Scotiabank’s new ad campaign aims for global reach

The King St. West entrance to the Bank of Nova Scotia building is pictured on Jan. 12, 2015. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

Viewers of Hockey Night in Canada are accustomed to being reminded, during the commercial break, of Bank of Nova Scotia’s deeply Canadian identity. Being a National Hockey League sponsor and self-appointed “hockey bank” is one way to reaffirm its connection to customers in its home market. But this weekend, when the bank’s ads flashed on the screen, viewers saw something else: the Andes.

That’s because, on Saturday, Scotiabank launched its first ever totally global advertising campaign, built to resonate in 55 countries, largely clustered in and around South America, where it does business.

Referred to internally as “One,” the campaign is the first time the bank has attempted a single marketing message for its entire global footprint. Because it had to resonate widely, the team had to stay away from specifics about products or services, and focus instead on a “brand message,” attempting to reaffirm its commitment to customers.

“It could be anywhere, and it could be anyone. We tried to capture that,” said John Doig, Scotia’s chief marketing officer. “There are as many similarities as there are differences in these markets. There’s that desire to be better off, that goal for my small business or my kids. We started to see this in all the research we’ve been doing in the last couple years as we took a more global perspective on our marketing and our research.”

That change in perspective began two years ago, when Mr. Doig was appointed to his role as head of global marketing. Historically, Scotiabank’s marketing was run under two marketing groups: one responsible for Canada, and the other for the rest of the world. Since then, the bank has reorganized so that the marketing groups in Toronto and Mexico City work together more as a “tag team,” he said. Scotia has also reorganized its media buying under fewer agencies – global affiliates of Omnicom-owned agency PHD. It has also been allocating more resources into digital marketing.

With the new ad, created to run in English, French and Spanish by the bank’s long-time agency Bensimon Byrne, Scotiabank is hoping to reinforce its global footprint for Canadians who travel or especially do business in some of those global markets – and at the same time to reinforce its brand identity in places where it may not be as ingrained.

“We’re spending a lot more time, particularly in Mexico, Chile and Peru, researching what the consumer thinks about us,” Mr. Doig said. “[There is] a lot of white space because we are from far away. Canadian bank, that’s positive, but some feel ‘I don’t know enough about them.’ We haven’t been on that journey. It’s not unlike in Canada, 15 years ago, we went out and did the same type of research, and people had trouble describing what Scotiabank was, what we stood for.”

A lot has changed in Canada since then. In 2006, Scotia landed its sponsorship deals with the NHL and Cineplex Inc.’s Scene loyalty program; it also launched the “You’re richer than you think” campaign the same year. In the past 15 years, it has worked at crafting a friendly, approachable image in a retail banking sector where the big banks are seen as largely the same, and brand differentiation is difficult.

In Latin America, the bank is working on a similar trajectory. For example, it has signed numerous sponsorship deals with both professional and amateur soccer organizations and teams; and buying 51 per cent of the credit card portfolio of Chilean retail giant Cencosud, it hopes will have similar effects to the Scene deal. It wants to reinforce the approachable, human identity with the new campaign.

The ad does not say much. For many viewers, the slices of life (a grandmother giving coins to a little girl, happy customers in a branch, businesspeople in a boardroom) and platitudes about financial management being key to people’s hopes and dreams will feel familiar.

But Mr. Doig hopes it will also subtly communicate a global reach. The ad was filmed entirely in Chile, so the mountain range and street signs in Spanish appear; a scene in a branch was meant to look like Mexico; a beach could be many places in Latin America; the Hong Kong skyline outside of the window of a boardroom was achieved with CGI.

“If you do business in these countries, you’ll see that feels like Peru, that looks like Panama. I don’t think the average CFO is going to go, oh, I see the pieces, but there are a lot of intentional, subtle images,” he said.

The choice of images is deliberate: recently, Scotiabank has been working hard to emphasize its presence in the relatively stable Pacific Alliance trade bloc of Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Chile that represent roughly 60 per cent of its international customer base – while drawing focus away from more volatile emerging markets that have been a drag on the bank’s share price. Mr. Doig said he hopes the ad campaign will contribute to that larger communications effort.

“The message is loud and clear; this is in support of that stated focus on Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Latin America and South America,” he said.

Because of regulatory differences, local sponsorships and differences in banking products across markets, there will always be local campaigns, he added. But he believes there will be more opportunities for a more global message.

“It is a unifying opportunity for us,” Mr. Doig said.