Company: BMO Capital Markets
Company Description: BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider, offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of investment and corporate banking products and services. BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO).
Nomination Category: Marketing Campaign Awards Categories - Specialty
Nomination Sub Category: Business-to-Business Marketing Campaign of the Year

Nomination Title: Convertibles launch

Tell the story of this nominated marketing campaign for the judges (up to 525 words). Describe the genesis, planning, execution, and results to date of your campaign. If applicable, remember to describe what's unique or innovative about your campaign:

Objective:
In September 2012, BMO Capital Markets expanded its Convertibles group’s sales, trading and origination capabilities creating a North American platform. We wanted to raise awareness about the expansion by introducing the firm’s new leadership and capabilities in the United States. The highly competitive marketplace was already filled with numerous bulge-bracket firms so we needed to stand out and capture the mindshare of large institutional investors who might not consider BMO Capital Markets as their first choice in the convertible securities business.

Strategy:
Our strategy was to communicate the convertibles team launch through multiple relevant outlets that would differentiate us in the marketplace. The marketing campaign consisted of a direct mail piece that anchored our media strategy featuring an online communication, advertisements in The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg and media interviews. We built the campaign around a “convertible car.”

Execution:
We executed the campaign with careful coordination of the following items: online communication about the members prior to the direct mail launch; the actual direct mail launch; advertisements in The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg and targeted media coverage about the new U.S. leadership. Over 300 direct mail pieces were mailed out in September to key prospects, designed to tie-in with the advertisements. The Drive Your Ambition direct mail piece consisted of a white gloss box containing a BMO branded toy car convertible, glossy booklet and a branded notepad. The Wall Street Journal ad was wrapped around the box. The branded toy car convertible was in our corporate blue and featured the Convertibles Group’s contact information. The glossy booklet contained information about the new team. There was also a branded “buy/sell” themed notepad customized with the team’s contact information and our corporate tagline. Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg ads published on consecutive days and the direct mail piece was sent out to our target audience a few days prior to time it to the day that the advertisements appeared.

Results:
The email communications went to 728 people resulting in open rates of 11%. Our target audience took notice of our advertisements in The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg because of the prior email notification. In addition, the direct mail piece helped solidify our brand and uniquely position our team in the minds of institutional investors. Usually to get noticed by the client, it would take multiple phone calls and visits to garner attention, but the campaign allowed us to capture mindshare and target prospects at a nominal cost. Historically, not many competitors have conducted a marketing launch around convertibles so we were able to demonstrate the power of the corporate brand and the group’s offerings with this campaign.

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Provide a brief biography of the leader of the team that planned and executed this marketing campaign (up to 125 words):

Rick Kuwayti is Managing Director and Head of Marketing for BMO Capital Markets. He also heads the Shared Services marketing function for BMO Financial Group, encompassing all event-based marketing as well as creative services.

Rick joined BMO in 1997 and has worked in a variety of roles, including media relations, communications and events.