Problem:Lately most banks are doing really bad things with (our) money. Hence the economic crisis. And when they keep on luring young people with free gifts and gadgets, you can’t blame those youngsters for shopping around, can you?So how to build a long-term relationship with tomorrow’s grown ups and prove that KBC is a bank that understands that goodness can arise from money?Solution:Why not show young people that in order to do good things 'with' money, you have to do good things 'for' money.The Campaign Idea:Every year KBC gives away festival tickets for the biggest summer festivals. But this time you had to earn them. By helping the ones the furthest away from your young and vivid lifestyle: the elderly. Introducing: today’s youth for yesterday’s youth.We used regional press with only a little investment to recruit the elderly and youngsters. Beautiful stories appeared in press. Thanks to PR, we cleared the gap between young and old and created a dialogue between KBC Bank and their clients.

In the first phase, we contacted the elderly through the local press and senior organisations. Secondly, the elderly and their assignments were collected on a website, each with his/her own personal profile. With a small paid media campaign talking about free festival tickets, we generated loads of youngsters towards this site. Once they got there, they could find their ‘match’ . The older person simply had to contact his or her favourite youngster to make words into actions. Elders and youngsters were given 2-3 weeks to meet up. We gave the press a chance to follow them.At first, regional media picked it up and made beautiful stories about these bridging the generation gap. But then came national media and the whole project/idea instantly gained visibility on national TV during prime-time, for free.

We made people talk about it, both offline as online, from regional to national press:• More than 200% earned media (free press, primetime national television);• More than 70,000 visitors to the website in 1 week (which is a lot for a campaign in Belgium);• With very little paid media investment, we gained 280% more online media value;• A regained mutual respect between young and old;• And more actions planned for the future.Through PR, we were able to clear the age gap, start a dialogue, engage young people to help and eventually tell beautiful stories about today’s youth interacting with yesterday’s youth. Bridging the generation gap thanks to the KBC Bank and their clients.