How BMO Financial Group and Alphonso Davies are Growing ‘the Beautiful Game’ in Canada
When listing off sports associated with Canada, one might be inclined to say hockey, lacrosse, or even basketball. But soccer? Historically, that’s been far less common.
Perhaps it’s time that changed. As of 2022, there is no doubt that soccer has become one of the country’s most played, and most successful sports. The Canadian women’s team has been one of the game’s fiercest competitors for years, and more recently, the men’s team has started to share some of this same success - qualifying for their very first World Cup since 1986. Needless to say, it’s a good time to be a fan, and any enjoyers of the beautiful game will have their eyes glued to their TVs this November to see if Canada can fight their way out of the group stage.
But where many Canadians are only just now getting excited for soccer, for BMO Financial Group, it’s been an area of passion since 2005. Named ‘the bank of soccer’, BMO has put more than $25 million into growing the game at both the grassroots and professional level, sponsoring 70 clubs - representing 920 teams and approximately 13,000 youth players every year across Canada. And as the country’s first major bank to invest in the support, naturally, they couldn’t afford to miss out when soccer excitement is at an all-time high.
Enter ‘#BMOGrowTheGame’. Developing in partnership with FCB Canada, the campaign is built around seven spots featuring ‘the BMO banker’ (played for the past three years by ‘New Girl’ actor Lamorne Morris), alongside Canada men’s national team member and FC Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies - who recently inked a five-year deal as a BMO soccer ambassador.
Starting in September, the campaign has been running in paid media including MLS and World Cup broadcasts, YouTube, and Twitch. Each video features ‘the BMO banker’ and Alphonso demonstrating their respective skills: banking and soccer.
LBB’s Josh Neufeldt sat down with FCB Canada ECD Jeremiah McNama, as well as BMO’s head North American brand & social media, Jennifer Carli, and head sponsorships & loyalty, Sonya Kunkel, to discuss how this campaign was brought to life.
LBB> ‘#BMOGrowTheGame’ represents the kickoff of a new partnership between BMO and Alphonso Davies. What was the brief? And what immediate ideas came to mind?
Jeremiah> We started working on this campaign before anyone knew Alphonso was involved - so it was a moving target. We began with big anthemic football spots, which are always exciting, but once Alphonso came into the picture, we shifted to creating vignettes in line with our BMO brand spots.
Jennifer> While the strategy of demonstrating BMO’s support of soccer didn’t change, the brief evolved once we confirmed Davies as part of Team BMO. It’s always great when the creative team can write concepts specifically for the unique personality of the athlete, and Davies’ winning smile and personality made him especially fun to design the campaign around.
LBB> What were your main aims and ambitions with this project? And what made FCB Canada the right team to bring them to life?
Jennifer> BMO has been a long-time supporter of soccer at the grassroots and professional levels in Canada, and 2022 has been an inflection point for Canadian soccer as we approach the World Cup. This is the right time to reinforce our position as ‘the bank of soccer’ with a new campaign that marries our fandom of the sport with our best-in-class brand platform, and there was no doubt that FCB was the partner to take this on. Our partnership with FCB has been fruitful both in terms of building our brand and through awards and recognition, and we hope to see both as an outcome of this work.
LBB> The shorts all feature fun interactions between Alphonso and ‘the BMO banker’ (played for the past three years by ‘New Girl’ actor Lamorne Morris). Where did the ideas for each spot come from?
Jeremiah> Most of the spots we wrote were based on either a soccer insight or a banking insight. Combining those two worlds is inherently funny, so once we settled on a construct, the spots almost wrote themselves.
Jennifer> These ads were so fun to develop because we have a lot of soccer fans across the team that weighed in to elevate the work and provide ideas for the vignettes. For example, I had always loved the humour of an ongoing header and all the ways you could have fun with that exchange - so I pushed for that set-up and we were able to create a phased story for the joke. In terms of the dialogue, we are fortunate to work with Lamorne, whose comedic sensibility is so strong – he can take the words on a page and ad lib or put his personal spin to it, and we always have way more great takes than we can use. We laughed a lot on set!
LBB> Creating multiple spots - to demonstrate this commitment from BMO to soccer - rather than a single, longer spot must have been an interesting challenge. What was the experience of developing this campaign for shorter spots like, and why was this the right approach for BMO?
Jeremiah> Short spots are a lot of fun to write. When you’re dealing with 15 seconds, you really only have time for a set up and one joke. We wrote dozens and dozens of scripts and then mixed and matched our favourites to hit on the right mix of messages.
Jennifer> The benefit of capturing more, shorter pieces was two-fold. First, we wanted to showcase various soccer scenarios and take advantage of getting as much content as possible in the limited time we had to shoot. The main benefit, however, was media driven. This work is running on social, digital video, streaming and broadcast, so 15 seconds gives us maximum flexibility to run across video platforms and give the campaign longevity.
LBB> Benji Weinstein directed the spots. What made him the right person for the job?
Jeremiah> Thankfully, Benji has been our director on the ‘Help Desk’ work since day one. He’s got an incredible talent for bringing out comedy. He also has a great relationship with Lamorne, everyone at FCB, and our partners at BMO. There’s a lot of trust there.
LBB> The campaign was shot in Edmonton, at a pitch where Alphonso used to play. If you were on set, what was the shooting experience like?
Jeremiah> We shot eight english commercials and two french commercials in four hours. It was outrageously fast. But part of the fun of moving that quickly is not overthinking things, and everyone was up for the challenge.
LBB> Signing Alphonso Davies as a BMO soccer ambassador is a big deal! Leading up to the signing, what your discussions with him like, and what made him such an appealing option?
Sonya> From the beginning, discussions with Alphonso were so easy and felt like a natural partnership. Like him, we’re in the game because we love the game and we share a vision to grow it throughout North America. Our relationship with Alphonso actually started long before we signed him as an ambassador for Team BMO. He is an alumni of the Whitecaps’ BMO academy system - a program we’re incredibly proud of. We were there at the beginning of his professional journey, and are excited to be there for him as he continues his professional career with FC Bayern Munich, and later this year, team Canada at the 2022 World Cup. It’s also worth noting that Alphonso is also a long-time BMO customer! We were his first bank, and feel like the relationship has come full circle.
LBB> What does having Alphonso as a BMO soccer ambassador mean to you?
Sonya> Partnering with Alphonso is a huge win for BMO. At just 21 years old, he’s accomplished more than most athletes accomplish in an entire career. On the pitch, right now, he’s considered one of the best (if not the best) left backs in the world. Off the pitch, he’s a passionate advocate for human rights, and is the first soccer player (and first Canadian) to be appointed as a global goodwill ambassador for UNHCR. He’s also committed to donating all of his World Cup earnings to charity. He’s a barrier breaker in every sense of the word, and we’re proud to support his journey on and off the pitch. Our partnership with him will help us accelerate the deployment of our soccer vision to grow the game.
LBB> Following the shoot, BMO hosted a practise clinic for local youth players, and surprised them with Davies as their coach. Tell us more about this! What was the clinic like and how many players attended?
Sonya> The clinic was pure joy, and the fact that it took place on the pitch where Davies used to practise as a youth player himself made it so meaningful. We had around 50 local youth players join the clinic, and the kids had no idea they would be coached by the Alphonso Davies. Their reaction was priceless! They practised and played for a few hours, then went home with some BMO soccer merch to remember the day.
LBB> Since 2005, BMO has committed more than $25 million to growing soccer. But in a country like Canada, where traditionally, soccer is less talked about than a sport like hockey, what made it such an appealing option? And what are you hoping to see for the future of soccer in Canada?
Sonya> We’ve been the bank of soccer since 2005. We believe in the game and experienced its growth first hand. When you peel back the layers and look at the numbers, soccer is quickly becoming one of our country’s most popular sports. In terms of participation, soccer is well ahead of hockey. There are one million registered soccer players in Canada, compared to just under 600,000 hockey players. In terms of the professional game, MLS is putting the finishing touches on a record-breaking season. 2022 saw the most fans in league history as clubs generated record ticket revenue, and, in Canada, we saw an eight percent growth in broadcast viewership compared to 2021 - which we think is fantastic momentum going into the blockbuster partnership with Apple TV next season. Long story short, soccer is going one way: up!
LBB> What challenges have you faced during this project? How did you overcome them?
Jeremiah> We committed to four spots on the day, with six spots in our back pocket if time permitted. And we ended up getting all ten. That takes A LOT of teamwork - client, agency, and production.
Jennifer> Fortunately, we didn’t face many challenges on this one! If there was one, it was mainly scheduling. Alphonso is based in Germany during the soccer season, and would be training for the World Cup in the postseason, so we planned the shoot around his brief return to his hometown of Edmonton this summer. Luckily, our director and cast were available, and FCB and production assembled a stellar local team and location. It all ended up working out, and came together beautifully.
LBB> Do you have a favourite of the spots?
Jeremiah> ‘Header’ or ‘Save’.
Jennifer> Everyone on the team has a different favourite, and most people’s favourite changed from the script stage to the final production. There is a lot of heart for ‘Half Time Snacks’, because the kids brought such a fun energy and dynamic to that scene. It’s so hard to choose!
LBB> How does this campaign fit into BMO’s branding for 2022 and beyond?
Jennifer> Because we built the campaign in our current brand construct, it is a seamless fit into our content rotation: creating a connection to soccer in our unmistakeable BMO tone and brand personality. The ‘#BMOGrowTheGame’ campaign is a foundation for us to build and evolve beyond 2022, as we showcase our continued support for the sport at the youth and professional levels.
LBB> What was the experience of working with Alphonso like?
Jeremiah> He’s exactly what you see on social media. Fun, friendly and engaging. And, he’s a natural on camera - something you don’t always find when working with athletes.
LBB> Is there anything you’d like to add?
Jeremiah> Go Canada go! Let’s make it out of the group stage!
Jennifer> We can’t wait to cheer on Alphonso in the World Cup this November!
