EQ Bank campaign challenges assumptions about traditional banking

Who: EQ Bank and Union for creative and media.

What: A new advertising campaign for the three-year-old digital bank, which targets younger, digitally savvy consumers willing to challenge traditional ways of banking—like the need for a savings and a chequing account.

When & Where: The campaign began Monday with a TV spot (below) as well as social and out-of-home, including takeovers of Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport and a TTC streetcar.

Why: EQ doesn’t offer a lot of services, but it does offer a 2.3% savings account. This spot takes that as the starting point, and touts the other advantages of EQ to get people to question what they are getting from their current bank and challenge assumptions about what they need from a chequing account.

Target: Younger, digitally savvy people who aren’t afraid to push back against the status quo for things like banking.

How: A TV ad in which a potential customers breaks the fourth wall to ask questions of the announcer: she wants no fees, unlimited transactions, no minimum balance and to be the fairest in the land. “We wanted to show EQ’s challenger attitude with a campaign that breaks all the rules itself… It tells people that questioning banking conventions is something EQ believes in,” said Adam Thur, creative director at Union, in a release.

Quote: “People have just accepted that you need different accounts to do different things… But creating something with high interest that also lets people use their money freely is an out-of-the-box thought for an industry that can sometimes be set in its ways.” —Caleb Rubin, VP marketing for EQ Bank.

David Brown