Canadian Home Income Plan (CHIP)

Services: TV commercial
Website: chip.ca

The Canadian Home Income Plan is a financial services company that offers homeowners 60 or older loans secured by the equity in their home. No payments are required for as long as the homeowner, or their spouse, live in the home.

Overall awareness of CHIP was low, and there was confusion about the program among not only senior citizens and their families, but also financial advisors who were reluctant to recommend the plan to their elderly clients. The positioning of the product was not clearly defined and the benefits of the program not understood by stakeholder groups.

Focus group research was conducted to confirm perceptions of consumers and identify the optimum approaches for addressing concerns of both potential and existing customers.

Once the new positioning was clearly identified, McDonnell Haynes planned and executed an internal brand launch which included conducting brand vision sessions with internal stakeholders to align corporate management, sales and marketing departments.

The external brand re-launch included an integrated revamp of all existing corporate identity and marketing materials including sales tools and website, and an advertising campaign of direct response television and newspaper ads. Now in its third year, the campaign has resulted in record sales and increased online leads from 0% to 20% of the total leads generated.