Citi wanted to create a holiday takeover of New York City during the hectic holiday season, with pop-up moments could leverage Citi’s social power to surprise and delight thousands of people. As part of its “Sweet Offers” partnership with the New York Food Truck Association, Citi booked Andra Day for a pop-up performance.

Day, who released her debut album in August 2015, was chosen for the campaign thanks to her rising profile as the year’s breakout soul talent. She also received an endorsement from Stevie Wonder, with whom she appeared in a holiday commercial for Apple Music around the same time period.

To promote her Citi performance, Day shared “teaser” posts on her social accounts. In true guerilla fashion, once Day was spotted walking down the streets of New York toward the performances, she became a Pied Piper, drawing fans and passersby to the area near Citi’s Meatpacking District location.

To capitalize on Saturday foot traffic, food trucks visited the Citi branch near the Highline District, one of New York’s most iconic modern neighborhoods. As she brought throngs of fans and passersby with her, cardholders and New Yorkers alike were surprised with a performance from GRAMMY nominated artist Andra Day, who performed and took photos with fans and cardholders while they enjoyed complimentary hot beverages. In true guerrilla style, the performance drew a dense crowd and generated social media promotion and press coverage from Billboard, Swagger, and others. Social media coverage from talent, fans and Citi drove additional awareness for the event.

Footage from Andra Day's surprise performance was used to create a Citi branded video that was pushed out via social media on both Citi and Andra's social channels. This custom, branded content was viewed thousands of times.

The Citi Sweet Offers takeover of New York City yielded millions of impressions, and the Citi branded MetroCards reached commuters in a unique and unexpected way. Over 15,000 complimentary hot beverages were served to cardholders in three weeks.

Total social impressions: 7.6 million plus

Social Program Highlights:

- Outperformed monthly benchmark on both Facebook and Twitter with real time and promotional content targeted to New York City users

- Capitalized on relevant social chatter surrounding #GivingTuesday (a day dedicated to making philanthropic donations), and accounted for 33% of Citi’s month’s Favorability score (positive social interactions)

- Contributed to #3 competitive ranking measured through Market Bridge (allowing Citi to surpass both Capital One and Wells Fargo, two core competitors)

Press coverage included Billboard and Swagger NY. And as a testament to its relationship with Andra Day, Citi extended its relationship by sponsoring her spring 2016 club tour.

Citi was able to tap into the groundswell of momentum around soul singer Andra Day, five days after she was nominated for two GRAMMY Awards, to create a memorable, surprise concert for cardholders. A three-song pop-up concert in front of a branded food truck allowed Citi to stand out among its competition, reward its existing customers while surprising and delighting New Yorkers and Andra Day fans in the process. Internal research has proven that 30% of people aware of a Citi card’s benefits were likely to recommend it to others.

Citi strategically positioned pop up events to drive amplification and support the No Kid Hungry initiative to provide music fans and Citi cardholders with one-of-a-kind, memorable experiences.

The Andra Day performance amplified Citi’s partnership with the New York Food Truck Association and Citi Sweet Offers program, which allowed Citi to engage employees, drive awareness for retail branch locations, and capture the attention of cardholders, residents, and visitors. In total, the branded trucks distributed more than 15,000 hot beverages to New Yorkers and cardholders. The high-profile events drove awareness of Citi retail branch locations in New York City, where the company is headquartered, and further solidified the idea of Citi being part of New York City. It also allowed Citi to stand out from its closest competitors in the New York market, which include global banks like Chase and Bank Of America.

Situation: New York receives more than 5.2 million visitors during the hectic season from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, who spend an estimated $3.7 billion during those six weeks alone. The financial category is extremely competitive during this period, particularly around iconic venues like Radio City Music Hall (Chase), Bryant Park (Bank of America) and Small Business Saturday (American Express.) Bearing that in mind, Citi wanted to create a distinct presence in NYC by surprising and delighting Citibank and Citi credit card customers throughout the season.

Brief: Create a breakthrough, surprise-and-delight moment with a rising talent like Andra Day.

Objectives: Citi looked to activate a quick-turn, high-impact program to:

- Spread holiday cheer throughout NYC

- Deliver value to cardholders

- Paint NYC the iconic “Citi blue”

Citi wanted to target current and potential Citibank and Citi credit card customers, as well as residents and guests of New York City.