Scotiabank
After emerging from the 2008 economic recession, national saving levels were at record lows and there was a widespread sense that Canadians needed to get back on track with their savings. Although there was a cautious optimism among Canadians, there was a feeling that we were still in flux. The Scotiabank Saving Poll, conducted by Harris/Decima and released in July 2010, showed that 94 per cent of Canadians said they feel better when they have a safety net of savings, but nearly one-third of Canadians did not have a plan in place to achieve their savings goals. There was a real otpportunity to help break the inertia surrounding saving and get Canadians thinking and talking about their finances.
Scotiabank’s Let the Saving Begin program kicked off in July 2010 as a response to what Scotiabank had been hearing from clients and Canadians in general. Let the Saving Begin was designed to inspire and empower Canadians to get on track with their saving, investing and borrowing habits. Beloved Canadian broadcaster, Valerie Pringle, was brought on board as Scotiabank’s Saving Ambassador. Her role was to engage Canadians in a national conversation about saving,. She was to listen to successes, challenges, regional implications, and ultimately bring these insights back to Scotiabank in the hopes that this information may help to inform future programs and product innovation. Valerie and Scotiabank travelled across Canada on two national tours speaking directly with Canadians on the issues of saving, investing and borrowing. These conversations were filmed and highlights were posted on Scotiabank’s Facebook page. Through Facebook, Canadians were able to not only watch the videos, but also engage with them directly. By commenting on the videos and answering questions posed by either Scotiabank or, even better, other Canadians, the whole country participated in the movement and were able to join the dialogue on saving. Scotiabank also became the first financial institution in Canada to host a Facebook Live event. Valerie acted as moderator for an expert panel discussion on retirement and Canadians everywhere were able to participate in the conversation in a whole new way. The findings from Valerie’s tours will be highlighted in a final report that will be released this Spring.
Results:
The Let the Saving Begin program has inspired a saving movement across Canada and Scotiabank has emerged as the bank that listens to Canadians. Some highlights to date include:
- 16 communities across Canada visited as part of two national tours
- Facebook Community of just under 10,000 “likes” and 700,000 page views to date
- Facebook Live event with 32,000 unique viewers
- Earned nearly 50 million media impressions in more than 160 articles
