Why This Canadian Bank Is Celebrating Temporary Foreign Workers and other Newcomers
For many years, Canada has been the ideal country for immigrants seeking to build something new. But, recently, that journey has grown more and more complex. You see, it’s not about the willingness of the nation to host newcomers. In fact, this year alone, the country plans to welcome 430,000 permanent residents and 550,000 temporary foreign workers by year end, according to research by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Rather, it’s a competitive place to get into, which really adds to the difficulties that already come with moving to a new country, such as finding a place, community, and truly making good on the new start.
Keenly aware of this, RBC has spent much of its history trying to make things a little easier. So, following the launch of its ‘New Can Feel Like Home’ campaign last year, it wanted to once again celebrate the newcomer journey, while also advertising how it can help. Continuing its partnership with Dentsu Creative Canada, the two decided that this year, they would look at the temporary foreign worker experience, while specifically choosing to represent the Filipino community, which makes up a large portion of Canadian newcomers. Heartfelt and honest, the film tells the story of a dad who separates from his family, leaving them behind to set up a beachhead, demonstrating how RBC can help through the provision of advisors who, specifically, were once newcomers themselves.
To learn more, LBB’s Jordan Won Neufeldt sat down with RBC’s vice president, lending, international banking and cultural marketing, Jennifer Howard, as well as Dentsu creative director Dave Federico and group strategy director Aaron Arellano for a chat.
LBB> This work serves as an extension of the ‘New Can Feel Like Home’ campaign. As such, what was the brief for this campaign, and what immediate ideas came to mind?
Aaron> When we launched ‘New Can Feel Like Home’, we sought to divert the newcomer narrative that often patronises them as helpless immigrants, by instead choosing to celebrate their strength and resiliency in moving to a new country. Being the most successful newcomer campaign RBC has launched, the brief was to replicate that magic but evolve it by prioritising the temporary foreign worker subset, as well as highlight the invaluable role RBC advisors play in making the transition to Canada smoother.
Jennifer> Really, we wanted to zoom in on the temporary foreign worker experience, which often goes untold. In the main spot, we focus on this, where one family member serves as the ‘beachhead’ parent who arrives in Canada first to pave the way for the rest of the family.
Our research also shows that the newcomer journey is filled with challenges as well as many achievements like building a supportive network and community. It was important that we celebrate these accomplishments. To help show this, we integrated some key cultural touchpoints. For example, the main character meets an RBC advisor who was once a newcomer and they connect through shared ownership of a miniature jeepney toy, a form of public transportation in the Philippines. At the end of the spot, the advisor arrives at a local Filipino community celebration and joins the newcomer client on stage to sing karaoke.
Additionally, we wanted to shine a spotlight on the products that are meaningful to newcomers like International Money Transfer and the RBC Cashback Mastercard. We show the newcomer using his to purchase a stuffed toy moose online to send to his daughter that he misses in the Philippines, as well as using our mobile app to send money.
With everything we do, we want to speak to our audiences in authentic and meaningful ways. For newcomers, that means not only showing them we’ve done our homework and we understand what they’re going through, but that many of the people who support them were once Newcomers as well.
LBB> And why is targeting the newcomer demographic so important to the brand’s mission in 2024?
Jennifer> At RBC, we’re focused on helping our clients realise their ideas around major life moments which is the basis of our brand platform, ‘Ideas Happen Here’. We continue to encourage people to come to us when these moments happen so we can work together to find solutions. That includes building and designing their life in a new country. It’s important we speak directly to this demographic, especially since Canada is set to welcome 430,000 permanent residents and 550,000 temporary foreign workers by year end.
But, this also isn’t a new trend. At RBC we have over 150 years of experience helping newcomers settle and succeed in Canada.
LBB> Building on pre-existing work is no small task. How did this impact the iteration process, and specifically, how did you land on telling the story of a Filipino father and newcomer advisors?
Dave> We wanted to create a piece that could run alongside the existing work without feeling the same. This gave us a bit of a North Star, but also allowed us to explore different emotional approaches, stories, and reasons newcomers might have for coming to Canada. There was something special in telling the story of someone who has to leave their family to set up a new life.
Additionally, a lot of newcomer stories show bringing the whole family and starting from scratch, so we decided to focus on someone who had a job set up here but couldn’t bring the family right away. It's a nuance we don’t usually see, and it added a lot of heart to the story.
Finally, having our hero connect to his family back home through technology was a natural fit for many of RBC’s offerings. The advisor character having been a newcomer from the same place and understanding what our hero was going through on many levels was a natural way to bring the story together and drive home the ‘New Can Feel Like Home’ concept.
LBB> With that in mind, specifically, why was representing the Filipino community important to you?
Jennifer> The temporary foreign worker segment has seen the largest growth in recent years. And as part of that, the Philippines is the number three source country behind India and Iran. It’s also the number two country for permanent residents, also behind India. Despite this, the Filipino community isn’t always front and centre. We saw an opportunity to shed more light on their experience with this campaign.
We believe it’s important that newcomers see themselves in our creative. We’ve made a strong effort to ensure our campaigns continually evolve to be more representative… and there’s still work to be done. We continue to promote diversity and inclusion as both an employer and with our suppliers.
We also know that storytelling for these communities is always full of emotional moments, celebrations and provides a rich backdrop for ways RBC can support them. Demonstrating culturally relevant moments, icons (like the Jeepney) and celebrations have broader appeal across cultures when they are told in a way that demonstrates we understand and respect what makes them unique.
LBB> And what was the writing process like? How did you convey RBC benefits effectively, without compromising on the quality of the story itself?
Dave> We put ourselves in our hero’s shoes. How could he stay connected to his family? How could he show his love and share his new experiences with them? How was RBC able to help him accomplish these things? We took a very natural approach to these questions, finding ways RBC could help him do these things and wove those into the story in a way that felt real and genuine for him.
LBB> Where did you shoot, how long did it take, and do you have any anecdotes from on set?
Dave> It was shot over two days in Toronto. Toto, the actor playing the advisor, had so much energy! He’d come on set and just be bubbling with contagious excitement and enthusiasm for hours. The smiles and laughs caught on camera were genuine interactions between the actors boosted by Toto’s big personality. And although you can’t hear it, all of the actors are speaking Tagalog to each other. Even Nasia, the daughter, showed the team some phrases.
LBB> The actors are all brilliant. What was casting like? Did you find a real Canadian newcomer and an RBC employee?
Dave> We looked for real Filipino people who could connect to the stories of the hero, the advisor, and the mom and daughter. Many of the actors who auditioned had real experiences moving away from family, or have parts of their family living in the Philippines to this day. We looked for newcomers, but found the story rang true for a lot of the actors even if they had been in Canada for many years or had grown up here with extended family abroad. It was wonderful to see how they connected to and brought their own perspectives to the characters. It made for genuine performances and emotions throughout.
LBB> And what was the post process like? How did you approach cutting it down into meaningful 15-second spots?
Dave> We had very clearly-defined outputs going into shooting, so creating meaningful cut downs was fairly straightforward. We had planned and scripted how all of the 15-second spots would work, and where they lived in the timeline of our hero’s story. Details like boxes being more unpacked than in another spot, sending a gift or a transfer and noting when it would arrive in the Philippines, or him connecting with his family at a certain time of day were all heavily considered by the team. Our director’s attention to detail elevated these elements and created a totally cohesive story across each piece. It’s worth watching them all!
LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Aaron> We spent a lot of time finding the right cultural artefacts, expressions, and traditions to depict in the work. Our spot, internally referred to as ‘Comforts’, revolves around a memento from back home that reminds our protagonist of why he is working so hard abroad without family, which also happens to be shared with an RBC advisor who carries the same one.
To this end, we debated a healthy number of options to feature, but ultimately landed with a jeepney. On the surface, a jeepney is a colourful WW2 vehicle that has been repurposed as public transportation in the Philippines, but it also holds a deeper meaning and source of pride for Filipinos, being symbolic of the resiliency, ingenuity, and resourcefulness of the Filipino people.
LBB> What lessons have you learned in the making of this project?
Aaron> Involve the people you are trying to reach in the creation of the actual work. They can provide an authentic perspective, establish guardrails, and provide details that take the work to another level it couldn’t have ever reached without them. Having such great partners in RBC who understood this importance and supported it from day one was fundamental in the work.
Being a Filipino newcomer once myself, I was intimately involved in writing the creative brief, but was also welcomed to play a larger role in guiding the creative ideation and execution.
RBC’s commitment was also displayed by constantly gauging reactions with Filipino coworkers and testing panels throughout the creative process. External multicultural agency partners like Balmoral were also brought in to ensure another layer of cultural sensitivity and authenticity. Our director of photography was also Filipino, who added another cultural touch. It truly took a village, but it was a worthwhile investment we all felt paid off.
Jennifer> One lesson we learn repeatedly is just how important it is to tell authentic stories from the voice and lens of newcomers. It really is gratifying to hear from our newcomer audiences that they see themselves in our work and how meaningful it is to them.
We also learned how important it is to ensure you’re also working with a cast and crew that is representative of your audience. We worked with actors of Filipino and southeast Asian descent, and we had a very diverse production crew and director. It is great to support newcomers and visible minorities who are first and second generation Canadians on a passion project.
LBB> How have people reacted to this campaign?
Aaron> Really positively so far. In my nearly 30 years since immigrating to Canada, I have only seen two brands (Real Canadian Superstore and CIBC, both in recent years) acknowledge and target the Filipino community in their advertising. So, to have the Filipino warmth, sacrifice, resiliency depicted for all to see in a national campaign by one of the most well-known and trusted Canadian brands is a testament to how far we’ve come with representation in the industry. We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re proud to contribute in our little way – the untold stories and increased representation we’d like to see more of in the media.
Jennifer> We’re still in the early days of the campaign, but so far it’s been really well-received. When we first tested the story, it resonated with focus groups, and we are hopeful that will continue now that we’ve fully launched.
LBB> Finally, is there anything else you’d like to tell Canadian newcomers, or people who might know newcomers in need of advice?
Jennifer> RBC understands your journey. You don’t even need to have all the answers – in fact, it’s better to come in with questions. We have the ideas, advice, and community connections you need to help build your life in Canada. We can explore the financial options available to you and connect you with local organisations who can help you find a job, secure housing, and build community connections. Plus, many of our newcomer advisors were once newcomers themselves, so you might just have more in common with them than you think!
