Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2014 - 35

LeSSon #2:
Don't think of a social media/traditional
media divide. Many companies think of paid
advertising, owned media and earned media
as distinct categories. social transcends
them all, says binkley. don't focus so much
on the terms, as on content that's shareable
and relevant to your audiences.

lesson #3:
involve your frontline employees. Social media
is about connections. Besides connecting with
customers, your own people can participate.
the tD video only happened by tapping into
the pride staff took in their customer relationships. the result can be a feel-good for all staff,
and can bolster your internal social networks.

ed Thanking Machine.
The video had 17 million views and counting
by November, and generated millions of shares
on Facebook and Twitter. "A bank with a soul...
incredible," was a typical viewer comment.
Called #TDThanksYou, the video was released on July 24th. At precisely 2 p.m. that
day, staff in over 1,100 branches simultaneously distributed envelopes containing $20 to
every customer there at the time. Customers
using phone and online banking at that moment got a $20 direct deposit. About 30,000
customers received the cash.
The idea was that a simple (and surprising)
thank you can change someone's day. The
video kicked that up several notches. Select
branches in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and
Vancouver identified loyal customers who deExciting guests at TD Bank.
served a special gesture of appreciation.
"We used social as a supplementary medium
The bank invited those customers to test
to tell interesting stories that we couldn't tell in what they thought was a new banking machine-actually
a traditional campaign," says Binkley. "Social the Automated Thanking Machine. When the customers apmedia gave us the ability to have instantaneous proached, a man inside the machine started talking to them.
feedback on the content. We wanted to drive Hidden cameras filmed the encounters. The machine then disconversations around the idea of what it takes." pensed customized gifts.
The company also used their YouTube chanOne woman received a
lesson #4:
nel to drive sales. In what SportChek billed pair of $1,000 ReSP vouchbe real. tD's hidden cameras show human emoas a first in Canada, consumers could click ers, along with a Disney trip;
tion. nothing is scripted
through the video they were watching to buy the emotional mom said she
or feels like marketing.
products featured within the ad.
had never been able to take
the video goes beyond
At the Games, the presence of the athletes her kids anywhere. A rabid
a generic thank you to
on social media was also a boon. For instance, Blue Jays fan received a
portray an organization
that pays attention to what
after Humphries won the gold she tweeted jersey, then a visit from outmatters to customers. as
thanks to SportChek for believing in her. "Ath- fielder Jose Bautista, who
Chris Stamper, tD's Svp of
letes are influencers when they're on social," revealed that this customer
Corporate Marketing, said
states Binkley.
would be throwing out a first
earlier this year: "What
resonated is that it's so
pitch. Another customer,
genuine. it's real customtd canada trust: offering a surprise
whose daughter in Trinidad
ers, their real reaction."
thank you
had just undergone cancer
When's the last time that a bank made you surgery, was given plane
cry? Not over service or fees, but because of tickets to fly there.
a feeling that they care. In July, TD Canada
The website entrepreneur.
Trust released a YouTube video that captured com called the viral video "marketing magic"-"the campaign afthe shock and delight of customers who re- firmed the incomparable value of expressing gratitude to your cusceived unexpected gifts through an Automat- tomers...as emotionally poignant as it is commercially impactful."
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Canadian Retailer - Holiday 2014

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