SUPPORT-TEAM STORIES

TitleSUPPORT-TEAM STORIES
BrandANZ BANK
Product / ServiceBANK
CategoryA10. Best Integrated Content Campaign
EntrantPHD Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Contributing Company OCTAGON South Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Contributing Company 2 WHYBIN\TBWA MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Contributing Company 3 DAVE CLARK DESIGNS Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Contributing Company 4 GEMBA Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company PHD Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Dominic Guthrie Dave Clark Design Client Service Director
Sasha Neame Phd Australia Digital Account Director/Strategist
Kathryn Weatherlake Phd Australia Business Director
Simon Lawson Phd Australia Business Director

The Campaign

Branded content in Australia is a growing area across TV and digital platforms particularly due to the growth of video over broadband and social media. SBS and ABC (national broadcasting channels) have major restrictions in regards to brands and integration in programs. Our domestic free to air channels have some limited restrictions, however it’s largely self-policing, based on the networks’ opportunity to maximise revenue. There is a constant balancing act between brand involvement, quality control and program integrity. The majority of content integration is managed via the networks rather than brands doing deals with production companies. In off peak and in subscription TV there are more opportunities for brand involvement, prime time is the most difficult to secure and is based on a number of variables; ratings and audience, being two key factors. The “reality” genre is predominantly appearing within prime time programming and features the majority of branded integration e.g. The X Factor. Outside of prime time we are seeing brands achieving success with documentaries; sport, music, and other niche genres on the free to air digital channels.

Results

ANZ asked us to make Australians think ANZ is the Open’s number 1 sponsor? And to use the sponsorship to demonstrate ANZ’s ‘We live in your world’ tagline? Two problems: 1. People tune out to bank advertising 2. There’s no obvious link between tennis and banking An exciting link between tennis and banking was uncovered based on a truth common to both categories; Success only comes with the right support. Given resistance to bank advertising, taking a ‘storytelling’ approach would allow ANZ to demonstrate the “we live in your world” tagline by showing Australians they understood the right support is essential for success. “Support- team stories” We found compelling drama in Andy Murray’s attempt to win his first AO title, having lost in 2010 and 2011. Many thought new coach Lendl, would give him the advantage he needed. Lendl signed on as ambassador and a crew was despatched to shoot 5 short-films (stories): Owned media was as important as paid to establishing our idea, and included brand-walls in 700 branches across Australia, a wrap of the ANZ staff bus and on-screen placements across 1,600 ATMs. Paid media included 127 in-program executions of the ANZ SupportCam branded content device (Shots of support-team during play) in the AO broadcast, outdoor dominations at train stations, outdoor advertising at airports and posters across Sydney & Melbourne. Excitingly, Seven saw our ‘support-team’ stories as compelling and wove them throughout the AO broadcast. They even ran a story in the lead up to the final between Murray and Djokovic. Stories were also showcased in cinemas, subscription channels and screens within QantasClubs. A tennis hub was launched to coincide with “support-team stories”. The hub amplified the reach of the campaign across social media with a tennis trivia game inviting players to test their tennis knowledge against friends.

ANZ has sponsored the AustralianOpen tennis since January 2010. In 2012, they came to us with a challenge: Make Australians think ANZ is the Open’s number 1 sponsor! We drew audience by starting with an insight common to tennis and banking: Success only comes with the right support. Our insight led a single-minded communications idea: “Support- team stories” We filmed 5 short films starring Andy Murray’s coach, Ivan Lendl, with support team themes including coaching inspiration and coaching champions. Content was showcased in-broadcast throughout the AustralianOpen. Stories were also showcased in cinemas, subscription channels and on-screens within QantasClubs across Australia.

Put simply - ‘Support-team stories’ aced the competition! Independent research indicated that awareness of ANZ’s sponsorship of the Australian Open was 15% higher than the naming rights sponsor during the tournament. This is stunning given the naming rights sponsor has been on-board for 12 years and we’re only on our 4th: 15-Love The same research reported “support-team stories” lifted associations with “we live in your world” by >25% over the campaign. In fact, 22% of Australians were familiar with the “Advantage You” proposition by campaign’s end: 30-Love Other variables couldn’t have contributed to the outcomes. All data points were taken YoY. Budget to leverage the sponsorship remained steady and competitor activity actually increased with a large Westpac brand campaign running concurrently. The Lendl “support-team stories” were viewed over 8,000,000 times across the tennis broadcast, cinemas, subscription TV and via ANZ’s online tennis hub. 38,000 people visited ANZ’s online tennis hub during the tournament and there were 9,038 visits to the trivia game: 40-Love Best of all, ANZ are so pleased with the results; our ‘support-team stories’ approach is likely to be at the core of their Asia campaign to leverage sponsorship of the 2013 Shanghai Masters: Game, set & match!