The Brief

The Australian public has always believed their 4 biggest banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and National Australia Bank (NAB) work together fixing fees, interest rates and eliminating competition. The reality however is quite the opposite. One of the four, NAB has in fact invested 2 years making dramatic changes such as abolishing fees and lowering interest rates, all to be considered fairer and more competitive by customers. But the changes had little impact because the perception of collusion between banks prevented people barely noticing them at all. NAB needed to make people see the bank they have actually become.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We realised the key was to embrace this perception of the bank’s being ‘together’ and use it to make people see how NAB had changed. How? By letting them witness NAB break up with the other banks. One powerful, public moment that would capture the media and the nation’s attention. A moment that would make people finally discover just how different NAB had become from the other banks. It would also then create the perfect opportunity to invite the public to break up with their bank as well.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The public perception of NAB has been absolutely transformed. People now see the bank as not only different, more fair and competitive, but also much more relatable and human. The break up itself generated $5 million of earned PR media in a single day. It was the most discussed topic on Twitter in the country. Positive online posts about NAB have increased 320%. There’s been a 79% increase week on week in NAB home loan enquiries. A 50% increase week on week in NAB credit card applications and finally, a 20% increase week on week new transaction accounts being opened.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

To change people’s perception, the break up had to live in the news driving people to want to learn more. So everything we created was both shareable and a potential news story. Thus we released a tweet people would investigate, put a very personal break up letter to the other banks in newspapers, planted films to be found online and publicly ambushed the other banks with break up messages. Most importantly, as everything happened it went on a blog, which people visited and finally discovered all of NAB’s changes. It even showed them how to break up with their bank.