RBC’s new spot targeting first-time home buyers is straight out of science fiction.
Last year, RBC released a series of movie trailers on You Tube featuring a couple buying their first home. The trailers, each called “The Mortgage,” were created in three genres: romantic comedy, drama and horror.
RBC’s latest video, created by Engagement Labs and directed by German directing duo Alex and Steffen, is a two-minute sci-fi trailer for “The Mortgage: The Future is Now.” It shows the couple “who has it all” on a quest to buy a home in a futuristic world, complete with a robot dog and an android real estate agent.
About two-thirds of first-time home buyers are millennials, “and this is the group that consumes media differently,” said Larry Jacobs, head of marketing – personal financing products at RBC. The challenge for RBC was “how to breakthrough with millennials in a channel they’re going to be in, with a message that’s going to resonate with them.”
The initial campaign was created by Entrinsic, which was acquired by Engagement Labs last year. Through social listening and RBC data, the agency uncovered the emotional sentiments happening with first-time home buyers.
“First-time home buyers unequivocally categorize their experience of buying a first home as either being romantic, dramatic or a horror show,” said Anthony Wolch, chief creative officer at Engagement Labs. “And a lot of people felt that it was total science fiction… it seems like it’s a hundred years into the future that they can actually afford to get their first home.”
With the latest spot, RBC wanted to show “that buying your first home doesn’t need to be science fiction and RBC can help provide that guidance along the way,” said Jacobs.
Engagement Labs also used data to determine when viewers of the first three trailers were dropping off. The videos were watched about 80% of the way through, which was a “staggering result” compared to other online ads, said Wolch.
“We used the learning from last year to make sure that at the point where people tended to drop off, we would bring in another robotic scene or another scene with such incredible CGI that people would want to continue watching,” explained Wolch.
“Almost every 10 or 15 seconds some jaw-dropping piece of action happens to make sure we kept the average length of time on the video as long as possible.”
The spot, which ends with a brief promo for RBC, links to RBC’s online resource for first-time home buyers. The hub features articles and videos on buying a home, a readiness quiz and a budgeting calculator, as well a mortgage pre-approval application.
RBC is also hosting monthly #RBCFirstHome Twitter chats. Participants who submit a question have the chance to win a $100 RBC Visa gift card.
