SMBC's 'Bank Book Man' jokes Japan's passbook loyalty into the Olive app — ACC Grand Prix

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.

Personify the paper bankbook as a devoted 'Bank Book Man' who loves his passbook, then let a chorus of relatives and the app's convenience talk him into Olive.

Web films starring comedian Tsuda Atsuhiro (Dian) show the Bank Book Man faithfully updating his passbook every morning while his family members each persuade him to open Olive, gently laughing away the anxieties of switching. Multiple 60-, 30- and 15-second episodes ran from January 2025 across web and social.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.