The Norwegian needed to lift their brand “DNB Ung” in social media. Their target group, young people of the age between 18-30, responded well to their campaigns but the bank’s concept for younger audiences lacked content that could live over time, and hence build loyal and engaged  followers.

The young generation are notorious ad-blockers, they’re raised on social media and has an attention span that lasts only a few seconds. Insight shows that they respond well to relevant content, as long as it does not feel forced, and they prefer to interact with people rather than faceless corporation logos. Young Norwegians tend to look at the bank as unpersonal and irrelevant in their daily life, and they would rather trust advice from people they know, people that know them well or people they relate to.

One of the measures was therefore to find the faces of DNB Ung. Two people that could convey the messages in a personal way on behalf of DNB Ung – great story tellers that could make bank, economy and finance content relevant and engaging in social media.  

How we found the right storytellers 
During the summer of 2018, the recruitment campaign kicked-off. The criteria’s in the search was to find young, extroverted people with excellent video production skills and the ability to manage the difficult task of turning “boring” bank content into something fun and engaging. In addition, we wanted people that were not influencers from before – we wanted the target group to recognize them as the faces of DNB Ung, not for their celebrity status or brand connections. 

The campaign included a total of six videos with organic and paid reach on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and dnbung.no. The applicants sent a short video presenting themselves and solving a dedicated task. In this way we were making sure we reached the best candidates.

50 applications
The campaign gained a total reach of 1,4 million people and we got nearly 50 video applications. Actors, journalists, influencers and photographers were among the applicants.

Morten and Kornelia was recruited were our top picks, and in September 2018 they were presented in DNB Ung’s channels as the new ambassadors. Today, they work as a part of DNB Ung’s editorial team and post content on Instagram daily.  

20 000 followers on Instagram
The target audience responds well to the new content strategy. Within the first three weeks, the number of followers increased with 400 percent, and today more than 20.000 young Norwegians follow DNB Ung on Instagram. The numbers grow every day, and the engagement rate is high.