO knew that gaming was where it had to be, but needed to figure out how a bank could authentically engage there.
Gaming is replacing traditional advertising channels such as print and television and becoming a significant part of a modern, digital media and entertainment lifestyle for millennials and Gen Z. BMO’s disruptive media approach was to use gaming as a portal to humanize and
contemporize their brand and allow them to authentically connect with the young adult community in a way no bank had done before.
The media challenge was to engage savvy gamers. So, BMO created a rich digital platform and
interactive branded content experience like no other to accomplish exactly that. BMO knew that for gamers, the progress, skill and success that they feel while gaming doesn't always extend into their daily lives, especially when it comes to their finances.
With a whole generation of consumers actively avoiding banks, BMO decided to enter a space
with 100 million monthly visitors, forging an innovative partnership with Twitch. Twitch is known for its massive gaming community and educational and entertaining content. BMO leveraged the partnership to educate gamers and help them level up in their financial progress the same way they
level up in game.
However, gamers would need to see one of their own to authentically take the bank to a place
where no bank had been before. So, BMO set out to hire a new kind of employee: the world’s
first gaming relations specialist. BMO looked no further than their own talented employees to find a charismatic, skilled gamer with six years of banking experience working at a branch in
Windsor, Ontario. The bank transplanted him from the physical customer front line, to a virtual front line at a time when customers were rethinking the role banks play within their
daily financial experience.
On May 13th, the first season of BMO NXT LVL went live. Three live-streamed episodes provided financial education through the lens of gaming. BMO’s gaming relations specialist
played popular games while discussing finance with the hottest Canadian gaming influencers
like Wardell, MTashed and Kate Stark. Episodes saw the gaming relations specialist answering questions and sharing tips on topics like monetizing gaming, homeownership and budgeting.
BMO added a landing page, contests and game-play across Twitter, TikTok, Steam, Discord,
Reddit and Twitch, all designed to own the gaming space. The campaign was supported with paid units on Twitch and organic content to drive awareness and reinforce brand authenticity.
BMO launched the world’s first banking channel on the world’s number one streaming platform to help gamers level up in gaming and finances.
In addition to being a world first, the power of this pioneering new media approach stemmed from the key insight that their young adult audience wants desperately to make progress in their
financial life, but see banks more as a hindrance to that progress than an accelerator.
However, the gaming world, with its endless amounts of expert players to watch, threads to read, and games to play, offers an easier and far more entertaining way to experience "progress".
BMO's innovation at its core was using media to emulate and facilitate the power of progress
that they experience in gaming and inviting young adults to make it easier to progress financially
in real life.
In addition to numerous “firsts” – the Twitch partnership, deploying gaming/banking influencers, creating banking’s first gaming relations specialist – BMO went even further to deepen visitors’ experience. They created a highly-engaging, content-driven Augmented Reality version of the gaming relations specialist’s office with interactive hotspots, video content and financial and gaming tips. A/R banking on Twitch was suddenly a reality.
BMO built a first-of-its-kind platform that far exceeded its goals, and reimagined where and how consumers engage with a bank. By launching this platform on Twitch, with content that intersects gaming culture and personal finances, BMO changed the gaming community's opinion of what a bank can be. All this despite reservations from Twitch, which initially recommended against a bank creating a Twitch channel, but ultimately became BMO’s most valuable partner and co-conspirator.
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 proved there is room for a bank to live and thrive within gaming culture. Season one key results include outstanding breakthrough and gaming association, a significant lift in brand equity and staggering engagement levels reaching BMO’s young adult audience online.
= and non-banks. Traditional banks are getting left behind and having a hard time engaging these younger consumers. To reverse this trend and connect with younger current and potential customers, BMO needed a new initiative to meet them where they are.
Seeing explosive growth, and a global revenue of $220B, surpassing the global film industry and all North American sports combined, gaming is where young adults are. While many brands are dipping their toes into gaming, banks have been slow to make significant commitments.
BMO saw this as an opportunity to be the first bank to own the gaming space, provide value and play a more relevant role in their consumers' lives as they connect with their passions.
Success would be measured by a combination of factors including: improved consideration/purchase intent, campaign engagement, improved gaming association and a lift in perceived innovativeness. BMO knew that gaming was where it had to be, but needed to figure out how a bank could authentically engage there.
Gaming is replacing traditional advertising channels such as print and television and becoming a significant part of a modern, digital media and entertainment lifestyle for millennials and Gen Z. BMO’s disruptive media approach was to use gaming as a portal to humanize and
contemporize their brand and allow them to authentically connect with the young adult community in a way no bank had done before.
The media challenge was to engage savvy gamers. So, BMO created a rich digital platform and
interactive branded content experience like no other to accomplish exactly that. BMO knew that for gamers, the progress, skill and success that they feel while gaming doesn't always extend into their daily lives, especially when it comes to their finances.
With a whole generation of consumers actively avoiding banks, BMO decided to enter a space
with 100 million monthly visitors, forging an innovative partnership with Twitch. Twitch is known for its massive gaming community and educational and entertaining content. BMO leveraged the partnership to educate gamers and help them level up in their financial progress the same way they
level up in game.
However, gamers would need to see one of their own to authentically take the bank to a place
where no bank had been before. So, BMO set out to hire a new kind of employee: the world’s
first gaming relations specialist. BMO looked no further than their own talented employees to find a charismatic, skilled gamer with six years of banking experience working at a branch in
Windsor, Ontario. The bank transplanted him from the physical customer front line, to a virtual front line at a time when customers were rethinking the role banks play within their
daily financial experience.
On May 13th, the first season of BMO NXT LVL went live. Three live-streamed episodes provided financial education through the lens of gaming. BMO’s gaming relations specialist
played popular games while discussing finance with the hottest Canadian gaming influencers
like Wardell, MTashed and Kate Stark. Episodes saw the gaming relations specialist answering questions and sharing tips on topics like monetizing gaming, homeownership and budgeting.
BMO added a landing page, contests and game-play across Twitter, TikTok, Steam, Discord,
Reddit and Twitch, all designed to own the gaming space. The campaign was supported with paid units on Twitch and organic content to drive awareness and reinforce brand authenticity.
BMO launched the world’s first banking channel on the world’s number one streaming platform to help gamers level up in gaming and finances.
In addition to being a world first, the power of this pioneering new media approach stemmed from the key insight that their young adult audience wants desperately to make progress in their
financial life, but see banks more as a hindrance to that progress than an accelerator.
However, the gaming world, with its endless amounts of expert players to watch, threads to read, and games to play, offers an easier and far more entertaining way to experience "progress".
BMO's innovation at its core was using media to emulate and facilitate the power of progress
that they experience in gaming and inviting young adults to make it easier to progress financially
in real life.
In addition to numerous “firsts” – the Twitch partnership, deploying gaming/banking influencers, creating banking’s first gaming relations specialist – BMO went even further to deepen visitors’ experience. They created a highly-engaging, content-driven Augmented Reality version of the gaming relations specialist’s office with interactive hotspots, video content and financial and gaming tips. A/R banking on Twitch was suddenly a reality.
BMO built a first-of-its-kind platform that far exceeded its goals, and reimagined where and how consumers engage with a bank. By launching this platform on Twitch, with content that intersects gaming culture and personal finances, BMO changed the gaming community's opinion of what a bank can be. All this despite reservations from Twitch, which initially recommended against a bank creating a Twitch channel, but ultimately became BMO’s most valuable partner and co-conspirator.
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 proved there is room for a bank to live and thrive within gaming culture. Season one key results include outstanding breakthrough and gaming association, a significant lift in brand equity and staggering engagement levels reaching BMO’s young adult audience online.
Credits
BMOChief Marketing Officer, Banking and Chief Data & Analytics Officer: Maja Neable
Managing Director, Personal Banking & Lending: Mike Stean
Director, Customer Growth Marketing & Enterprise Value Proposition: Bessie Lam
Senior Manager, Segments Marketing: Alexis Chen
Senior Marketing Manager: Matthew Tang
Marketing Manager, Segments Marketing: Samantha De Gregorio
Director, Enterprise Social Media: Nick Nunes
Social Media Coordinator: Kenya Marcelline
Gaming Relations Specialist: Sean Frame
UM
VP, Client Business Partner, Tim Davies
VP, Client Business Partner, Ryan Hunter
Senior Director, Connections Planning, Sarah Fraser
Manager, Connections Planning, Riane Doyle
Senior Planner, Connections Planning, Ruth Spencer
FCB Canada
Chief Creative Officer: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna; Executive Creative Director: Andrew MacPhee; Executive Creative Director: Jeremiah McNama; 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; Senior 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
Production Company 1: Unified Content
Production Company 2: Think Tank Creative
Music/Sound Company: Oso