Aiming to shake people out of their banking inertia, Ally launched a new campaign that leaned into 2010s nostalgia and tapped Millennial teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner to motivate consumers to move on—and bank with Ally instead.
The insight that a majority of our target audience, A25-44, still have their first bank account that they opened in high school or even earlier s parked our strategy of reigniting consumers’ “banking inertia,” because as life moves forward, so should your bank.
Ally revived a handful of nostalgic Snapchat filters and rewarding giveaways on social in June for a blast from the past—and a boost toward the future. The campaign appeared on Ally’s TikTok, Instagram and linear and connected TV over weeks, timed to the spring graduation season.
The creative reframed switching banks as a life upgrade that’s just as significant as switching jobs or apartments—and one that was way overdue. Whether you love it or hate it, Millennial-core is kind of iconic: hipster mustaches, shutter shades and sepia filters. But, iconic or not, Millennials have grown out of these trends, and come a long way from the bygone, nostalgic era—they’ve graduated from first jobs, first apartments and first loves. However, many of them are still with the banking partner they had in high school.
Our campaign spotlighted some of the most iconic trends from the early 2010s—like the Harlem Shake—to unlock core Millennial memories and invite consumers to reflect on how far they’ve come. With Ally, they get to mark another milestone. Not just growing up, but growing financially.
Our all-digital bank revived a handful of nostalgic Snapchat filters and rewarding giveaways on social in June for a blast from the past—and a boost toward the future. Ally debuted the 30s spot on Saturday’s broadcast of the Pacers/Knicks game. We also tapped Millennial teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner to really transport consumers back to that era and reinforce just how long ago they opened their first account and why they should ‘move on’ with ally, a more future-focused banking solution. Our media approach prioritized contextual media placements to amplify the campaign message, like running our 30s and 15s spot across Peacock's 'nostalgia' content, which allowed us to show up on some of the most iconic programming from the 2010s.
Urging this not-so-young-anymore generation to move on, Ally is the bank built for “what’s next” that fits the way people manage money today. Being digital-first goes hand-in-hand with being customer-first. We don’t have branches. No waiting rooms. Just intuitive tools that actually fit the way people manage money today.
We’re not like your first bank. Ally offers smarter tools that match millennial habits: automated savings, budget visibility, and a mobile-first experience designed for people who expect everything to just work.
The creative idea for the campaign came from the agency Anomaly NY.
Ally’s hypothesis for the creative was that by rotating in disruptive/contextual creative that speaks directly to the target audience of A21-35, we would observe a lift in site visits building a larger retargeting pool, ultimately increasing our favorability.
Ally’s performance metrics –
