ing bank: the only paperwork worth doing
THE PROBLEM: ING is a well-established bank in Spain with strong positioning among adult audiences, but virtually unknown among the fastest-growing student demographic: international students. With over 241,000 new international students arriving in Spain each year, and no competitor meaningfully speaking to them, the brand was missing an enormous and structurally guaranteed acquisition opportunity.
thE INSIGHT: International students arrive in Spain excited to explore its culture, food, and people only to immediately collide with one of Europe's most intimidating bureaucracies. Banking is usually the first obstacle, and the experience of being turned away, confused, or overwhelmed by paperwork poisons what should be the most exciting chapter of their lives. Nobody was acknowledging this friction, let alone solving it.
THE CHALLENGE: Position ING as the first bank in Spain to genuinely speak to international students. not as a generic youth audience, but as people navigating a new country who need a financial ally, not another institution.
THE WORK: A campaign built around the visual language of vintage travel postcards — the only paperwork worth doing. Illustrated city scenes of Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia dense enough to hide Leonardo, ING's lion mascot, somewhere in the crowd. OOH posters, physical postcards distributed at university welcome events, and a social mechanic inviting students to find the lion across cities. Every piece tied together by a single QR stamp that opens a bank account in minutes.
ad placement
Instead of asking international students to seek out a new bank, we placed ING where the decision is already being made, in the moment of arrival and disorientation.
By occupying the physical and digital spaces students pass through first: university welcome weeks, metro stations, bus stops near student neighborhoods, and algorithmically served to anyone whose phone had just crossed a Spanish border. we met them at peak receptivity.
By targeting searches like "how to open a bank account in Spain," "do I need an NIE to open a bank account," and "best bank for international students Spain," we intercepted students at peak anxiety: the moment they realize bureaucracy is coming and they don't know how to navigate it. These aren't passive audiences, they are actively looking for a solution. The illustrated city posters then reinforced the message physically in the spaces they arrive to: metro stations, university campuses, and student neighborhoods. Two touchpoints, one continuous journey — from the search that raised the question to the street corner that answered it.
credits
strategy | Manuel pimenta & martin hidalgo
art director | martin hidalgo
copywriter | martin hidalgo
