Float has debuted a new fall brand campaign – with its first-ever national TV buy – featuring harried, snowed-under finance professionals enthusiastically using Float’s spend management software.

“People broadly think that finance is boring,” says Float head of marketing Amrita Gurney. “We wanted to show people that [Float is] not like a bank, and that we are really modern, not just in our product, but how we operate as a company.”

Gurney explains that Float wanted to do something unexpected. The team came up with the idea to show portraits of people with conspicuous emotions and expressions, which is something competitor financial institutions don’t typically do.

Finance brands frequently focus on the mechanics of how business software works, but it’s easy to forget we’re all human, Gurney says. Float decided to focus on the emotional benefits of its products, and communicate to those who have had to file (or have been frustrated by) an expense report. The messaging came to life in billboards, with spend report frustrations being conveyed through “bleeping” references.

“This is the largest campaign we’ve ever done… [the budget was] well into the six figures,” Gurney says. (The company’s first-ever awareness campaign launched in market last spring.)

Renga did the graphic design work for the campaign. Float’s new partner Distilled Creative handled TV production. The supporting OOH buy, which includes an execution at Billy Bishop Airport and transit ads in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary is being led by George Street Growth, with Kingstar Media helming Float’s first-ever national TV buy. Creative director/photographer, Kailee Mandel worked on the campaign as well.