The Campaign

Branded entertainment is still a relatively new area in Australia. Brands tend to gravitate towards sponsoring shows in which they can integrate their message. There have been a handful of fully brand-funded shows in market, none of which have been broadcast in primetime. There are three free-to-air channel groups, each comprising of 3 channels – one main channel (Channel 7, Channel 9 and Channel 10) and then two digital channels. There is no legislation other than regulating programming to appropriate audiences, such as adult content after 7pm.

Results

Westpac, Australia’s first bank, has been proudly supporting Australia and its people for nearly 200 years. A key demonstration of this is the bank’s on-going support for The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter Service. In September 2013, Westpac celebrated the 40th anniversary of this partnership. Our core objective was to increase awareness of Westpac’s involvement, whilst improving brand perception and consideration amongst its ‘financially confident and active’ target market. The challenge was doing this in a way that didn’t seem self-serving and pushing our agenda, two traits that our audience believed banks were guilty of. Our strategy was to show Westpac’s support for the WLRHS, not just talk about it. It needed to be subtle but engaging. To do this we did something never done before in Australia. We created and produced a TV series that was broadcast, in primetime, on Australia’s biggest TV network supported by network promos and a digital campaign Air Rescue was an edge-of-your-seat factual series that rewrote the observational genre. It skilfully blended the best cinematic storytelling together with the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of real-life personalities. Classic observational storytelling imbued with a stunning cinematic technique created an explosive, never seen before, real-life narrative of humanity colliding head-on with the harsh and expansive Australian landscape. Stories were told through the eyes of a core cast of rescuers as they enter the lives of Australians in need: fishermen stranded on the rocks, injured farmers, flood victims, motorbike riders and unsuspecting holidaymakers. We revealed the thoughts and motivations of those behind the uniforms – What were the time-critical decisions that needed to be made? How did they cope with the emotion and trauma? Rescue crews were helping the wounded, finding the lost and providing unflinching trust and support and ultimately saving lives.

Air Rescue was broadcast on Australia’s largest free-to-air TV network, Channel 7. We produced 6 x 30 minute episodes that aired in primetime, Monday nights at 8pm and Channel 7 also ran an extensive promotion campaign valued at $1 million. This had never been achieved for brand-funded content in Australia. The cross-promotion included tune-in spots on Seven West Media’s main TV channel, digital channels and online assets. Six two-minute episode teasers were digitally seeded in the week prior to the broadcast driving the audience from online to TV. PR for the series worth over two million dollars was also achieved.

Air Rescue was the first ever fully ad-funded series to air on Australian prime-time TV and it delivered beyond all expectations: AUDIENCE DELIVERY: • Over the campaign period a quarter of the entire population of Australia tuned in to watch the show. • Reaching No.1 in its timeslot in both regional and metropolitan areas. • The average audience across the 6 weeks was 1.41 million viewers. IMPACT ON BRAND MEASURES: (source: MillwardBrown) • Overall brand consideration for Westpac increased by 6% during the broadcasting of Air Rescue and jumped an impressive 15% in our target market. • An extra 25% of people said they would consider Westpac for banking services as a result of seeing Air Rescue. • Corporate reputation grew 4% to its highest level recorded and jumped 22% against our target market. • 87% of people said Air Rescue highlighted the role Westpac plays in the community. ENGAGEMENT: • Massive social buzz - the teaser videos alone achieved over 1.69m Twitter impressions and Facebook had over 2 million unique viewers. • $2.2m in PR value. ROI: ROI of 6 x greater media value versus traditional advertising.