THE CHALLENGE:

BMO’s purpose is to boldly grow the good in business and in life, with a key driver being support for women-owned businesses.

The Bank of Montreal, known as BMO, is the 10th largest bank in North America, with branches across Canada and the midwest and western US. BMO’s belief in equity and financial fairness has helped build a strong history of championing women’s advancement – from their long-standing support of women-led businesses in Canada through a $3 billion commitment, to achieving over 40% female leadership within the bank itself. In an industry that’s traditionally run by men, for men, BMO stands out as a bank that’s invested in women’s success. 

In 2021, the hardest-hit industries were predominantly owned by women, with 56% of women-owned businesses seeing a decline in revenue. BMO wanted to help build back women-owned businesses that disproportionately suffered during the pandemic. 

THE ONE-LINE KEY INSIGHT:

The impact of the pandemic was felt disproportionately more for women small business owners. Lack of access to capital, unpaid caretaking labour, and domestic labour are barriers unique to female entrepreneurs that were exacerbated by COVID.

THE ONE-LINE IDEA:

To support the recovery of women-owned businesses during the holiday season, we turned wrapping paper, a ubiquitous and largely cosmetic product, into a new media channel to support women-owned businesses.

THE PLAN:

"Wrap the Good" launched on Small Business Day (Nov. 27) with custom-designed, recyclable wrapping paper featuring gift photography, program details, and a QR code that drove to a curated gift guide on Pinterest. 

The gift guide included hundreds of shoppable products and gift cards across clothing, home, beauty, wellness, and food and beverage. To build awareness and drive to the guide, BMO used a mix of owned, earned, and paid channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. BMO printed and distributed the wrapping paper to small businesses and BMO branches nationwide. Branches were wrapped in our custom-designed wrapping paper, which increased street-level exposure and allowed passersby to scan and shop. 

Participating women-owned businesses provided additional distribution, and a campaign hashtag encouraged shoppers to share their suggestions and photos. An installation at Stackt market - one of Toronto’s largest outdoor markets - increased awareness and created more opportunities for consumer engagement. 

WHAT HAPPENED/RESULTS:

BMO built an engaging, purpose-driven campaign that far exceeded objectives.
By transforming wrapping paper from a holiday accessory into a new media channel, BMO built a campaign that drove engagement, increased brand reach and recall, and created hundreds of thousands of dollars in media exposure for women-owned businesses in need. 

Key results:   

·       BMO distributed over 10,000 sq. ft. of our Wrap the Good wrapping paper.

·       BMO provided $360,000 of free media exposure to businesses in need through this new media channel. This equates to a four-week, 200 billboard OOH campaign or 24,000 national full-page newspaper ads.

·       Due to high demand, we doubled our initial projections and printed and distributed 6,000 sheets of wrapping paper. 

Brand Reach & Recall: 

·       Impressions: 7,764,031

o   Including 3.2 million impressions on Pinterest, reaching 929,000 Pinterest users over a two-week campaign. 

·       Reach: 3,019,952

·       Completed Video Views: 98,698