Interac has developed a new brand platform that taps into a more emotionally-driven version of its traditional debt-free message.
The platform, named “InLife,” returns to the “use your own money” message the financial brand has long touted as its differentiating offer, and uses it for the underpinning of a new campaign “that really tells that story in a different way by bringing the functional benefits together with the emotional ones,” says Andrea Danovitch, associate vice president of marketing and brand with the company.
In the past, Interac’s “Be In The Black” platform kept its focus on the practical aspects of spending one’s own money when it comes to managing finances and debt, with more recent campaign shifting the focus slightly towards new and emerging payment technologies.
Those themes are still in the background of the integrated campaign launch for “InLife,” but in two launch spots, it puts the primary focus on telling the stories of people who are chasing their passions, be they leaving the city for a life on the road or turning a passion for vintage furniture into a business. All the while, they are taking advantage of Interac’s offerings – including Flash and e-Transfer – to make secure payments or get paid for the less-traditional forms of work that they do.
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The campaign was developed with Zulu Alpha Kilo, Interac’s AOR.
“For many of us, this has been a challenging year. I think a lot of people see themselves depicted in this new brand, creating new kinds of meaningful experiences or even new lives,” says Danovitch. “Interac is at the intersection of that, enabling them to do it with confidence.”
The impact of the pandemic on Canadians’ finances and long-term perspective on money is apparent in the new platform; the practical pitch of using your own money and spending with secure technology didn’t meet people where they are right now. The debt-free messaging Interac has long been known is still at the heart of the new platform, but the pitch now is more intimate and “relatable,” making it easy to swap in any passion point like “Van Life” or “Vintage Life.”
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“Using their own money really allows a person to live their life with confidence and a sense of empowerment, as they are able to move forward with their life in a really seamless way while getting the most out of the memories they create,” says Danovitch. “It’s not about the moment that they pay, but about everything else that surrounds that moment and comes with it.”
The launch campaign includes the aforementioned spots, as well as mixed-length YouTube content, social elements, influencer partnerships and a TikTok takeover. In addition, Hill+Knowlton Strategies have been enlisted to conduct a behavioral science study in connection to the campaign.
The media buy was handled by Media Experts.
