Title	THE DARK SIDE OF MONEY
Brand	ABN AMRO
Product/Service	RECRUITMENT
Category	A02. Fiction & Non-Fiction Films: 5-30 minutes
Entrant	N=5 Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	N=5 Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement	STORM DIGITAL, PART OF ACCENTURE INTERACTIVE Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement 2	MEDIACOM Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
PR	NEWSLAB Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	TEBBER NEKKEL Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Additional Company	ABN AMRO BANK Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Leon Ragetlie	N=5	Copywriter
Gabriela Nouws	N=5	Art Director
Daniel te Lindert	N=5	Creative Director
Thijs Bontje	N=5	Creative Director
Blue ter Burg	Tebber Nekkel	Screenwriter & Director
Quintin Baker	Tebber Nekkel	Screenwriter & Producer
Esther Overmars	N=5	Strategy Director
Silvia van Hooft	N=5	Strategist
Judith Lavalette	N=5	Head of Account
Merel Hoogendorp	N=5	Client Service Director
Maaike Langereis	N=5	Account Manager
Anna Bosscher	N=5	Agency Producer
Marcel Hellemons	N=5	Digital Director
Hans Dekker	N=5	Digital Producer
Noortje Hulshof	N=5	Designer
Sander Kruit	N=5	Motion designer
Robine Schmetz	N=5	Motion designer
Ralph Bannink	N=5	Graphic Designer
Ron Gessel	N=5	Photographer

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Every year, over 16 billion euros of criminal money is laundered in the Netherlands. ABN AMRO employs 2,000 people in anti money-laundering and is recruiting hundreds more. But for young people ‘anything is better than working for a bank’, since the crisis. A Netflix-style short thriller brings the brutal reality behind money laundering to life. It makes the situation tangible and convinces them the bank is the ‘good guy’. The film deliberately contains scenario errors so viewers can test whether they are sharp enough. This made it a powerful activation tool at the same time.

Background

Situation Every year, 16 billion euros of criminal money is laundered in the Netherlands. Money from drug trading, human trafficking and terrorism flows into the legitimate economy via banks like ABN AMRO. Only 1% of this criminal money is seized. Several money laundering scandals were uncovered at banks recently. Rival ING was forced to pay a record 775 million euro fine in 2018 Since then, banks have to improve their screening of customers and transactions. To radically improve their gatekeeper function. At ABN AMRO too. Brief - Create awareness around financial crime. - Communicate ABN AMRO’s actions. - Convince millennials (aged 21-35) to apply as financial crime analyst. Objectives - Business: 1,200 applications in 3 months (campaign is 6 weeks). - Significant improvement in consideration of ABN AMRO as employer and employer’s reputation among the target group. - 40,000 visits to campaign page abnamro.nl/xxx. - 10% click ratio to vacancies

Describe the creative idea

We launch a Netflix-style short thriller entitled ‘The Dark Side of Money’ which shows the brutal reality of money laundering. The film deliberately contains ‘plot holes’: details which are incorrect. So viewers can test whether they are sharp enough for this work. This layered solution draws attention among the crap from the web and high quality Netflix-content. And it very cleverly serves two purposes: 1. Make financial crime tangible and saying what ABN AMRO does against this; 2. Activation mechanism: testing whether viewers are sharp enough for the job.

Describe the strategy

We start with desk research to understand financial crime. The category insight: the ambition of a bank to boost money laundering detection does not feel authentic because it was imposed by the government. In-depth interviews and desk research showed millennials no longer see working at a bank as something to be proud of: ‘anything better than working at a bank’. Above all, work has to be meaningful. Conclusion -To be convincing, we need a promise and a story (1) rooted in our purpose and brand mentality and (2) which communicates what money laundering detection actually means. -It’s crucial to bring the impact of money laundering to life. A traditional campaign would not get the job done. Media data reveals this generation takes (online) media consumption to an all-time high and is critical towards advertising. We needed an engaging form of campaigning, where initially, the bank was not revealed as sender.

Describe the execution

We launch the film online, in 100 Dutch cinemas and at media partner Vice. Supported with a strong PR strategy, this immediately gets picked up widely. We promote the film with short trailers on a.o. YouTube and Instagram Stories. With its own design and without ABN AMRO as sender. The sender does not become clear until the final minute, when we say what ABN AMRO does against money laundering. There is no call-to-action. After watching the film, we pull the target group further in. With stimulating short video and social ads and via influencers, we challenge them to find the mistakes in the film. ‘Can you spot what’s wrong? Help find dirty money.’ ABN AMRO is now clearly shown as the sender. Whoever has been in contact with the campaign or spots the errors is shown banners with job vacancies and a call-to-action to apply.

Describe the outcome

Business impact: Two days after launch, we had already received 400 applications! Six weeks later the score is at 1,200 and rising. Latest score in September: almost 1,600. Brand impact: The campaign has managed to really impact this critical target group and has influenced brand perception. Exposure to the campaign provides an uplift on: - consideration (+30%) and preference (9%) for ABN AMRO as employer; - reputation of ABN AMRO as an employer (average +23%); - general brand reputation (average +23%). Traffic: - 95,000 visits to campaign pages (target 40k). - click ratio to vacancies: 40% (target 10%) Likeability: For a bank, it’s ambitious to score a ‘pass’, due to critical sentiment. Especially among young people! The average score for the videos (7.1) is much higher than the benchmark (6.1). Impressions: 37,197,000 12,975,000 video views 5,989,000 completed views PR: 1.5 million earned media