The Campaign

Cricket has long captured the hearts of Aussies and there’s no bigger event than The Ashes, a two-month duel between Australia and the old foe, England. In 2013, Commonwealth Bank celebrated 27 years of supporting the national sport with its sponsorship of the Australian Test Team. For the Bank to capitalise on the spike in conversations that research showed takes place during matches, they needed to act in real time. However, without timely access to imagery and competing news sources, they needed to develop a solution that would grab people’s attention in Newsfeed to generate positive sentiment and engagement with the Brand. As one of Australia’s oldest institutions, nostalgic content has always worked for Commonwealth Bank. It’s this publishing insight that led the team to an iconic Aussie boardgame – Test Match. This humble cricket game was transformed into the ultimate story-telling device. A set of intricate scale models, replicating the legendary stadiums hosting the Ashes were built. Then we photographed every possible match moment, capturing the emotion of the players and crowd. A real time publishing model enabled Commonwealth Bank to leverage the live action to spark conversations about Cricket and the brand. The Bank was also able to extend their sponsorship of cricket using this story telling device to highlight its products and services. The campaign resulted in the Bank’s most successful campaign ever, exceeding all industry benchmarks and delivering a huge spike in awareness and engagement

The Brief

To drive awareness of, and engagement around, the Bank’s sponsorship and to increase overall favourability and sentiment towards the Bank.

Results

The campaign reached 2.1 million unique Australians, including every Australian cricket fan on Facebook. Favourability towards Commonwealth Bank sky rocketed. A Nielsen Brand Effects Study showed the campaign smashed industry benchmarks with a 4-point lift, which jumped to 9-points amongst 18-24 year olds. The campaign drove over 300,000 direct engagements, pushing Commonwealth Bank’s overall engagement rate to more than double the banking category. Positive sentiment hit record highs, smashing not only the Bank’s Facebook but social benchmarks. Fans could not get enough of Commonwealth Bank’s test match coverage, snapping up their own copy of the game, which sold out nationwide. Commonwealth Bank delivered relevant and engaging content, making cricket better for Aussies over the summer. As the Australian Test Team wrapped up the Ashes with a stunning 5-0 series clean sweep, Commonwealth Bank celebrated its most successful social campaign, ever.

Execution

A set of intricate scale models, replicating the legendary stadiums hosting the Ashes were built. Then they photographed every possible match moment, capturing the emotion of the players and crowd. A real time publishing model enabled Commonwealth Bank to leverage the live action to spark conversations about Cricket and the brand. The Bank was also able to extend their sponsorship of cricket using this story telling device to highlight its products and services.

The Situation

Commonwealth Bank wanted to increase awareness of it sponsorship of the Australian Test Cricket Team. With the highly anticipated Ashes Series, between Australia and England, leading the news agenda in Australia and driving a huge spike in social conversations the Bank needed to find a way to get cut through to drive engagement and awareness of its sponsorship.

The Strategy

With so many news sources covering every ball of the Ashes, the Bank needed to find a way to achieve cut through in social media. As one of Australia’s oldest institutions, nostalgic content has always worked for Commonwealth Bank. It’s this publishing insight that led the team to an iconic Aussie boardgame – Test Match. This humble cricket game was transformed into the ultimate story-telling device.