BMO Financial Group is one of the top banks in North America – and it wanted to launch a new service for corporate cards, bringing ‘supply chain-like’ expertise to the financial supply chain. The biggest challenge: BMO had little footprint in the U.S., our target market. And the competition was extraordinarily deep:  American Express’s.

The group needed to behave like an entrepreneur – and a top global bank.

Strategy and Action
The immediate action was to build a rolling thunder campaign of influential endorsements, from analysts and customers. It would become a power-play, driving industry visibility and peer-based selling at the industry’s most important conferences.

Within 18 months, the company planned a major acquisition, of Diner’s Club’s procurement card business. We knew it would take another 12 months before integration would be complete.

Results
In Year 1, the division was ranked a Top-3 player in its key market, and the business group leader was recognized as one of the industry’s top influencers.

In Year 2, leads continued to spike 200% at key conferences, and BMO is firmly on the map – being invited to more RFPs than ever.

And yes, AmEx is uncomfortably aware of the new player in town.