Who: RBC Future Launch, with content agency Salt and influencer agency BlueSky Communications.
What: A new Snapchat-based content series, Building Confidence to promote the resources RBC Future Launch has created for youth entering today’s job market, and the RBC Future Launch at Home online hub launched in April.
“While Canadian youth are feeling anxious and unprepared to enter the workforce with the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have also embraced the fact that they must be resilient,” said RBC in a release announcing the program. “As a result, they are responsible self-starters and have shown interest in developing the skills necessary to pursue opportunities in an evolving world of work.”
When & Where: The campaign launched last week, with all four videos currently available on RBC’s Snapchat brand channel (a new feature that Snapchat introduced in April). While the program is running exclusively on Snapchat, Gary Edgar, RBC’s director of Enterprise Social Media, described it as “portable” format.
Snapchat, though, is where RBC wants to be—largely because of its popularity among the younger Canadians who are the target for RBC Future Launch.
Why: RBC Future Launch is a 10-year, $500 million commitment to help Canadian youth find meaningful employment by providing them with access to skills development, networking and mental wellbeing support and services. “It’s one thing to tell them about this great place, but to actually contextualize it through these Snapchat conversations felt like a great way to show people the value it adds and how they can access it, not just tell them,” said Edgar.
How: RBC partnered with influencers Tiffany Jansen (a software developer and mentor), Sumaya Shaarif (a part-time blogger and teacher), Sawyer Hannay (an entrepreneur and former pro hockey player) and Larissa Crawford (founder/managing director of the professional services company Future Ancestors Services) to create videos featuring them in discussion with young professionals.
The approximately three-minute videos address four key content pillars: how to gain new skills; enhancing mental wellbeing; how to get work experience and how to grow your network. The creative conceit is that as each influencer speaks they perform another creative task that bears some resemblance to what they’re speaking about, such as painting a picture, building a Lego set or cooking a bison stew. “It’s a fun, additional to help heighten the conversation,” said Edgar. “It adds that extra dimension of interest and visual attractiveness.”
RBC also developed AR lenses corresponding to each episode, which it says will offer young audiences a “fun, engaging way” to discover RBC Future Launch content.
And we quote: “RBC Future Launch at Home is all about delivering virtual programs designed to keep young people engaged while providing valuable content to empower them for the future of work. Teaming up with Snapchat to host this campaign allows us to reach the key youth demographic in a way that will resonate and provide access to free advice, tools and resources available through RBC Future Launch in an increasingly virtual world.” — Gary Edgar, director of enterprise social media, RBC
