Who: RBC with Giants & Gentlemen. Media handled by Initiative and RBC’s internal social team.

What: A social advertising campaign that uses vision boards to communicate with Canadians who may have changed their outlook and/or their life goals as a result of the pandemic.

When & Where: The campaign launched July 29 with static and video ads running across social, with influencers creating their own vision boards for RBC.

Why: The bank’s research revealed that since early in the pandemic, many Canadians have been shifting their life goals and imagining a different future for themselves.

“In the last year-and-a-half, there’s been a societal shift to address many of the things we weren’t happy with,” said Caroline Paxton, RBC’s vice-president, media and strategic initiatives, in a release. “[W]e want not only to encourage people to take that action, but to be a partner in helping them do so.”

But while Canadians may have changed their thinking about the future, they still remain generally reluctant to discuss money. RBC and G&G needed a campaign to connect with those people.

How: Rather than talk about money, the creative is about consumer hopes and dreams, recreated in the digital vision boards running as ads across social media.

The video ads share vision boards from actual Canadians who’ve changed their outlook during the pandemic, and invite viewers to contact RBC if they’ve felt a similar shift.

And we quote: “The pandemic has forced us to have some honest conversations with ourselves about what’s important. We wanted to leverage that insight and turn it into something fun, understandable, and stress-free. The vision board was an engaging and relatable way to do that.” — Alanna Nathanson, co-founder and chief creative officer, Giants & Gentlemen