Desjardins wants to capture the attention of busy entrepreneurs, a group that has little free time and are notoriously hard to reach.
But the media plan for its new campaign is using a mix of highly targeted digital and partnerships with well-loved TV shows to make sure its message gets across.
Entrepreneurs are not a new market for Desjardins, but there is a perception in the market that entrepreneurs means small businesses or ones in their start-up phase. But the target for this campaign is all entrepreneurs, including the seasoned ones who have been running their business successfully for some time.
The company’s new campaign celebrates the growth stories of three entrepreneurs supported by Desjardins and are well-established in Quebec: Famille Migneron, Fruit d’Or and the animation studio Squeeze. Launched on Sept. 12, the three companies are featured in TV spots, as well as in a series of posters, print assets and web banners. Spending on the campaign is in line with previous business-focused efforts, though Desjardins increased its investment in the upper funnel in the past two years in order to produce original content that can educate entrepreneurs.
Dahlia Trinh-Viêt, VP of media at Glassroom, Desjardins’ AOR, says the campaign is based on a media strategy designed to deliver messages in the formats best suited to “the pace of life of entrepreneurs.”
And, given the hard-to-reach nature of busy business leaders, that means layering a few more opportunities into the buy.
These formats are compatible with the spaces entrepreneurs are likely to visit, despite their busy schedules, and the subject matters that would be of most interest to them. This includes major sponsorships on L’oeil du dragon (the Quebec adaptation of Dragon’s Den), but also less obvious fits, like current events show Tout le Monde en parle – a talk show that, given the state of the world, increasingly covers things like inflation, personal finance and business.
More targeted tactics in video, audio, banners and social media ads are being strategically place with a keyword campaign geared towards subjects and terms of most relevance to business leaders – though Trinh-Viêt couldn’t share the exact keywords. However, she did say that the consideration and acquisition phase of the campaign is placing more more emphasis on audiences relating to the specific sectors of Desjardins’ expertise, including the technology, agricultural and agri-food sectors.
To reach more specific business sectors, a geolocated OOH portion of the campaign, combined with digital placements, has also been executed. Ads are placed close to the locations of the companies targeted by Desjardins, as well as hubs for target sectors.
“Reaching our target audience close to their offices is a good option to complete our strategy as it helps to get through to the people who use adblockers,” says Trinh-Viêt.
The campaign will run till mid December in French and English in Quebec. Creative on the campaign was led by Glassroom sister agency Bleublancrouge.
