Created by Toronto agency Barrett and Welsh for CST Savings, The Kids Say Thanks is an AI-powered campaign that sends young parents heartwarming messages from the future—from the successful grown-ups they hope their kids will become.
To help parents get a clearer sense of the future they are saving for, The Kids Say Thanks campaign uses AI-powered speech recognition technology to send young parents a video message from the adults their babies will grow up to become in the future. Digital banners, digital OOH, and social media ads lead parents to a campaign microsite with a web form. Based on the information they provide, AI-personalized video messages are sent via email to parents in a matter of minutes.
The campaign’s innovative AI-driven approach stands out in the financial services marketing category. "CST is focused on ensuring that all Canadians have access to higher education, by making saving easier,” says Jeff Beck, Chief Marketing Officer at CST. “But it’s not easy to save for a future you can’t see. We believe this AI-assisted campaign helps new parents get past that hurdle and motivates them to begin saving early.”
The campaign is currently being piloted with South Asian Canadians. It leverages a GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks) framework to deliver generative-AI-personalized video messages to thousands of parents.
“We’ve used an AI solution to allow parents to enjoy a personalized advertising experience at scale,” says Gavin Barrett, CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Barrett and Welsh. "This campaign is a perfect example of how we like to embrace the future without fear in our work. It blends creativity, cultural insight and AI ad-tech personalization to create human-scale impact.”
About the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation
Founded in 1960, the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation is dedicated to helping Canadian families access post-secondary education. Through philanthropy, discovery, advocacy and by sponsoring the Canadian Scholarship Trust Plans for Its two wholly owned subsidiaries, CST Savings Inc. and CST Spark Inc., CST continues to deliver on its mission. The Foundation rewards hard working and community minded Canadian students through scholarships, bursaries and awards programs. CST has helped over 800,000 students achieve their post-secondary dreams. For more Information, please visit www.cst.org.
About Barrett and Welsh
Barrett and Welsh is located in Tkaronto/Toronto. It is Canada’s most-awarded multicultural agency and is considered one of the world’s leading branding and advertising agencies in the multicultural space. It specializes in advertising that creates inclusion and access for racialized minorities. The agency has served clients like 3M, CIBC/Simplii, Allstate Canada, Walmart, TD Bank, the Dalai Lama, Viva, Hurontario LRT, Sobeys, Nia Centre, The National Art Centre, the City of Brampton, Mina Halal, and York Region Rapid Transit Corporation.
It is a charter member of the Multicultural Marketing Alliance of Canada, a POCAM Call for Equity and Dear Everybody Agreement signatory and a Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council Certified Minority-Owned Agency. As a certified B Corporation, the agency adheres to the highest standards of verified social and environmental impact and balances profit and purpose in order to create a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
For more information, contact:
Gavin Barrett
Founder | CEO & Chief Creative Officer
barrettandwelsh inc.
phone: 416.786.94.84
e-mail: [email protected]
Alexa Ciufo
Communications Lead | CST
Email: [email protected]
Number: 416.602.2849