Royal Bank putting immigrants first in new campaign

January 22, 2015

We examined every aspect of banking to determine where we could improve life for newcomers, from changing our policies and procedures to changing the way we deliver our products and services, Dave McKay, RBCs head of personal banking told a media conference in Toronto yesterday. For example, credit policies will be more attuned to immigrant circumstances. A banks standard credit policies are largely driven by employment history, credit history and residence history in Canada, said McKay, noting RBC will now make decisions based on other (proprietary)criteria. On the marketing front, RBCwill launch its first TV ads targeting the South Asian and Chinese communities. The ads show an immigrant couple and their young daughter, as they navigate their way through open houses, car lots and job interviews. The family then meets with an RBC banker, who has the same ethnicity, and the ads sign off with its another way RBC is putting us first. Five ads were created using the same storyline, but with different talent and language in each, including English, Punjabi, Hindi, Mandarin and Cantonese. The TV spots get inside the shoes of someone emotionally to say we understand what it feels like when youre in a newcomer situation,Ann Louise Vehovec, RBCs head of strategy and marketing, said in an interview with Marketing. And in fact, theres a lot of opportunity to walk into a branch and meet someone from RBC who has been through it themselves and they understand exactly what youre going through. Created by Dynasty Advertising in Markham, Ont., 30- and 60-second spots will air in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal on Fairchild, Omni, Vision TV, ATN and Channel M television stations. RBCalso created a Welcome to Canadamicrosite in English and Chinese at rbc.com/canada, and will run print ads celebrating ethnic festivities such as Chinese New Year and Diwali. Rebecca Harris