The bank that gets desis is a campaign to promote TD’s Unlimited Chequing Account among South Asian Canadians — desi Canadians. Our strategy was to focus on the features of TD’s Unlimited Chequing Account. These features appeal to South Asian Canadians for different reasons than they do for other Canadians. Unique South Asian cultural insights and “insider visuals” were leveraged to establish each feature as a solution to a uniquely South Asian pain point. And to establish TD as a bank that’s well aware of South Asian Canadian cultural nuances – a bank that gets desis. Our message: these features were designed for desis.

New Things for a New Life plays on the essentials required to set up a new South Asian Canadian household – a tava (griddle), TV and pressure cooker. At Home, Far From Home adds maple leaves to Canadianize the classic South Asian mango-leaf doorway garland. In South Asian culture, every relationship and relative has unique, proper names and some colloquial names. Relatively Better,  accurately uses both types in naming an older brother. paternal uncle and aunt by the proper names, and, for good measure, their first cousin’s aunt’s daughter. Bank Without Bitterness uses the much-maligned karela, an intensely bitter gourd or melon to make its point. When You Live To Give speaks to the South Asian custom and preference for cash gifts, for massive (like Diwali/Eid) or personal (mother’s birthday) South Asian celebrations. Unlimited Transnacktions relates the South Asian appetite for unlimited transactions to the South Asian appetite for Indian food which is also unlimited. We Speak You acknowledges the vast and proudly protected linguistic diversity of the South Asian Canadian community. The languages shown: English, Punjabi and Tamil. And Don’t Buy, Don’t Pay shows a set of typical South Asian after-dinner treats – paan (a digestive), barfi — a traditional sweet and the classic gulab jamun dessert. The “fraud(odd) one out” — a pink handbag that triggers a fraud alert.

To see another award-winning digital campaign for TD Bank click here.

For South Asians, banking confidently means having a bank they can count on. One that understands their distaste for fees and their preference for dealing with someone who has walked in their footsteps and who, if required, can speak their language. It means having a bank that respects the longer hours that immigrants work. They want a financial institution with a better attitude. No matter how long they’ve lived in Canada, they feel that Canadian banks don’t get them. Unsurprisingly, the bank that gets desis, got desis. Online appointment bookings outperformed the 2018 campaign record by over 300%.