Multicultural Marketing Campaign of the Year 2007

Bank of America with Emanate and Fleishman-Hillard: SafeSend Helps Unbanked Hispanics Save Money on Mexican Mother's Day

Half of the approximately 25 million Latin Americans living in the US send money to their country of origin on a regular basis. However, 70% of them do so using fee-laden wire transfer services, while only 11% utilize money-saving programs from banks. In fact, 49% of US Hispanics don't have a checking account.

To raise awareness of its SafeSend free remittance service, Bank of America called on Emanate, which, together with Fleishman-Hillard, created a Hispanic-targeted PR initiative. The campaign aimed to generate positive publicity about SafeSend, with a goal of 30 million media impressions that, in conveying the program's money-saving ability, would also drive Hispanics to activate 2,000 Bank of America checking accounts.

The team discovered that Mexican Mother's Day was the busiest remittance date of the year, and sought to leverage the holiday as a kickoff point, centering on Hispanics of Mexican descent.

The Mexican Mother's Day hook was utilized through media relations efforts, which included a national press release, a national ANR, and prepackaged b-roll distributed to top-tier Spanish-language and general-market outlets.

The team also held events in high-concentrated Hispanic communities to capture consumers' attention and generate word-of-mouth recommendations, which were known to carry clout among Hispanics.

Bank of America hosted Fiesta Fridays in banking centers, as well as summertime parties that featured in-language materials and helped customers become better acquainted with banking products and services in a culturally relevant setting.

The team also organized an event in LA featuring a 10-foot-tall Mexican piggy bank, symbolizing the savings SafeSend had to offer. The piggy bank enabled consumers to win prizes through a chance wheel. The event also featured bilingual financial education, with snacks and entertainment, including Univision's celebrity game show host Guillermo Huesca serving as master of ceremonies.

The piggy banks also were sent out to regional Cinco de Mayo festivals in LA, Houston, and San Jose, CA, where branded T-shirts, gift cards, piggy banks, and Polaroids were handed out to consumers.

The effort generated news coverage in national and local top-tier Spanish-language and general-market media in seven out of 10 targeted Hispanic markets, securing 54,329,603 media expressions, exceeding the goal by 45%. PR and events reached more than 7,000 consumers. Bank of America opened 3,295 new direct deposit accounts with SafeSend during launch week, surpassing its goal by 65% and boosting the total number of accounts with SafeSend by about 57%.

Finalists

• Emanate with Fleishman-Hillard and Bank of America
  SafeSend Helps Unbanked Hispanics Save Money on Mexican Mother's Day
• Fleishman-Hillard: ERASEing the Divide
  Giving Underprivileged NYC Kids a Clean Slate in Fighting Asthma
• Fleishman-Hillard and Royal Caribbean Intl.
  Royal Caribbean Art Auction Series A Royal Celebration of Art
• MWW Group and New Jersey Family Care
  Affordable Healthcare: Taking it to the Streets
• Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
  CMS African-American Medicare Rx Campaign