Research revealed two main stress factors related to buying property:

(1) is it a good investment, considering the evolution of the neighbourhood?

(2) will I like living in this area?

82% of Belgians consider the neighbourhood as a very important factor in the buying decision. 25% even believe it’s more important than the house itself. 64% think it would be a good idea to test an area before actually buying a property.

This is exactly what “Sleep On It” offered. Through a partnership with AirBnB, CBC invited people with buying intentions to test the neighbourhood and thus make well-informed decisions. The objective was threefold:

1. Test the neighbourhood

2. Test the type of home (e.g. loft, farm house, apartment)

3. Getting to know the surrounding amenities (schools, day-care, public transport, shops, etc.) to make sure the area is evolving in a favorable direction.

On April 15, we held a press conference concerning a real estate survey. As a conclusion, we revealed our solution: the campaign ‘sleep on it’. This created a lot of free publicity.

It was followed by 2 waves of radio and bannering. A week later, prospects were targeted on social media. These ads were the greatest conversion driver to our platform.

During the 7 weeks of the campaign, we constantly adjusted our social media buying to obtain the best results.

The results were in line with the 3 objectives:

1.Give CBC a younger, more modern and more open image:32% of respondents said their perception of CBC changed for the better. It scored substantially higher than previous campaigns on the following dimensions: more relevant, more surprising, less annoying, more useful, more modern and more accessible. The campaign triggered a lot of talk value in the Belgian media, worth EUR 267.500. Twice what we actually spend on media.

2.To be reconsidered as a bank for mortgage loans:Almost 50% appreciated the link between CBC and AirBnB. Nearly 50% said the action increased their confidence level towards the bank. 24% confirmed they would talk about the offer and CBC to friends. 19% stated they would visit the CBC website after seeing the campaign.

3. To attract more people for a mortgage interview.

CBC had more demands for mortgage interviews compared to the same period the year before

The objective of the ‘Sleep On It’ campaign was to attract potential buyers of real estate. Therefore, we launched an online platform where they could choose a location and find all the interesting information about a neighbourhood.

But the real incentive was a free stay at an AirBnB in the immediate surroundings to ‘test’ the vicinity before buying. In exchange, they agreed to see a CBC advisor. This generated a lot of interaction and consumer participation, which makes a it relevant Promo & Activation campaign.

The target audience consisted of everyone with the intention of acquiring new property, be it a home or a second residence.

An important shift in the creative strategy was to move away from traditional communication on the product (e.g. interest rate) (TELL) to an approach that concretely demonstrated our promise (DO).

And to make a shift from TELL to DO, we needed to adapt the media plan towards more interactive and targeted media.

Central to the campaign was a platform where people could select a location with all the interesting information about a neighbourhood. In return for an appointment with a CBC advisor, they received a free AirBnB voucher.

On the one hand, we used mass media to create awareness for CBC and its renewed image. On the other hand, we turned to digital traffic-generating media and targeted sites (real estate websites and Facebook).

CBC is a bank active in the South of Belgium. It is a challenger (<10% market share) that traditionally focused on more affluent customers. Its image was not very dynamic, young or innovative. CBC was not top-of-mind with people who consider different banks, for example in the context of a mortgage loan.

A year before the launch of the campaign, CBC decided to renew its image and launched a new baseline “decided to move forward”. The idea is to focus on people with a lot of ambition, rather than a lot of money on their account.

The objective of the mortgage campaign was to be a proof point of this new strategy:

1. To give CBC a younger, more modern and more open image

2. To be reconsidered as a bank for mortgage loans

3. To attract more people for a mortgage introduction interview