TD Bank Group Takes to Social Media to Thank Customers, Gains Engagement

Credit: TD Bank Group

Some believe whatever you put out into to the world, you get back tenfold. But with TD Bank Group's #TDThanksYou campaign on social media, which honors the most deserving causes its “hero” customers support by giving them $1 million Canadian, the financial services marketer has already gotten back 25 million YouTube views from one video alone.

So on Aug. 15, Theresa McLaughlin, EVP and Global CMO of TD Bank Group, spoke to us about the campaign Diamond Integrated Marketing helped the banking group create, which the brand announced from its Toronto headquarters on July 26.

Why Did You Launch #TDThanksYou?

Theresa McLaughlin: We have incredible customers who are making an impact in their communities every day. On July 26th, across our Canadian footprint, we said a very special #TDThanksYou to 49 customers and the causes they care about most. From building homes for underprivileged families to raising awareness for rare disease research to creating a safe space for LGTBQ2+ youth — our customers are helping to open doors for a more inclusive tomorrow.

This year's #TDThanksYou was about helping to extend the impact these heroes make with seven community heroes receiving $50,000 each, as well as 42 heroes receiving $5,000 each to help them continue making a difference in the communities they support. All 49 heroes are involved with causes that support The Ready Commitment, the Bank's new corporate citizenship platform focused on building Financial Security, a more Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health.

TD has a long history of thanking our customers in very personal and meaningful ways, including our first #TDThanksYou in 2014 through an Automated Thanking Machine:

[25 million views]

An ultimate throwback experience:

[7 million views]

Celebrating their special life milestones, TD Thank Accounts:

[210,000 views]

and more.

For decades we've been celebrating our customers, and in a time where there is a lot of choice, we want to show our appreciation for choosing us to stand by them through life's moments — big and small.

How Did TD Bank Group Find the Stories?

McLaughlin: TD colleagues, across the bank, have a special connection with our customers. It extends beyond simply transactions and advice, we really know them, and we really care. To surface these incredible stories, we asked our branches to nominate customers, that were making a positive impact in their communities. All the heroes support causes aligned to The Ready Commitment drivers of building Financial Security, a more Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health. From coast to coast [in Canada], we celebrated individuals who are opening doors to a more inclusive tomorrow and our hope was our donation would help them continue their great work.

In addition to our 49 heroes, we also wanted to extend the spirit of the day to our telephone and online customers. Telephone banking customers were randomly selected and asked to share which of the four drivers of The Ready Commitment are most important to them, resulting in additional donations made by TD. Online customers were also randomly surveyed to share feedback to help inform TD's future community giving efforts.

In total, TD is donating up to CDN $1 million to many important causes — marking a milestone as we work towards our goal of achieving CDN $1 billion in community giving by 2030.

What Social Media Platforms Did TD Bank Group Leverage to Share These Stories?

How Did You Tell These Stories in Each Network? (Instagram Ads? Etc.)

McLaughlin: The campaign was brought to market through a comprehensive digital marketing strategy that highlighted seven hero customer stories in :06, :15, :30 and long-form video formats. Stories were designed with an audience-first and mobile-first approach that utilized relevant audiences, re-targeting techniques and real-time bidding strategies to optimize creative performance.

What Video and Distribution Tools Did You Use?

McLaughlin: The primary video distribution tools were YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. A mix of analytics and data were gathered from our social media customer service team, our social listening tool, social media back-end access and respective platform ad managers.

How Did You Promote the Campaign and the Stories?

McLaughlin: The promotion strategy was developed with a cohesive focus across earned, owned and paid media, to drive brand awareness and preference and increase message reach. The campaign was split into a launch and sustain phase. The launch phase had the primary objective of making #TDThanksYou a marquee event with mass reach and scale and to create retargeting pools. The sustain phase was meant to continue the momentum of the campaign through sequential delivery of different stories and formats that leveraged signals and interests from audience pools built from the launch window.

What Was Your Mix Between Paid and Organic Promo?

McLaughlin: The primary focus of the campaign was paid, with support from owned organic channels and TD employees that voluntarily shared our content.

Which Social Media Influencers Did You Use and Why? Are Your Customer Heroes Now Influencers, Too?

McLaughlin: The campaign did not use influencers.

How Did You Use Agencies in This Campaign?

McLaughlin: #TDThanksYou is built on a long-standing partnership with our agencies who are integral to bringing the program to life. Specifically, TD's creative agency partner Diamond and their in-house production team, The Mine, who led the campaign building over 400 different video and static assets bespoke to each channels’ best practices and each having a different strategic purpose for the greater program. “This program has been incredibly rewarding to work on,” says Josh Diamond, of Diamond Integrated Marketing. “It’s not often you get the opportunity to shine a light on everyday heroes making such a positive difference in our communities.”

TD also leveraged their integrated media agency Unison, which combines the planning and buying expertise of Starcom with the data and analytics of Sapient as well as TD’s newly expanded In House Agency which helped to build out the fully integrated campaign.

What Is ‘The Ready Commitment’?

McLaughlin: The world is changing at an increasingly rapid pace, undermining people's confidence in their ability to live well today and succeed in the future. While change can mean opportunities for some, it can also leave others behind. We are committed to help build an inclusive future, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed with confidence in a changing world. Recently, we launched The Ready Commitment, a new multi-year program to help individuals and communities prosper, targeting CDN $1 billion (US $775 million) in total by 2030 towards community giving in four areas focused on building Financial Security, a more Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health.