2024 Winner
GoldBest in Social
GoldBest in Finance and Services
GoldBest Use of Display/Video
SilverMedia Collaboration: Best Partnering
SilverBest Use of Influencers
BMO
"BRB Screen"
UM / FCB
"BRB Screen"
UM / FCB
To expand their relevance to younger audiences, BMO knew the critical importance of building affinity and consideration with gamers, as 95% of Gen Z and Millennials play video games in some capacity. Even when Gen Z and Millennials are not playing games, they’re watching other people play on Twitch. Of Twitch’s average 35 million daily visitors, 70% are between the ages of 18-34, so they knew Twitch would be the perfect platform to reach this audience.
BMO’s challenge was to engage gamers to increase brand consideration, boost their gaming credentials, and drive interest in the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card; a card that fits into the gamer lifestyle with 5x the points on food delivery and takeout. Specifically, success meant driving a 4% lift in brand consideration, 5% lift in brand association with gaming, and 3,000 click-throughs to the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card page for users to learn more.
However, Twitch audiences are notoriously averse to traditional advertising, especially from large corporations. As they dug into audience behaviour and perceptions on Twitch, recurring comments affirmed this sentiment with complaints around ad disruptions during streams.
But ads are not the only things that cause viewer disruptions on Twitch. Here is where the insight emerged. When streamers inevitably step away to grab a bite to eat or drink, they put up “Be Right Back” (BRB) screens. “BRB screens” usually just feature a branded background or animation with prominent "Be Right Back" text, often including the streamer's logo, social media handles, countdown timer, background music, and a chat box.
The agency learned from streamer tutorials and forums that streamers were experiencing a significant drop-off in viewership when they put up these “BRB screens”. This meant that not only do audiences on Twitch dislike ad disruptions, but they’re also clicking away from disruptions brought on by the streamers themselves. This is a problem for streamers because a drop in viewership negatively impacts their engagement metrics and ultimately their revenue.
Based on this insight, instead of creating more disruptive moments with traditional ad placements, the strategy was to turn an existing disruptive moment into an engaging new media channel. By hacking the passive “BRB screen” and transforming it into a playable moment, they would not only retain viewers for streamers, but also create a welcome place for BMO card messaging.
BMO introduced “eclipse Odyssey”, a unique role-playing game that took over when Twitch streamers went on break, in order to gamify the typically boring “BRB screens”. They worked with streamers to turn them into a personalized, playable character in the game, making the experience unique to their brand and style.
Since streamers usually put up their “BRB screens” when they step away to grab a bite, the game revolved around the streamer's quest for food. This aligned perfectly with the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card’s reward structure, offering 5x points on takeout, delivery, and transport. Viewers participated actively by making decisions for the streamer through in-chat polls, guiding their character's journey, and choices within the game.
By integrating the card's benefits into the gameplay, BMO was able to effectively connect with Twitch audiences in a way that was entertaining, relevant, and UNdisruptive.
The agency transformed a disliked, disruptive moment for Twitch viewers into engaging gameplay and introduced an industry first, new media channel in a social environment while building a new media channel is innovative by definition, by creating a new channel and using it to solve a real consumer problem, BMO took innovation to the next level. This execution not only delivered an effective solution to this challenge, but naturally made consumers want to lean in while doing so, earning BMO both attention and strengthened brand perceptions.
The campaigns bold, inventive approach drove outstanding impact. By transforming a disruptive moment into a captivating, value-added experience for gen z and millennials, BMO effectively engaged with gamers, increased its association with gaming, and drove interest in the BMO eclipse Visa Card. Importantly, it also supported Twitch streamers, resulting in a win for everyone involved.
“BRB Screen” garnered a whopping 8% brand lift in consideration, doubling BMO’s objective. There was a 9% lift in brand association with gaming, indexing 180 to our objective and over 4,000 viewers clicked through to learn more about the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card, indexing at 133 to their objective.
In addition, a remarkable 84% average retention rate and an average of 850% more chat interactions compared to benchmarks.
BMO’s challenge was to engage gamers to increase brand consideration, boost their gaming credentials, and drive interest in the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card; a card that fits into the gamer lifestyle with 5x the points on food delivery and takeout. Specifically, success meant driving a 4% lift in brand consideration, 5% lift in brand association with gaming, and 3,000 click-throughs to the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card page for users to learn more.
However, Twitch audiences are notoriously averse to traditional advertising, especially from large corporations. As they dug into audience behaviour and perceptions on Twitch, recurring comments affirmed this sentiment with complaints around ad disruptions during streams.
But ads are not the only things that cause viewer disruptions on Twitch. Here is where the insight emerged. When streamers inevitably step away to grab a bite to eat or drink, they put up “Be Right Back” (BRB) screens. “BRB screens” usually just feature a branded background or animation with prominent "Be Right Back" text, often including the streamer's logo, social media handles, countdown timer, background music, and a chat box.
The agency learned from streamer tutorials and forums that streamers were experiencing a significant drop-off in viewership when they put up these “BRB screens”. This meant that not only do audiences on Twitch dislike ad disruptions, but they’re also clicking away from disruptions brought on by the streamers themselves. This is a problem for streamers because a drop in viewership negatively impacts their engagement metrics and ultimately their revenue.
Based on this insight, instead of creating more disruptive moments with traditional ad placements, the strategy was to turn an existing disruptive moment into an engaging new media channel. By hacking the passive “BRB screen” and transforming it into a playable moment, they would not only retain viewers for streamers, but also create a welcome place for BMO card messaging.
BMO introduced “eclipse Odyssey”, a unique role-playing game that took over when Twitch streamers went on break, in order to gamify the typically boring “BRB screens”. They worked with streamers to turn them into a personalized, playable character in the game, making the experience unique to their brand and style.
Since streamers usually put up their “BRB screens” when they step away to grab a bite, the game revolved around the streamer's quest for food. This aligned perfectly with the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card’s reward structure, offering 5x points on takeout, delivery, and transport. Viewers participated actively by making decisions for the streamer through in-chat polls, guiding their character's journey, and choices within the game.
By integrating the card's benefits into the gameplay, BMO was able to effectively connect with Twitch audiences in a way that was entertaining, relevant, and UNdisruptive.
The agency transformed a disliked, disruptive moment for Twitch viewers into engaging gameplay and introduced an industry first, new media channel in a social environment while building a new media channel is innovative by definition, by creating a new channel and using it to solve a real consumer problem, BMO took innovation to the next level. This execution not only delivered an effective solution to this challenge, but naturally made consumers want to lean in while doing so, earning BMO both attention and strengthened brand perceptions.
The campaigns bold, inventive approach drove outstanding impact. By transforming a disruptive moment into a captivating, value-added experience for gen z and millennials, BMO effectively engaged with gamers, increased its association with gaming, and drove interest in the BMO eclipse Visa Card. Importantly, it also supported Twitch streamers, resulting in a win for everyone involved.
“BRB Screen” garnered a whopping 8% brand lift in consideration, doubling BMO’s objective. There was a 9% lift in brand association with gaming, indexing 180 to our objective and over 4,000 viewers clicked through to learn more about the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite card, indexing at 133 to their objective.
In addition, a remarkable 84% average retention rate and an average of 850% more chat interactions compared to benchmarks.
Credits
MEDIA AGENCY: UMRyan Hunter – Executive Vice President
Sarah Fraser – Senior Director, Connections Planning
Jack Williams – Manager, Connections Planning
Michael Medves – Planner, Connections Planning
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
Jenna Eager – Lead, Digital Acquisition
Cari Kosta – Senior Marketing Manager, Digital Acquisition
CREATIVE AGENCY: FCB
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna – Chief Creative Officer
Jennifer Rossini – Executive Creative Director
JP De Leon – Associate Creative Director, Art Director
Yulenka Phillips – Senior Copywriter
Shelley Brown – Chief Strategy Officer
Mary Judges - VP, Strategy Director
Ally Dwyer-Joyce – Senior Strategist
Tracy Little – EVP, General Manager
Jessica Lax – VP, Client Services Lead
Samantha Ward – Group Account Director
Caiti Murray – Account Supervisor
Sophia R’Bibo - Account Executive
Elise Beuavais - Executive Producer
Sarah Michener - VP, Broadcast
Stefanie Briand - Broadcast Producer
Kendra Plantt - VP, Director of Studio Production
Anastasia Gal - Sr. Integrated Producer
BRB SCREEN ANIMATION HOUSE: Blame Your Brother
Danielle Araiche - Executive Producer
STREAMER SOURCING & MANAGEMENT: Twitch Canada
Matthew Castagna - Agency Development Manager, Amazon Ads
Brian Crochetiere - Account Manager, Amazon Ads
Cassie Curcio - Sr. Account Executive, Amazon Ads