Interac rebranded its money transfer service with the launch of a national ad campaign shortening the name from Interac Email Money Transfer to simply e-Transfer.

To spread the word about the rebrand, the debit card company distributed an insert this weekend in a huge number of newspapers, including the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, National Post and Vancouver Sun.

The company also has an online ad campaign that will be running for two weeks on sites such as MSN.ca, Yahoo Canada and TSN.ca.

The campaign had three purposes, Eric Chue, director, marketing, Interac, tells MiC.

‘One, we want to increase awareness of the Interac e-Transfer; second, we want to introduce the new name, e-Transfer; and third, it’s to introduce our expansion on the mobile channel,’ he says.

The mobile channel allows people to transfer money with only the other person’s cellphone number or email address.

The target for this campaign is broad, trying to hit everyone who uses Interac debit cards, but campaigns in the new year are expected to be more targeted and feature promotions.

News Marketing Canada was the print media buyer and Agency 59 handled the creative and online buy. Both are based in Toronto.

The four-page insert starts with a picture of a cheque with the words written in red, ‘Still writing cheques? Isn’t it time you turn the page?’

Once the page is turned, the Interac armoured truck, made famous in the company’s previous ad campaigns, shows money being transferred from one person’s account to another’s, with an explanation of the new service at the top.