Natwest - Thrive & Gran Turismo Partnership

Background 

• NatWest wanted to raise awareness of NatWest Thrive, a money-confidence program designed to help young people develop the self-belief, confidence and money skills to achieve their aspirations.
• Knowing that contextualisation of the ads will help boost engagement and cut-through, the bank collaborated with DCM Studios and Sony Pictures to create a film partnership with Gran Turismo.
• The film was based on a true story of a computer game player whose dreams of racing professionally come true after being scouted by Nissan. The film’s themes of dedication and commitment leading to a dream becoming reality, made it (and cinema) the perfect for NatWest to showcase the Thrive program to a teenage/young adult audience.

Plan

• The DCM Studios produced 60” copy showcases nine aspiring film makers on site recreating a shot from the film, with Sony providing the car that was used in the filming of Gran Turismo.​
• The teenagers got hands-on experience working with a professional team including a lighting technician, camera operator, boom operator in a once in a lifetime experience to help their dreams of becoming film makers reality. ​
• Before running in a Silver Spot in Gran Turismo, NatWest also ran the ad across 16-34 Adults AGP titles across July – August to build up awareness of the campaign.

Results

Exposure to the contextual Natwest Thrive ad in cinema helped improved NatWest’s key campaign objectives of driving awareness and consideration of the Thrive program:

• 80% positive uplift of people who agreed with the statement "NatWest uses banking expertise to deliver benefits to customers".
• 80% positive uplift of people who agreed with the statement "NatWest makes me feel more in control of my money".
• 52% positive uplift of people who agreed with the statement "NatWest helps me achieve my goals".

Awareness and associations improved:

• Prompted awareness of NatWest Thrive has increased by +233%
• 29% positive uplift for key ‘NatWest gives people the confidence to kickstart their future’ statement

Improved Consideration & Recommendation of Thrive

• Two thirds of those exposed to the cinema ad are likely to consider NatWest, +46% uplift vs. control.
• Likelihood of recommending the NatWest Thrive program to family or friends increased by +89%

As well as contributing to awareness and engagement for NatWest's Thrive program, the campaign had a real-life impact on the aspiring film makers and has led to paid work on other projects since.