Firm's marketing director tells WP that partnerships are about earning a place in a client's day, not interrupting it
Wealthsimple has taken over a corner of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport this summer, highlighting the importance of financial services businesses connecting with potential clients.
The Canadian fintech has partnered with Nieuport Aviation, the terminal partner at Billy Bishop, to launch Something To Do, a limited-time activation running through to the end of August inside the transborder lounge.
The space spotlights Wealthsimple's Visa Infinite credit cards and features Canadian brands including Pilot Coffee Roasters, Polaris Music Prize, furniture studio East Room, and artist Jillian Tamaki.
The timing is deliberate with the airport’s additional transborder routes to Boston, Chicago, Nashville, New York-LaGuardia, and Washington-Dulles this summer, with FIFA World Cup traffic expected to push passenger volumes significantly higher through June and July.
Kate Chippindale, Director of Integrated Marketing and the lead on the project, told WP that the pop-up is about far more than credit card sign-ups, reflecting a broader shift in how Wealthsimple thinks about reaching potential clients.
"Digital has always been core to how we reach people, and it always will be," she said. "But increasingly, we also see partnerships and unique, real-world experiences as a deliberate part of how we build our human brand, and as a different way to show up and earn trust."
The question the firm asks, she says, has evolved.
"The question we ask isn't just 'where can we reach people?' It's 'where are people in a mindset where what we offer actually makes sense, and how can we genuinely make this moment better for them?'"
Sign ups and more
That philosophy shapes how Wealthsimple measures the success of the Billy Bishop activation. Sign-ups matter, Chippindale acknowledges, but they are not the whole picture.
"One thing we're watching is brand awareness and product comprehension lift among cross-border travellers, since the value of the card is so obvious the moment you're about to spend money abroad," she said. "Just as important is whether we're shifting how people feel about Wealthsimple. Moments like this build real brand love, show Canadians we do things differently, and educate people on Wealthsimple products they may not know yet."
She also pointed to the activation's value for existing clients. "It's also a chance to surprise and delight existing clients and reward their loyalty, not just reach new ones."
The contextual logic, she argues, applies equally to traditional advertising.
"When someone is in a departure lounge about to fly to the US, they're not a passive audience. They're an active person with a real, immediate need,” Chippindale said. “You show up there with something genuinely useful, a product that fits the moment, and you've earned their attention."
The choice of Canadian brand partners was equally intentional.
"Working with Pilot Coffee, Polaris Music Prize, East Room, and Jillian Tamaki tells people that we know this city, we care about the culture you care about, and we're not just a financial product looking for sign-ups," Chippindale said. "These are names Canadians already trust, and that trust doesn't transfer by accident; you earn it by association."
Future partners
When evaluating future partners, Chippindale said audience overlap is only the starting point.
"Audience overlap is table stakes. If we're not talking to the same people, there's no point,” she said. “But what we really look for is experience alignment. Does this partner care about the quality of the customer interaction as much as we do?"
She also flagged the risk of partnerships that exist only on paper.
"We're also looking for mutual benefit that's genuine, not manufactured. If the partnership only makes sense on a press release and not in practice, people will see through it,” she said. “The Billy Bishop activation is a proof point. Do it well, and it opens the door to the next one."
Takeaways for advisors
For independent financial advisors watching from the sidelines, Chippindale says the logic translates directly, even without an airport terminal budget.
"The scale is different but the logic is the same. A solo advisor isn't likely to take over an airport terminal, but they can ask: where are my ideal clients right before they need me?" she said. "A retirement specialist might connect with an HR department running pre-retirement workshops. A wealth manager might sponsor a local business event where entrepreneurs are in the room."
She distilled it to a single governing principle.
"The principle is the same as Billy Bishop: find the moment of relevance and show up there with something useful,” she said.
Looking further ahead, she sees partnerships becoming a genuine competitive differentiator across financial services, though she pushes back on the idea that the sector is converging on identical products.
"I see it a little differently from the idea that products are becoming more similar. If anything, the gap is widening. There's a real difference between products built to genuinely work for people and products that just keep the old model running," she said. "The brands that win in the long term will be the ones that also show up in the right contexts: through partnerships, community, and experiences that feel genuinely useful rather than promotional. That's hard to copy, and we're focusing on it a lot."
