ING Direct is kicking off a national campaign with a celebrity charity challenge that will see a lot of cash handed out to unsuspecting consumers .
Henry Burris, a Calgary Stampeder, Trevor Linden, former Vancouver Canuck, Toronto web expert and television host Amber MacArthur and Montreal actress Tammy Verge were driving around the four cities in ING-branded Toyota Scions today. Equipped with iPads, each was asked to spend $7,000 within seven hours on random acts of kindness.
ING is donating $15,000 to each celebrity’s charity of choice, but the first to give away all their money will win an additional $15,000 for their charity.
The $900,000 campaign by digital shop Dashboard and Maverick Public Relations will highlight features of the bank’s latest product–the Thrive Chequing account, a no-fee daily chequing account that pays interest and includes the “Whoops” protection feature that covers customers for overdraft up to $250 for a month with no interest or penalty.
“Canadians pay, on average, $185 a year on fees,” said Brenda Rideout, ING’s chief marketing officer. “They are tired of being nickled and dimed.”
The goal, she said, is to open up 100,000 new accounts this year.
Rideout said the idea is to have the celebrities highlight different features of the chequing account while handing out the cash by paying for items at the point of sale, paying someone’s bills or making a cash withdrawal from an ABM.
ING will follow the challenge on its Facebook page and through Twitter. Other components of the campaign include ads in Metro newspapers, Maclean’s and L’actualite, bus wraps and on digital screens. Out-of-home elements will run for seven weeks and online for 12 weeks.
