ING and JWT Amsterdam created a vertical film campaign in August 2016, positioning ING as the most mobile bank in the Netherlands through a format built for
ING Bets on Vertical Film to Own Mobile Banking in the Netherlands
ING launched a vertical film commercial in August 2016 to position itself as the most mobile bank in the Netherlands, creating a digital-first campaign built exclusively for iPhone and Android viewing, produced by J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam and running for approximately six weeks across the Dutch market.
The campaign carries a straightforward conceptual logic. ING held the positioning of the most mobile bank in the Netherlands, and rather than simply stating that claim in a conventional horizontal television spot, the bank and its agency chose to demonstrate it through the medium itself. The film was produced in a vertical format — the natural orientation of a smartphone held in one hand — making the creative execution an argument for the product it advertised. That formal decision gave the campaign its identity in the Netherlands in 2016, separating it from the standard landscape-format advertising that dominated financial services at the time.
JWT Amsterdam developed the campaign for ING, with a documented run from 22 August to 2 October 2016, according to Clapboard's editorial records. The target audience was adults aged 18 to 35, a demographic whose relationship with banking was already shifting from branch and desktop to mobile-first interactions. In the Netherlands, that shift was measurable: ING's mobile banking app had reached 3.5 million installations by February 2016, representing 29 percent of Dutch smartphones at that point, according to Think Ing. The campaign spoke directly to an audience that already lived on their phones, and it did so in the language of that screen. The single media asset — one vertical film — was released digitally, keeping the campaign lean and precisely targeted rather than broadcast-wide.
ING held a measurable lead in mobile banking adoption across the Netherlands in early 2016. According to think.ing.com, ING's app had accumulated 3.5 million installations by February 2016, placing it ahead of Rabobank, which had reached approximately 3.0 million installations at a comparable point, making ING the most widely installed mobile banking app in the Dutch market. That competitive advantage gave the campaign its strategic foundation: ING was not asserting an aspirational position but documenting a factual one, and the creative brief demanded that the medium reinforce the message.
The 18-to-35 target audience, documented by Clapboard and consistent with data cited via Scribd and Telecompaper, represented the cohort most likely to manage finances entirely through a smartphone. JWT Amsterdam recognised that reaching this audience through mobile-native creative — rather than repurposed television content — would carry greater credibility than a conventional financial services advertisement. Vertical film, at that point, remained an uncommon format in Dutch commercial production, which amplified the campaign's distinctiveness within a category where most competitors still defaulted to horizontal broadcast formats.
The broader digital advertising environment in the Netherlands in 2016 was accelerating toward mobile consumption, a pattern consistent with European market trends documented by industry observers including The Financial Brand and The Paypers. ING's decision to invest in a format built specifically for smartphone screens, rather than adapting existing assets, reflected a strategic bet that format authenticity would strengthen brand trust among younger consumers who were already dismissive of advertising that felt retrofitted to their devices. The campaign ran for six weeks, a duration calibrated to build awareness among a defined demographic rather than sustain a mass-market broadcast cycle.
Creative directors Maarten Vrouwes and Friso Ludenhoff led the creative development of the campaign at J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, according to Clapboard's production records. Senior art director Chris Sant and senior copywriter Dieuwer Bulthuis shaped the executional details of the vertical film, while agency producers Petra Leddy and Kirsten van den Berg managed production. The campaign was produced by New Amsterdam Film Company, a production house with an established presence in Dutch commercial filmmaking.
The vertical format was not a post-production adaptation. The film was conceived and shot in portrait orientation from the outset, which required deliberate compositional decisions that differ fundamentally from horizontal cinematography. Framing, subject placement, movement, and pacing all respond differently in a 9:16 ratio than in the 16:9 widescreen standard that commercial directors and cinematographers typically work within. Choosing to design the film natively for vertical viewing — rather than cropping an existing horizontal cut — gave the creative team the ability to use the full height of the frame as an expressive tool, rather than treating vertical space as a constraint.
In 2016, vertical video remained a contested format. Platforms including Snapchat had begun normalising portrait-orientation content among younger audiences, but branded vertical film in the financial services category was rare, particularly in the Netherlands. ING and JWT Amsterdam's willingness to commit to the format as the primary creative statement — rather than as a secondary social media cut — gave the campaign a coherence that repurposed content could not have achieved. The single-asset structure reinforced that coherence: one film, one format, one screen orientation, aligned with one clear brand position in the Dutch market.
No verified performance data for the ING 'Most Mobile Bank in the Netherlands' campaign is publicly available. Engagement metrics, view counts, and brand-lift figures have not been disclosed by ING or J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam in any documented source accessible for this analysis. The campaign's Clapboard Score of 56 out of 100 reflects an editorial assessment of the work's structural and strategic qualities in the absence of quantified outcomes.
Structurally, the campaign demonstrates several conditions associated with effective digital advertising. The format and the message are aligned: a bank that claims mobile leadership produces a commercial that only a mobile device can experience as intended. That coherence reduces the cognitive distance between the claim and the proof. The six-week run from 22 August to 2 October 2016, according to Clapboard, was concentrated enough to build frequency within the 18-to-35 target demographic without diluting impact across an extended flight. The single-asset approach enforced creative discipline, preventing dilution across multiple executions with varying quality.
ING's pre-existing market position — 3.5 million app installations representing 29 percent of Dutch smartphones as of February 2016, per think.ing.com — meant the campaign was amplifying a proven leadership claim rather than constructing one from scratch. In competitive terms, that is a more defensible strategic position than aspirational positioning, and it gave the vertical film a factual anchor that financial services advertising often lacks. Whether that structural strength translated into measurable brand or business outcomes in the Netherlands in 2016 remains undocumented in the public record.
ING launched a vertical film commercial in August 2016, created by JWT Amsterdam, designed exclusively for iPhone and Android viewing. The campaign ran from 22 August to 2 October 2016 in the Netherlands, targeting adults aged 18 to 35 and asserting ING's position as the country's leading mobile bank. Production credits are documented by Clapboard.
ING chose vertical film to align the creative format with its mobile banking positioning. A portrait-orientation film, designed for iPhone and Android, demonstrated the brand's mobile-first identity rather than simply stating it. In 2016, vertical branded film was rare in Dutch financial services advertising, according to Clapboard's editorial analysis, making the format choice strategically distinctive.
J. Walter Thompson Amsterdam, known as JWT, created the campaign. Creative directors Maarten Vrouwes and Friso Ludenhoff led the work, with senior art director Chris Sant and senior copywriter Dieuwer Bulthuis on the team. New Amsterdam Film Company handled production, according to Clapboard's production records.
ING's mobile banking app had reached 3.5 million installations in the Netherlands by February 2016, representing 29 percent of Dutch smartphones at that time, according to think.ing.com. That figure placed ING ahead of Rabobank, which had approximately 3.0 million installations, establishing ING as the most widely installed mobile banking app in the Dutch market.
The ING 'Most Mobile Bank in the Netherlands' campaign holds a Clapboard Score of 56 out of 100. This editorial score reflects the campaign's structural coherence and strategic clarity in the absence of publicly verified performance data. No engagement metrics or brand-lift figures have been disclosed by ING or JWT Amsterdam for this campaign.
ING and JWT Amsterdam targeted adults aged 18 to 35 in the Netherlands with the vertical film campaign, according to Clapboard and corroborating sources including Scribd and Telecompaper. This demographic represented the cohort most likely to manage finances through a smartphone, making them the natural audience for a campaign built around mobile banking leadership.
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