Seven years of planning and programming its Training Ground talent search appears to have helped RBC refine and perfect its media strategy.
A new fully-integrated campaign – launched just in time for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games – highlights the foundational role the bank plays in the lives of the next generation of athletes.
RBC’s program once again proved it has an eye for talent, as five of the athletes identified through Training Ground will compete at the 2022 Olympics and will be featured in commercial spots running during the Games.
One spot focuses on how athletes have leveraged the Training Ground program and how it has influenced their careers, while other spots individually highlight the stunning athletic transformations of Marion Thénault from gymnast to freestyle aerialist, and lifelong track and football player Kayden Johnson’s potential for Olympic success in bobsleigh.
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The bulk of RBC’s media buy is focused on CBC/Radio-Canada channels including affiliates Sportsnet and TSN, with commercial inventory airing across TV, digital, and on CBC Gem, Shannon Cole, senior director of brand marketing at RBC, tells MiC. The company worked with Initiative to facilitate the buy.
The campaign includes a multichannel branded content strategy that’s meant to deliver “meaningful RBC athlete stories” and exclusive moments across social media, running around the clock throughout the Games, as well as during daily broadcasts of its primetime RBC Spotlight segment on CBC. The segments will feature interviews with more than 20 RBC-affiliated athletes.
RBC partnered with Google for a media buy on YouTube, and will also advertise on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok via a branded hashtag challenge that leverages TikTok’s branded effect capabilities (animations that overlay video content) – a first for a Canadian financial institution, according to Cole.
The campaign also features OOH elements and will utilize RBC’s bank branches to share the brand’s messaging through digital screens and ATMs across Canada. Additionally, RBC has organized a complete takeover of the eXperience RBC retail space at Sherway Gardens in Toronto, which is intended to educate consumers about RBC’s support of Canadian Olympic athletes. The takeover will feature RBC Training Ground athlete bios, an interactive hockey game, and a photo op with an Olympic bobsleigh.
To reach an even broader audience, Cole says RBC has also invested in non-traditional media platforms including BuzzFeed, Complex, and LaPresse to engage “more casual” Olympic fans through Game-themed trivia and athlete profiles on Olympians from Team Canada.
RBC has been an Olympic partner for 75 years. Since launching its Training Ground program in 2016, more than 10,000 athletes have been tested across the country and more than 1,300 were identified by National Sport Organizations as having Olympic potential.
The Beijing campaign builds on the success of the athletes who were discovered via the program, including Avalon Wasteneys, Kelsey Mitchell, Lauriane Genest and Jerome Blake, who reached the medal podium at the Tokyo 2020 Games this past summer.
RBC partnered with Bell Media in 2020 to increase the visibility of the program and reach new audiences after several years of partnering with CBC, the official broadcaster of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
