This Epic Super Bowl Spot Announces Wealthsimple's U.S. Launch

Martin de Thurah Directs Ad for Canadian Investment Company

Published On
Jan 31, 2017

Editor's Pick

Canadian investment service Wealthsimple has tapped top director Martin de Thurah for a Super Bowl spot announcing its U.S. launch.

The ad, which will be airing in Austin, Boston and Seattle as well as in Canada during the Super Bowl, comes as the company, which is already the biggest automated investment service in Canada, makes its services available to U.S. investors.

It tells the story of a man (played by actor Tony Revolori, best known as Lobby Boy from "The Grand Budapest Hotel") who is overhwelmed by investment advice. From family and creepy co-workers to random guys in the gym, from TV hosts to billboards, everyone seems to have their own "money guy" and is warning him to think about his money and the future. As the pace, and music, speed up, the cacophony of voices whirls around him until it's almost nightmarish. The spot ends with the tagline: "Investing is complicated. We make it simple."

The spot was created in-house by Wealthsimple's creative team, which includes former Wieden & Kennedy creatives Mike Giepert and Rudy Adler, now executive creative director and chief product officer respectively.

The ad owes its cinematic style to de Thurah (whose work includes Under Armour's Michael Phelps ad from 2016), as well as cinematographer Stephane Fontaine, whose films include this year's "Jackie" starring Natalie Portman The Mill was responsible for VFX.

Wealthsimple's Giepert explained how de Thurah came on board: "A mutual friend of ours turned us on to his work after his music video 'Who' for St. Vincent & David Byrne, and I've loved his work ever since. We're a small startup that we knew he'd likely never heard of, so we sold him on freedom in the creative process. We assured him that through our creative backgrounds at W&K, producing a Cannes-winning feature and editing for GQ that his work would be in safe hands."

He added that de Thurah was finally convinced by the fact that Wealthsimple offers a socially responsible portfolio.