CIBC and Air Canada recently held a night market featuring food stalls from 10 countries to launch what the companies call the first-of-its-kind multi-currency prepaid card in Canada.
The Oct. 17 event in Toronto promoted the CIBC Air Canada Conversion Visa Prepaid Card, a reloadable prepaid card that allows users to buy and store up to 10 currencies on one card, all managed by a dedicated mobile app.
It was organized by Pomp & Circumstance, which was hired by CIBC Capital Markets to find a unique way to launch the card.
The night market, held in a new event space in the King St. W. area that once housed a water works plant, brought together chefs from 10 top Toronto restaurants (including Blowfish, Tabülè, The Oxley and Kanga) to create dishes representative of the countries whose currencies can be loaded on the card. The evening also featured an appearance by Vancouver chef David Hawksworth with whom Air Canada has a partnership.
About 200 people, including media, bloggers, influencers and CIBC and Air Canada executives, attended the soirée.
“We challenged (CIBC and Air Canada) to think a little bit differently about this launch and they were open to doing that,” says Amanda Alvaro, co-founder and president of Pomp & Circumstance. “I don’t think in their history they’ve done anything like this before.”
The card, which can be used wherever Visa is accepted, includes the Australian, Canadian, U.S. and Hong Kong dollar, Euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Mexican peso, Swiss franc and Turkish lira.
Alvaro expects a number of stories to emerge online, in print and broadcast from the event.
“Gone are the days of just issuing the press release and crossing your fingers hoping that people will pick up the story.” It’s harder for product-driven campaigns to get coverage and connect with consumers without creating innovative experiences that get people talking, she says. CIBC approached the agency after it saw the Boulangerie Bleue event that Pomp & Circumstance handled last summer for Grey Goose vodka.
“We’re still a newish, smallish agency so when a big brand like CIBC chooses us, it’s a coup. I think it means we’re doing something right,” Alvaro says in reference to the Toronto PR shop she formed late last year with Lindsay Mattick Davidson.
To promote the new card, Pomp & Circumstance is also running a media relations campaign aimed at travel, lifestyle, finance and personal finance writers and holiday gift guides.
Some influencers who are travel bloggers are also being given prepaid cards.
In addition, CIBC is promoting the card through an awareness-focused marketing and communications strategy that is heavy on paid search and digital.
