In today’s economy it’s very hard to start up your own business.

Banks don’t give out loans easily so how could KBC build up a relationship with future business owners and become a good bank in the eye of the general public?

Was the target audience:

The main focus was to support and attract future business owners (client and non-client). But the campaign involved every Belgian.

The strategy:

By bringing the public and future business owners together in search for a solution for both their needs, KBC BANK became a partner instead of an enemy in these times of crisis.

The strength of the creative and originality:

KBC Bank became an intermediary between the people in the towns and future business owners in order to find a solution for both their problems. The bank became a true partner in times of crisis which was never seen before.

This was most appropriate to the brand:

Banks are the enemy in these times of crisis. So this campaign truly changed the peoples’ perception and created a better view on the future.

Some towns have businesses that other towns unfortunately don’t. So in every town or city there’s a store missing that people desperately need.

That’s why KBC bank went searching for The Gap in the Market in every single town and city in the country.

On thegapinthemarket.be we asked everyone in the country to fill in the type of business they were missing in their town or city. That way future business owners could see which kind of businesses were needed in which towns and cities.

- No less than 171.157 gaps in the market were reported.(on a total of 6 million people)

- On average 560 reports for every town or city.

- Almost 1500 fresh new business ideas were generated as a direct result of

this campaign.

- The lack of missing businesses became a national issue.

- It was put on the political agenda.

The website became an exchange forum in its own right. And the top-tier winning startups got an ad in the national print press about their particular story. Boosting their business, - and the image of KBC.