The archive · Content & Film · Marketing decision · 2025
SMBC's 'Bank Book Man' jokes Japan's passbook loyalty into the Olive app — ACC Grand Prix
SMBC casts a comedian as a man devoted to his paper bankbook; relatives persuade him to switch to the Olive app — 6.5M accounts, ACC Grand Prix.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (三井住友銀行)
What it had to solve
SMBC's all-in-one mobile account Olive, launched in March 2023, needed to win over customers emotionally attached to the paper bankbook — a deeply Japanese banking habit.
How it works
Japan's banks spent years moving customers from paper passbooks to smartphone accounts, but the passbook is an emotional institution. SMBC's mobile banking service Olive, launched in March 2023, wanted passbook-loyal customers to switch without feeling they were losing something.
The web film series 'Bank Book Man' (通帳の人) cast comedian Tsuda Atsuhiro as a man who religiously updates his passbook every morning and loves it dearly; one by one, his relatives persuade him that Olive does everything the passbook did — and more. The humour came from taking the passbook's importance seriously while gently showing the app's convenience.
The films ran in 60-, 30- and 15-second versions from January 2025 and spread quickly on social media and in the press. Olive surpassed 6.5 million accounts, and the series won the Grand Prix in the Film B (Online Film) category at the 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS as well as the Grand Prize in the CM category at the 62nd Galaxy Awards.
Why it lands
- Addressing the emotional barrier — attachment to the passbook — instead of only the functional pitch made switching feel like gain, not loss.
- A single memorable character gave a financial product a human face across many short, repeatable episodes.
- Humour lowered the defensiveness of customers being asked to give up a lifelong banking ritual.
What it did
Olive passed 6.5 million accounts by October 2025. The series won the Grand Prix (Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Award) in the Film B (Online Film) category at the 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS and the Grand Prize in the CM category at the 62nd Galaxy Awards, and spread widely on social media.
What you can take
To move people off an emotional habit, don't argue with the habit — put it on screen, laugh with it, and let the new thing win by contrast.
Since then
The character became Olive's recurring face, and SMBC credited the campaign with easing customers' anxieties about switching from paper passbooks to the smartphone account. The series became one of the most decorated Japanese web-CM works of 2025, winning both the ACC Grand Prix and the Galaxy Award Grand Prize, and it kept running in new episodes afterwards.
Sources
- ダイアン・津田さん出演で話題 Olive WEB-CM「通帳の人」が「2025 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS」にて最高賞〈総務大臣賞／ACCグランプリ〉を受賞！
- 「2025 65th ACC TOKYO CREATIVITY AWARDS」にて最高賞〈総務大臣賞／ACCグランプリ〉を受賞！
- ダイアン・津田さん出演で話題 Olive WEB-CM「通帳の人」が第62回ギャラクシー賞 CM部門にて大賞を受賞！
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