With the Effies 2017 entry deadline fast approaching, we’re revisiting last year’s Gold winners. Here, we recap on why TBWA Melbourne took out Gold in the Financial Services for their ANZ campaign.
Young adults don’t spend much time engaging with banks, yet this segment represents a critical entry point for the market. Banks have been known to spend millions trying to reach this audience through various advertising and promotional tactics – often to little effect.
Despite its own sizeable campaigns, ANZ was seen by 14-17’s as just the same as other banks, and more for older people than for young people Out of the big four banks, ANZ was ranked fourth as the brand considered to be their main bank.
Rather than trying to impress this audience, ANZ, working with TBWA Melbourne, decided instead to be useful to them. It needed to be seen, be relevant, be in their world – and be their bank. If ANZ was to truly ‘live in their world’, then TBWA needed to give it a credible and relevant voice within social media.
The insights
Research showed that getting or changing jobs was the most significant life trigger for opening up a new bank account for 14 to 17 year olds. Identifying this led to the first part of TBWA’s strategy – to create a product package designed to be useful, rather than aspirational.
The subsequent ‘Job Ready’ package brought together an Access Advantage account to capture the first pay cheque, a Visa Debit card to access the newly acquired funds and a Smart Choice Super account to start squirrelling away retirement funds. The addition of Smart Choice Super was particularly strategic, with most young adults giving little thought to superannuation and often defaulting on their first day to industry funds or other corporate schemes.
Research also identified that a large percentage of those deciding on what bank to go with decide within a week of getting their first job and most within two months, leading to the second element of the strategy. Previously, youth targeted campaigns were seasonal, coinciding with the new academic year. In 2015, an always-on approach was employed.
The third and most critical component of the strategy was to own the trigger. Tapping into the emotion of getting a job, ANZ could become the bank associated with supporting young adults – while supporting its higher level brand promise of ‘Your World, Your Way’.
The campaign
By sharing stories about ‘that moment you find out you’ve got the job’, ANZ was able to demonstrate an understanding of the emotional significance of the milestone. The creative chronicled four first jobber’s moments of getting the job – from getting the news of a first Macca’s job at the local bus stop to finding out about that first professional role whilst at a party with friends. ANZ was finally talking a language teens could relate to, in a world they inhabited.
Taking the story online, ANZ and TBWA developed two 15-second YouTube pre-rolls. Radio spots used anecdotal celebratory statements of two teenagers who just “got the job”. The stories were also captured in a memorable outdoor campaign.
The social component engaged two of the country’s biggest youth social influencers, Cody Simpson and Jai Waetford. A new job opportunity was created – ‘The Official Cody Simpson Concert Correspondent’. ANZ and TBWA also put Jai to work with creating songs about his followers’ new jobs.
The results
With brand awareness increasing within a month of launch, top-of-mind awareness amongst the target market nearly doubled. ANZ became the second brand to mind amongst the target and is now less frequently associated with being ‘for older people’, ‘boring’ and ‘same as others’. Perceptions of ANZ as “a young brand” increased by 138%, “modern” by 78%, and “for people like me” by 50%.
With over 248,000 Cody Simpson and Jai Waetford video views, and the social campaign reaching an audience of over 24 million and an engagement rate of 34%, this extension of ‘Job Ready’ achieved its dual aims of reach and credibility. Purchase intent and claimed ‘main bank’ both increased significantly for ANZ, moving up two places to second in the ever-important ‘main bank’ status. But even more importantly, customer acquisition and CPA targets were exceeded.
The key lesson from this case study? That a brand doesn’t have to be cool to be relevant to a young audience. Too often when targeting teens and young adults, marketers and agencies fall into the trap of trying to don a ‘cool’ persona. By accepting that the audience doesn’t want banks to try and impress or reflect them, but rather be useful to them not only did ANZ increase its relevance – it actually increased perception amongst 14-17 year olds as ‘a bit more cool and funky than other brands’ by 82%. Proving a brand can be cool without even trying – or arguably, by not even trying.
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