2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

Gen Z has the fastest growing credit card debt of any generation. The last thing they needed was another credit card.

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.

The BMO eclipse rise Visa Card is designed to reward users for using credit well paying off their balance and paying their bills on time, reinforcing good financial habits. As a brand new product, the brand was looking to connect with their Gen Z target, engage their interest, and ultimately drive a 50% increase in sign-ups for the card. But they needed to launch it in a way that would not only pique the interest of Gen Z, but also get 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% of Gen Z look to TikTok to learn about finance, so the agency wanted to activate there, where they are, and on their terms.

But simply launching on TikTok wasn’t enough. BMO’s ambition was to help their target establish better financial habits. BMO 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.

The agency dropped the first TikTok track that acts as a reminder to pay your bills. They partnered with viral TikTok sensation, bbno$, as the Gen Z ambassador to encourage good financial habits.

Based on his 3.4M followers and viral earworm fame with singles La La La and Edamame, they 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.

The song and video were teased out days before the drop to get the TikTok algorithm working in our favour. The official drop came on a key bill paying date, January 30th.

They gave bbno$ creative control in order to maintain authenticity with the brand’s audience. With minimal branding, their audience was engaged with the content as content, instead of as an ad.

Post-launch, they 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.

Finally, BMO sponsored bbno$’s charity music festival, bb’s bonanza, distributing sing-along lyrics printed onto beach balls, so that when bbno$ performs BPOT, people could 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, their overall TikTok engagement rate was more than 9x benchmark and the overall Meta engagement rates was more than 14x benchmark.

“Bills Paid On Time” turned into one of the top songs of the year. Upon launch, the 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, the campaign drove credit card sign-ups, and ultimately, drove a 129% BMO eclipse Rise sign-ups within the first month of launch.

Credits

Client: BMO
Michelle Feeney – CMO, Personal and Business Banking (NA)
Caspian Yu – Managing Director, Payments Marketing
Louise Adams – Sr. Manager, Credit Card Marketing
Alfonsa Timpano – Sr. Marketing Manager, Credit Card Acquisition
Jordan Woods – Sr. Marketing Manager, Credit Card Acquisition
Naveed Khan – Marketing Coordinator, Credit Card Acquisition
Jenna Eager – Lead, Digital Acquisition
Cari Kosta – Sr. Marketing Manager, Digital Acquisition

Creative Agency: FCB
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna – CCO
Jennifer Rossini – ECD
Angeline Parsons – ACD
Eric Carriere – ACD
Angeline Parsons – Sr. Copywriter
Eric Carriere – Sr. Art Director
Logan Novak – Jr. Art Director
Dawson Courson – Jr. Copywriter
Shelley Brown – CSO
Ally Dwyer-Joyce – Sr. 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 – EVP
Sarah Fraser – Sr. Director, Connections Planning
Jack Williams – Manager, Connections Planning
Michael Medves – Planner, Connections Planning
Arturo Valenzuela – Associate Direct, Paid Social
Cristian, Garrido – Account Manager, Paid Social

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

Production (bbno$ assets): Made You Look Media
Director: Shiraz Higgins
Producer: Heather Lindsay
DOP – 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
Luke Auger - Sr. Director, Enterprise
Liz LaRocca - Sr. Account Manager

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