As Quebec looks ahead to Moving Day later this summer, Interac has launched a campaign to encourage the use of its e-transfers in la belle province.
In Quebec, July 1 is traditionally known as Moving Day, as since 1973, the province used to mandate fixed terms for leases of rental properties would begin on this day. Interac is capitalizing on this occasion to use it as a trigger to cover related transactions like paying rent, booking movers and renting moving trucks, all in its latest “Money Movers” campaign.
“Success for us is if people start using e-transfer instead of cheques to pay their rent,” says Matt Houghton, Interac digital and integrated marketing leader. “We’ll know we’ve made an impact if we start to see more transactions occurring [in Quebec].”
The new campaign uses the concept of a moving company to highlight moments where people can use Interac e-transfer to make moving more convenient. It includes short-form video assets featuring a relaxed Interac customer carried around Montreal by Interac “Money Movers” to the surprise of passersby.
It highlights how no one likes moving due to many payments that can pile up throughout the course of selling and buying items, and paying for rent, moving trucks and storage.
Houghton says that the focus on Quebec makes sense, because it has the highest percentage of renters than any other province in Canada. He adds that if the “Money Movers” campaign proves to be successful, it could lead to similar targeted efforts around moving in other parts of the country.
The campaign also includes custom-wrapped moving trucks driving around Montreal, along with transit wraps and wild postings. The campaign’s media buy includes homepage takeovers for one of Quebec’s popular online marketplaces, Kijiji. “Money Movers” also features influencers creating distinct assets curated for their followers, showing how they use e-transfer to pay for moving-related transactions.
Shooting the ads was completed in Montreal to ensure the spots looked authentic, and real people passing by the movers who reacted with surprise were included with their genuine reactions in the campaign. Houghton says the brand hopes that element of fun and comedy will also resonate with people in Quebec.
“We wanted to appeal to that sort of quirky, almost Just For Laughs: Gags style of Quebecois comedy that we think people like,” Houghton says.
As a whole, the campaign is designed to underline how Interac’s service makes it easier to move your money.
Zulu Alpha Kilo, Interac’s creative agency partner, brought several ideas to develop the campaign to Interac, and the brand liked the idea of physically moving people, their stuff and their money. Media Experts is overseeing strategic media planning and buying, with Hill & Knowlton overseeing sponsored content and influencers. Owned content development was handled by Group SJR, while the French-language adaptation for the Quebec market was managed by The French Shop, which also consulted on ensuring the campaign felt authentic and would resonate.
The campaign runs in Quebec from May until the end of June, just before Moving Day.
