GOLD (Two-way tie)

Client: E*TRADE Canada

Campaign: E*Combat

Agency: Grey Worldwide – Toronto

Creative Directors: Brenda McNeilly, Marc Stoiber

Copywriter: Christina Angelopoulos

Art Director: Chad Kabigting

It’s hard to stand out in the world of online brokerages, even more so in a dramatically declining market, when consumer participation in things like trading slumps. So in April 2001, E*TRADE Canada and its agency Grey decided to change the playing field. They launched E*Combat, an online trading game, and positioned it as a risk-free way for investors to ‘stay sharp’ and hone their stock market skills to be able to capitalize on any market situation.

Targeted at E*TRADE’s most valuable segments – ‘aggressive affluent’ 40-something individuals, who have a family and capital to protect; and ‘get rich quick’ risk-takers above the age of 18 – the program was designed to encourage participation as a source for generating qualified leads. The company leveraged numerous media, including TV, radio, print and online, using boot camp-inspired images and an aggressive call to action. Information gathered during the registration process also allowed E*TRADE to segment site visitors and target specific messaging throughout the game. Contestants stood to win the grand prize of $15,000 and six weekly prizes of $1,000. E*Combat netted 172% of objective.

GOLD (Two-way tie)

Client: National Bank of Canada

Campaign: Banque Nationale — Campagne REER

Agency: LG2

Creative Director: Gilles Chouinard

Copywriters: Isabelle Cardinal, Caroline Barrette

Art Director: Martin Cinq-Mars

Late each winter consumers get bombarded by communications from financial institutions all offering virtually the same RRSP products. How to differentiate? ‘Simplicity’ was the strategy for Banque Nationale.

Drawing on its ‘solidity and credibility,’ – and Quebec heritage – the bank and agency LG2, set about showing how simple it can be to have financial needs – particularly REER (RRSP) needs – met. The integrated effort, which ran solely in Quebec from December 1999 to February 2000, targeted existing clients with a $50K+ household income – with or without REERs.

In a bid to ‘dominate the market and the media,’ Banque Nationale used primarily radio (employing a heavy rotation at peak periods throughout the day) and print. Print creative showed the simple image or silhouette of a person with copy touting the specific benefits of different products. Coloured banners wrapped newspapers La Presse and Le Soleil, and inserts followed in other publications. Over 100,000 clients also received DM with offers geared to their particular profiles. Advertising based on key Internet search words was part of the online portion, and a CD-ROM was placed in finance magazine Les Affaires Plus.

The effort easily surpassed the objective of achieving 40% more REER placements than the previous year.

SILVER

ENSIS Growth Fund for its ‘ENSIS Growth Fund 2000′ program, developed by Market Force Marketing Communications.

SILVER

Scotiabank for its ‘RRSP Catch-Up Line/Investment Solutions,’ developed by Rapp Collins Worldwide.

MERIT

Altamira Investment Services Inc. for its ‘Altamira Private Wealth Management Services,’ developed by tattoo direct + digital.