CIBC is reinforcing the benefits of personal client relationships when it comes to saving in this year’s RRSP-season campaign.

The bank’s latest integrated marketing effort promotes its asset management capabilities, featuring a client in her financial planner’s office and imagining different aspirational scenarios projected behind her, from buying a dream cottage to launching a small business.

Esther Benzie, VP of marketing and client communications at CIBC, says in a convenience-driven industry, it’s important to show an understanding of how a client articulates their goals. For this campaign, Benzie says the messaging “reinforces that personal advice is an important part of a strong financial plan.”

According to Benzie, while advice can come from many forms, “we know that Canadians value advice from people they trust, especially when it comes to financial decision-making,”

She adds that according to its insights, 76% of Canadians have never used an online service that manages investments, like a robo-advisor.  “Most Canadians value personal advice over a search engine,” she says, and that the creative shows the “genuine caring” advisors have helping clients realize their ambitions.

Robo-advisors primarily use exchange-traded fund (ETFs) vehicles that carry lower fees compared to traditionally managed funds. And brands like Nest Wealth and Wealthsimple have posed a challenge to traditional wealth management firms and big banks by appealing to millennials using messaging that focuses on ease of use and providing a less complicated solution in the intimidating investment space. According to a JD Power Canadian retail banking study in 2019, 85% of bank customers in Canada are interested in receiving financial advice from their primary bank and nearly three quarters of those who receive advice later act on it. However, CIBC received the lowest scores among the big banks on the company’s advice satisfaction index.

In response to this, CIBC launched its Smart Investments Solutions portfolios last year, which combine traditional investments with more modern options like ETFs and passive investments. This aimed to create a simplified, low-cost solution that also suited a variety of financial needs and provided opportunities for more proactive advice from financial advisors.

In the past, CIBC has advertised savings and investment products during this time of year, when Canadians are thinking of RRSPs and saving for retirement ahead of the annual contribution deadline. With this campaign, Benzie says, CIBC is also recognizing that people a different savings goals beyond retirement and is broadening the message to show the brand works with any clients to make them a reality.

The “Brand Advice” integrated campaign, led by longtime agency Juniper Park\TBWA, includes a brand spot, online videos, social assets, digital banners and print ads.

On the everyday banking and spending front, CIBC also recently launch of a new digital and social campaign aimed at communicating the cash-back benefits of it Dividend Visa Infinite card. The digital campaign, which deploys casino-like dollar signs to illustrate getting cash back with every purchase, includes online videos, social assets and digital banners developed by Juniper Park’s Bolt Content division, which also developed assets for the bank’s digital brand, Simplii.