Who: CIBC’s Simplii Financial brand with Juniper Park\TBWA.
What: A new English Canadian campaign, “The Simple Things.”
When & Where: The campaign originally broke in mid-March across digital and social, with a TV spot added at the beginning of June. There are also out-of-home ads and a series of online videos (see the TV spot and online elements below). It’s running through October.
Why: Rob Assimakopoulos, senior vice-president, chief marketing officer at CIBC, says that the campaign is about building the three-year-old Simplii brand and distinguishing it in the market. The ads also showcase the various features available to Simplii customers, such as no-fee banking, favourable mortgage rates and free e-transfers.
How: The animated visuals make use of the two red dots at the heart of the Simplii logo, which become everything from the spotlights at a concert to the buttons on a gaming controller.
The messaging focuses on how Simplii’s services enable customers to focus on the simple things that bring them joy, like concerts (sigh, I miss concerts), an additional streaming service or even a new home.
Is this a COVID campaign? It may seem particularly appropriate for a period where people are stuck at home and doing a lot of soul-searching about what they have versus what want and need, but the creative approach was conceived prior to the global pandemic and is built around the idea that a life lived simply is more enjoyable and fulfilling, says Assimakopoulos.
“Our use of animation as a technique is a unique, flexible and attention-grabbing approach that works well with Simplii’s brand identity,” says Assimakopoulos. “We are also able to create a strong visual presence for Simplii while connecting our bank to some of the positive lifestyle benefits experienced by [our] clients.”
The creative inspiration comes from the TBWA network’s cultural insights unit Backslash, which identified a bleeding-edge trend called “zero out”—in which people are emptying out their “overstuffed” lives and opting for simpler things like festivals of nothingness (so, like the opposite of Coachella) and zero-waste living.
And we quote: “We’re always striving to make our clients’ lives simpler. Now more than ever Canadians are looking for support from their financial institution to ease their mind and help them pursue what brings them joy” —Rob Assimakopoulos, senior vice-president, chief marketing officer at CIBC.
