Western Union is bringing its global platform to life in Canada with a new campaign featuring real Canadians.
The money-transfer company, which has been around for 160 years and 25 years in Canada, introduced its “This is WU” brand platform in 2015. The aim is to show the good things that happen when money moves.
The Canadian launch kicked off this past summer with a social media contest and casting call. People were invited to submit their selfies and share where they move money to, for the chance to win $500 and star in an upcoming marketing campaign. The selfies were streamed on a digital billboard at Yonge Dundas Square in Toronto and on major digital billboards in Vancouver. More than 2,000 submissions were received and the contest received nearly 200,000 votes.
“We wanted digitally savvy customers, global citizens, and people who had lived or worked or studied in more than one country who can speak more than one language,” said Joycelyn David, director of marketing at Western Union in Canada. “[Our research] confirmed that one out of three Canadians places a greater trust in companies that understand their background, and that background is often very diverse in Canada.”
Five winners were selected from a pool of 25 (15 winners by vote, 10 winners by judges) and will appear in a new marketing campaign beginning Oct. 1. The people range in age from 18 to 45 and each sends money to a different country. The messaging is about their story and how they use Western Union, and announces the company’s new app, said David.
The national campaign, created by Toronto-based AV Communications, includes out-of-home and transit, digital and social media. Citizen Relations is handling PR.
Western Union’s new positioning is also meant to emphasize the company’s expansion beyond bricks and mortar. It currently has 3,500 agent locations in Canada and around half a million locations around the world.
“Our channels have expanded as the demands have expanded from our customers who want to be able to move money in certain ways, for example, into a mobile wallet in Kenya, or into a bank account in China or India,” said David.
“Positioning Western Union as a one-stop shop is part of the brand re-appraisal, and also in a way, repositioning who Western Union is relevant to. We’re not just your grandma’s or your mom’s money transfer company. We’re also here to provide more digitally savvy solutions for those of us who live in a digital world, which is really most of Canada today.”
