The Citi Double Cash card launched a new campaign early in 2016 that set out to build upon the success of the card's product launch in 2014. We created a new, emotionally based value proposition for Double Cash – based not just on product features but also on brand ethos. Our big idea: A "give it to me straight" position that serves as an antidote to the cash back category. We would be the hero that could be 100% straightforward and honest because when we say double cash back, we really mean it.
Since the launch, the Double Cash card continued to build momentum around its humorous message, revealing refreshingly honest truths in everyday scenarios. Its relatable, disarming language really struck a real chord, creating a lift in awareness for the Double Cash proposition.
In social, we wanted to appeal to our leading-edge consumers by leveraging a social insight unique to our "Means What It Says" campaign.
Through social listening we found the word "Literally" is literally one of the most used words on Twitter to the tune of 10.4 million uses in roughly a month. Ironically, it was not being used as it is defined but instead every few seconds someone is using the word to add emphasis. Think, "It's literally raining cats and dogs." Or "If that kid kicks the back of my seat one more time, I'll literally explode."
Since the "double" in the Citi Double Cash card literally means double cash back, we thought it would be fun to use our social and digital platforms to take all of these "literal" statement literally.
We tapped into these existing conversations around how people don't mean what they say when they use the word and focused on creating sharable content. In a multi-platform approach, we utilized new auto-looping video features to our advantage by introducing a new format to our audience, cinemagraphs. Each 1-2 second long video auto played and looped to help bring to life common phrases we say, but sometimes don't literally mean, like:
-Literally Can't Deal
-Literally Can't Even
-Literally Nothing to Wear
-Literally Waiting Forever
Through our copy, we highlighted how while you may not literally mean what you say with these phrases, the Citi Double Cash card does.
Overall, the #Literally campaign performed successfully across all platforms. In order to ensure the overall success of the campaign, creative was quickly optimized. Resulting in an overall favourable response that surpassed goals and expectations in terms of both performance and sentiment.
