Romanians don’t enjoy talking about some hard subjects, such as money and financial education, because they consider them taboo subjects. We see the bank as an enemy and we feel that there is something above our capacity of understanding how money works.
We created a stand-up show for our client, ING, to expose their new platform – ING Business. This way, people laughed, but they also learned about the importance and the facilities of the new bank platform.
In 2018, ING Romania launched ING Business – a platform designed to incorporate an omnichannel experience for the Mid Corporate Banking segment, accessible via all day-to-day digital gadgets, including smartwatches.
In a country where digital banking still has a long way to go, we needed to raise not only awareness but also empathy for the platform. Moreover, entrepreneurs and business owners have it over their heads with commercial communication.
Most of the ING customers’ bank interactions happened online. Physically going to the bank to sign papers has become not only obsolete but even hilarious. Humour was the switch to lighten up the stiff and serious money talk, bringing a detached human valence to the regular bank interactions.
So we called in the comedians. Stand-up comedy is a growing trend in Romania, and we knew this was the best way to get our target- audience. We turned the set into a comedy show that took place at the Apollo111 Theatre, with an audience consisting of ING customers and entrepreneurs.
Things escalated quickly and the show became digital content and was used as a digital amplification anchor. Moreover, the Rusu+Borțun Cyber Growers team felt the drive to create a tactical branding campaign, so it even developed a whole show identity.