The Brief

For close to a century Kiwis have commemorated those who served us in times of war by wearing distinctive red ANZAC poppies in exchange for donations. But a younger generation with no real exposure to wartime has become disengaged with this historic appeal. ANZAC has obvious importance to the ANZ Bank, who accept donations in all of their branches. ANZ promise “We live in your world”, focussing on innovative ways to make banking better in everyday life. Their brief was to create an innovative way to drive awareness, participation and donations for the ANZAC commemoration, particularly with a younger audience.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

People donate and wear poppies as a mark of respect and their contribution, influencing others to contribute as well. For a younger audience, social networks provided another social context for this scenario to play out. Instead of cash we also noted their comfort with mobile transactions thanks to the app economy. So for the 90th anniversary of the poppy, we proposed something new. Just as ANZ sold poppies in-branch, why not sell virtual ones online? At anz.ac.nz users simply SMS’d their twitter names, making an instant donation and receiving a virtual poppy on their twitter avatar.

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

Launched at the same time as the street appeal and relying purely on word-of-mouth anz.ac.nz became a focal point for commemorations. The virtual poppy was featured on primetime TV, radio and of course, online. #poppyday become a trending topic as kiwis, local celebrities, politicians and businesses rushed to don their poppies, pushing the ANZAC message out to well over 310,000 followers. This drove donations for virtual poppies to almost ten times the average takings from street locations. But the best result was having some of the largest ANZAC turnouts with young Kiwis in modern history.

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

People are becoming increasingly accustomed to parting with their cash for virtual goods and we hoped this social media donation mechanic would help make Poppy Day relevant to a new, younger audience and engage people in a social media environment. We wanted to provide a new context for poppies and resonate with a digitally savvy audience who might not respond to traditional street appeals. We believed social media was the way forward for fundraising appeals in our increasingly cashless society.