Bank of America knew that their no-fee service and product features alone would not resonate with consumers; they had to find a new way to appeal to their sensibilities. It needed to break into the culture and be a part of conversations that were already happening. It needed to create its own unique moment that felt relatable, fun and engaging.

Bank of America built the “Friends Again” campaign around with a basic human truth: “owing money creates tension in a relationship.” Every TV spot, social media post, partnership and consumer request would feature real tensions and emotions tied to owing money. But most importantly, it would have a simple, yet resonating message: “download the Bank of America mobile banking app and pay back your friend .”

With social at the heart of our campaign, we used relatable videos, contextually relevant activations, and targeted influencer partnerships, to build up to our big moment: “Pay Back a Friend Day.”

We celebrated throughout the day with things like branded snap filters and #friendsagain stories and our own branded Friends Again emoji. We took over social feeds by tapping celebrities and influencers like Josh Peck, Aidy Bryant, Lamorne Morris, and more to share “pay back” stories and encourage others to do the same.

We kept the momentum going with a real-time social media response. Twitter became the home for Friends Again, where we harnessed thousands of conversations around reconnecting friends, and for 24 hours, the brand reacted, responded and ignited real-time conversations.

During the campaign, people didn’t just hear about how easy it was to settle up, they took action. In just one month, Bank of America’s app saw over $1.5 Billion USD exchanged between friends. They increased enrolments by 54% and conducted over 5 Million transactions, up 90% from the same month the previous year.

Over 35 Million people interacted with our social content, engaging at an above average rate across all social platforms. We earned over 625 Million media impressions and broke a record for social sentiment, doubling Bank of America’s previous campaign high. In only 6 weeks, we created awareness of Pay Back a Friend Day at levels 44% higher than the “Giving Tuesday” holiday that’s had 6 years of marketing support.