1 ATM, 28 million+ social media impressions. Check out how this campaign turned heads in 2016!
As someone who’s been in the business and consulting industry for 30+ years now, I’ve seen how this marketing strategy does wonders for different brands. Not only does it help generate a good kind of buzz but it also captures attention through unique, fun, and engaging tactics. Allow me to share with you an example of an awesome guerrilla marketing campaign. Find out how a Canadian investment banking company welcomed NBA All-Star players during a 2016 event in Toronto and attracted the attention of lots of people.
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1 ATM, 28 million+ social media impressions. Check out how this campaign turned heads in 2016! What’s the image that comes into your mind when you hear or read the words, “financial services company?” Money? Men wearing black suits and carrying briefcases? Investors, financial advisors, and other professionals? It’s easy to associate the finance industry with formality, etiquette, and courtesy. However, in today’s article, you’ll see how one banking company goes out of its professional and formal image to create a unique and attention-grabbing campaign. The Bank of Montreal or BMO is a Canadian investment bank and financial services company that was founded in Montreal, Quebec. It is the fourth-largest bank in Canada by market capitalization and assets, and one of the ten largest banks in North America.
In case you don’t know yet, BMO is the official bank of NBA teams Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks. It is also a sponsor of NBA players Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Lowry, Tyler Ennis, and Kelly Olynyk. When NBA players arrived in Toronto for an All-Star weekend event in 2016, the banking company decided to welcome hordes of tall men and promote the basketball event unconventionally. How? By placing a 10-foot tall ATM (automated teller machine) in BMO’s headquarters at the First Canadian Place―a 72-storey skyscraper in the financial district of Toronto. The building has a daily foot traffic of around 250,000 people.
The campaign team set up the tall ATM beside a regular-sized ATM. Using the message, “The NBA All-Stars Are Coming,” BMO warmly welcomed visiting NBA players and made people understand the reason for the unusual ATM’s existence. That message also helped remind Canadian NBA fans that an All-Star weekend event would take place in the country!
You might be thinking, “How did BMO identify the appropriate height of the ATM for its guerrilla marketing stunt?” According to Jon Flannery, BMO’s Chief Creative Officer, the campaign team picked the average height of a basketball hoop attached to a backboard during NBA games. This enabled the ATM to give out “slam dunk” vibes to basketball players and passersby alike. Imagine slam dunking to insert your card into the machine!
This shows that despite having a reputation as a professional and formal financial company, BMO is capable of not only demonstrating the importance of its services to NBA teams and players but also thinking outside of the box to appeal to and engage with its target audience. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the 10-foot tall ATM didn’t contain any cash. If it did, even 6-foot-11 DeMarcus Cousins would need to take a running jump to insert the card and enter his PIN (personal identification number). BMO simply put the ATM there to get the word out about the All-Star weekend event in Toronto and to let visiting NBA players feel the warm and fun welcome of one of their sponsors. Was BMO’s 10-foot tall ATM guerrilla marketing stunt effective? Chief Creative Officer Flannery said that one of the main assets of BMO’s marketing tactic was the simplicity of its concept. He said, “It’s such a simple idea that you don’t have to explain too much about it to get it.” That’s true. Just seeing how tall the ATM was and reading the message attached to it would give passersby an idea that it’s something related to the NBA… and that got the attention of a lot of people! Here are the results of the guerrilla marketing stunt:
A round of applause for BMO! The positive reception of the public shows that the 10-foot tall ATM was indeed a clever and awesome marketing strategy. *Clap clap clap* BMO did two things right in its guerrilla marketing stunt: First, it knew how to capture the attention of its target audience while sticking to the nature of its brand. Second, it understood what its prospects and customers liked. This enabled the company to steal the show with a “towering” campaign while also helping the NBA spread the word about its All-Star game. These are proof that if you want your brand to stand out from your competitors, especially during an upcoming event, you have to think outside of the box and find a connection between your brand’s products or services and that particular occasion. … but it shouldn’t simply stop at that! You also have to keep your target audience in mind and what they’d find interesting so your marketing efforts won’t go to waste. Think about what BMO did in its brand activation: While banking and basketball are quite unrelated to one another, the company still managed to link the two by launching a 10-foot tall ATM. This not only turned heads and stopped people on their tracks at the First Canadian Place but also strengthened NBA players’ connection with BMO as one of their sponsors. We hope these lessons from BMO’s campaign encourage you to squeeze your creative juices and think of marketing strategies that will win the hearts of your audience! Remember: When planning and creating your own guerrilla marketing tactics, it’s not just about your brand. It’s also about your target market and how you’ll compel them to transact with you. That’s the key to marketing success! Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to learn about how an interactive bus stop gained attention and helped raise awareness about skin cancer? See it in next week’s article! |
