Drive newcomer acquisition, positioning RBC as the helpful expert with offers in banking and beyond – for permanent residents (arriving from China and India), temporary foreign workers (key focus: China, India, US), and all other newcomers (0-3 years)

Immigrants are an important source of new client acquisitions for RBC. However, although Permanent Resident numbers keep increasing, RBC’s newcomer acquisition growth has been flat. Our challenge was to engage newcomers, positioning RBC as the helpful expert, dedicated to getting them settled in Canada

Our research confirmed newcomer challenges – language barriers, employment, and building credit history. Opening a bank account is a top priority, where they want value, without extra fees or conditions. They also want a trusted advisor. Our campaign theme ‘Save more, settle in faster’, positioned RBC as the bank that offers newcomers a no-monthly fee bank account for one year, and also the value of finding newcomer solutions all in one place.

A new immigrant’s emotional need is to settle in to their new country, and their rational need is to get the best financial value. Our campaign theme, “Save more, settle in faster” addressed both. Our aspirational images of families spending time with their children, without the stress of settling into a new country, used the insight that many newcomers come here for a better future for their children.

We created brand and ad awareness, driving acquisition through traffic to branch and landing page. We focused on digital to drive direct responses, but also included OOH, Print, and IPTV for additional awareness, optimizing our channel and media mix, to deliver objectives in a cost-efficient manner. New media initiatives enhanced reach, broke through key markets, and kept us ahead the competition.

Results: The RBC Newcomers campaign was a success, driving 1.2M responses and exceed acquisition targets with 11% YOY growth, and 11% increase in brand awareness.