Bates Canada of Toronto has been tapped to create a launch campaign for the new Exact electronic cash card, a joint venture between Bank of Montreal and Toronto-Dominion Bank.
Bates will handle the complete range of media advertising and event marketing during the year-long consumer test of Exact in Kingston, Ont., which begins in October.
The reloadable cash card is being positioned as an alternative to domestic cash for purchases under $20.
BoM and td jointly own the exclusive Canadian rights to the technology behind the card, Proton from Banksys, Belgium’s equivalent to Interac.
Joe Barbera, senior manager of public affairs for BoM, says, ‘We felt the Proton format was worthy of a Canadian test because it is so easy to use, and clearly a replacement for domestic cash.’
Bates Canada is keeping quiet about the budget for the campaign, which will start in October and run for the duration of the test period. However, the agency does plan on using radio and print promotions.
There was no mention of tv advertising.
Barbera says Exact will be likened to a wallet that contains currency on a computer chip.
Because a chip embedded in the Exact card stores the cash, and retailer terminals are built around the same technology, the need for costly on-line communication with the banks is eliminated.
Bell Canada is developing screen-based phones that work with the Exact technology so retailers will be able to make a bank deposit at the end of the day with just a phone call.
Customers will be able to load their cards with up to $1000 in electronic Canadian currency over the phone or via special Exact loading devices at banks and other locations.
Although a personal identification number is used when loading the card, no personal identification number (pin) is needed to make purchases.
The Exact card does not have locking capabilities, so if a card is lost, so is the cash.
Consumers will be able to check the balance by inserting their cards into any payment terminal or loading device and pressing a yellow question mark key.
Fees for using Exact will be up to the individual banks and could include an annual fee and a reloading fee.
Steve Phillips, td manager of smart cards and access cards, expects electronic cash to be very successful in Canada because the use of debit cards by Canadians shows their ready acceptance of alternate payment technologies.
‘Canadians are expected to do 690 million debit card transactions this year. That’s enormous. That’s about what the entire u.s. does.’
Other electronic cash systems in Canada include Visa Cash which has been in test by Visa Canada for the last six months, and Mondex, a joint venture of cibc and Royal Bank, which begins a pilot of its card in Guelph, Ont. this fall.
