How Canadian Banks Promoted Their Wealth Management Services in Q1-Q2 2021

Key Takeaways

TD and RBC are the only two banks amongst the Canadian Big 5 that ran digital ads to their wealth management services domains in the first two quarters of 2021. TD allocated $167K to promote its private wealth management, while RBC invested only $3K. 

Budget Allocation — Both TD And RBC Invest Majority of Their Budgets Into Facebook Ads: RBC allocated almost all of its available budget to run Facebook ads. TD invested 89% of its allocated budget into this platform, distributing the rest between desktop (9%) and mobile (2%) display ads. TD chose to place its ads primarily on The Globe and Mail — 67% of the desktop display and 26% of the mobile display budget was allocated to run the ads on this news platform.

Messaging — TD Ads Continued to Call Prospects to Connect Virtually (“from the comfort of your home”): Virtual consultations were a big focus for many Canadian banks in 2020 when COVID-19 locked many in their apartments. TD continued to advertise this service in Q1 and Q2 of 2021 in their Facebook and display ads.

Messaging — RBC Ads Had More of an Emotional Appeal And Promised to “Help You [Clients] Grow More Than Wealth”: RBC aimed to appeal to prospects’ emotions by running Facebook ads that promised clients to become more confident after having their financial future planned.

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All Canadian Big 5 banks maintain elaborate sections about private wealth management services on their websites.

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Amongst the Big 5, RBC receives the highest volume of monthly traffic to its wealth management domain — 427,635 visits in May 2021, which is +308% more compared to May 2020.

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Only TD and RBC ran ads* to their wealth management domains. TD invested $167,030 to drive traffic via paid advertising to its wealth management domain between Jan. – Jun. 2021.

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89% of TD’s advertising dollars allocated to promote its wealth management services were invested into Facebook ads.

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Top Facebook ads called prospective clients to connect with a TD Wealth Financial Planner to get personalized financial advice online.

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TD spent 67% of its desktop display budget to place ads on The Globe and Mail. The top 5 placement websites accounted for 91% of the overall desktop display budget.

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The Globe and Mail remained a preferred placement website for mobile display ads —   26% of the total channel budget was invested into this news portal.

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RBC invested a modest amount of $3,184 to run ads to its wealth management domain (rbcwealthmanagement.com) in Q1 and Q2 of 2021. 

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RBC ads aimed to appeal to emotions and promised to “help you [clients] grow more than wealth.”