THE CHALLENGE:

BMO needed to connect with a generation of customers that actively ignores them.

BMO (Bank of Montreal) is the 8th largest bank in North America, but our customer base was aging and we needed to connect with a younger demographic. However, young adults hate traditional banks. New online options and the desire for personalization have driven many younger millennial and Gen Z customers to turn to fintech and non-banks.

Traditional banks, like BMO, were getting left behind and actively ignored by younger consumers. To reverse this trend and connect with younger customers, BMO needed an initiative to stimulate authentic and active engagement. An ad campaign was not going to resonate, we needed to do something a bank had never done before.

The primary objective was to find a new channel where the bank could connect with younger audiences to provide a level of personalized service and banking capabilities. This new channel needed to drive engagement, elevate brand perception, and ultimately lead non-customers to consider BMO and open new accounts. 

THE ONE-LINE KEY INSIGHT:

For gamers, the progress, skills, and success they experience in-game builds confidence. However, this confidence doesn't always extend into their daily lives, especially when it comes to their finances.

THE ONE-LINE IDEA:

BMO NXT LVL, a first-of-its-kind Twitch stream that lives at the intersection of gaming culture and banking to help gamers reach the next level in gaming and personal finances.

THE PLAN:

NEW BREED OF BANKER

After selecting Twitch as our launchpad, we knew a bank branch on Twitch required a special kind of banker to host it, someone who understands gaming. We found a BMO employee, Sean Frame, who was a Personal Banker at a local branch and a devoted gamer. BMO created a new full-time position for him, called the Gaming Relations Specialist (GRS).

TRANSFORMING THE BANK EXPERIENCE

Gamers tuned in to BMO’s 50+ live streams in large numbers, including unplanned visits from famous esports personalities. In the live chat, BMO was bombarded with questions, many of which revealed a clear lack of financial knowledge. We quickly realized that gamers, under the cover of their anonymous gamer tags, were more than happy to ask questions that may otherwise be embarrassing for them while banking in-person.

ENGAGEMENT BEYOND EDUCATION

Over time, we were able to more tightly integrate banking products and services within the NXT LVL platform. BMO had proven it can authentically live within gaming, and now needed to drive business results through new banking account sign-ups. By providing direct access to account registrations in a live gaming environment, BMO was successful in driving a massive uptick in new account sign-ups.

THE RESULTS:

BMO changed the gaming community's opinion of what a bank can be. All this despite the objections of Twitch, who recommended against a bank creating a Twitch channel. BMO NXT LVL took a bank to a place no bank had been before, showing younger consumers that a traditional bank knew them better than they thought, and proved there is room for a bank to live and thrive within gaming culture.

DRIVING DESIRE
13% increase in new Everyday Banking accounts.
24% increase in student account openings.
4% improvement in consideration/purchase intent.

BRAND BUILDING
40% improvement in unaided awareness.
100+ hours of searchable Twitch clips developed for Discord.

CHANGING PERCEPTION
30% improvement in gaming association.
15% improvement in perception of innovativeness.

CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT
15,000+ hours spent watching BMO live content on Twitch.
123,245 unique views.
8.5 million video views.