Consumers tend to take a dim view of banks and public sentiment regarding the financial industry as a whole is negative. Deciding it was time for a change,

we came up with a branded content campaign that would run for a month.

We challenged conventions by offering to help clients by organising 31 unique promotional support activities (a different one each day) to advertise their homes to potential buyers.

We were looking to improve sentiment through the use of branded content. Rather than relying on paid media, we decided to create a spectacular viral video for social media to ensure high visibility for the campaign right off the bat.

Challenge

Truth: low trust in financials. Houses remain on the market for more than 100 days.

Dilemma: help selling mortgages or really help selling houses?

Need: a bank that really helps instead of an advertising campaign.

Strategy

Create a promotion that attracts attention for clients’ houses instead of creating a traditional mortgage campaign for ABN AMRO bank.

Idea

The House Promoter (Huizenpromoter) advertised homes listed for sale by ABN AMRO customers. The campaign offered personalised promotions to a different customer every day for a month, extending across a variety of digital media, ranging from viral videos to online advertising.

Objectives

To position ABN AMRO as a bank specialising in advisory services – a bank that is genuinely determined to help its customers successfully navigate the housing market and buy or sell a home.

- Attract over 200,000 earned views with the launch video – with no further commercial support whatsoever.

- Generate a minimum paid media reach of 10 million for the various daily promotional support activities.

- Improve the positive sentiment for ABN AMRO - result above the 16% benchmark.

- Ensure that 20% of ABN AMRO customers recognise their bank really does assist customers with the ‘House Promoter’.

Execution

The House Promoter campaign kicked off with some spectacular content: we organised a ‘roller coaster home viewing’ inside the house of an ABN AMRO customer/home seller. The video ended up going viral, attracting a total of 36 million views.

We then went on to create personalised campaigns for our customers. Extending across a variety of media, ranging from mega-billboards to aerial advertising banners, this campaign reached millions of potential buyers.

The Rollercoaster video was placed on leading Dutch real estate website: funda.nl. It immediately got picked up by various national and international blogs and websites, and was heavily shared on Facebook and other social media.

Not long after, national TV channels paid attention to the rollercoaster video, that by that time obtained ‘viral status’. Simultaneously, international media outlets and TV channels also covered the rollercoaster. To quote AL Roker, NBC news: “They put a rollercoaster in a house!” The widespread international media attention and 36 million views made the rollercoaster the most successful viral film ever for a Dutch brand.

To show that we really wanted to help the clients, we created a spectacular ‘roller coaster home viewing’ video. The video went viral: attracting 36,000,000 views and became the most successful viral video ever for a Dutch brand.

36 million views

470,000 shares, 250,000 likes

100 different video hosts (earned)

We invited our target audience to advertise their homes via promotions across a variety of media, ranging from mega-billboards to aerial advertising banners.

Over 10 million people were reached by the various house promotions

3,203,830 social media views, 43,217 social post clicks (additional result)

30,000 visitors, 8,074 participants, 5% sold their house (3% market average)

We relied strictly on unique content: producing a stunning viral video, using 31 different media types and highlighting the customer not the brand. This resulted in:

Highest-ever positive sentiment score for an ABN AMRO campaign.

Positive sentiment: over 34% (benchmark 16%). Negative: 3% (benchmark 11%).

Rating for initiative: 7.1 (benchmark 6.3)

61% clients familiar with roller coaster video (target 20% aware of whole campaign)

41% clients familiar with the House Promoter support activities

22% clients quoted the key storyline ‘ABN AMRO helps its customers buy or sell homes with House Promoter’ without being prompted.

Dutch bank ABN AMRO created the House Promoter (Huizenpromoter) to promote clients’ homes listed for sale to the Dutch public by organising a different personalised promotion every day for a month.

The initiative resulted in unique branded content: 31 different promotional support activities ranging from comprehensive online advertising campaigns to mega-billboards, taken up by hundreds of clients whose homes were displayed to millions of potential buyers.

Throughout the campaign we followed one simple rule: make customers’ homes, rather than ABN AMRO the central focus of the campaign and content. We deliberately kept ABN AMRO ‘under the radar’ in all the various media we used.