EQUAL FUTURE

Silver Spike

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleEQUAL FUTURE
BrandANZ
Product / ServiceANZ BANK
CategoryB03. Consumer Services
EntrantWHYBIN\TBWA GROUP MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company WHYBIN\TBWA GROUP MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Advertising Agency WHYBIN\TBWA GROUP MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Media Agency PHD Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production Company BIG SHELL FILMS Vaucluse, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Scott Whybin Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Chief Creative Officer
Paul Reardon Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Executive Creative Director
Rob Hibbert Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Senior Copywriter
Mark Jones Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Senior Art Director
Margot Ger Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Executive Producer
Ricci Meldrum Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Regional Group Account Director
Natalia Shore Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Senior Account Director
Karolina Nanowski Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Account Manager
Kees Kalk Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne Senior Planning Director
Jane Campion Big Shell Films Director
Ari Wegner Big Shell Films DOP
Peter Knowles Big Shell Films Producer
Mark Bradshaw Nylon Studios Music
Joyce Phillips ANZ CEO Global Wealth
Bettina Pidcock ANZ Head of Marketing, Wealth
Laura Halbert ANZ Senior Manager, Marketing Developement and Operations
Joe Watkins ANZ Marketing Manager, Marketing Development
Maureen Lum Mow ANZ Manager, Advertising and Promotions
Steve Sheppard ANZ Managing Director

The Campaign

In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion around gender equality. As one of Australia’s big 4 banks, ANZ Bank wanted to focus this discussion on financial and professional inequality and transform it from a passive dialogue to an active movement supported by real change. We started with the insight that girls’ brains develop faster than boys, yet women end up falling so far behind financially. To quantify the current inequity, we commissioned The Connolly Partnership to produce a White Paper examining the gender divide. Using their findings, we engaged Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, the only female director to ever win the Cannes Palm D’or, to execute an online film that presented the unequal status quo and announced ANZ’s resolution to change it. The film was launched by another female trailblazer – Australia’s first-ever female prime minister, Julia Gillard, along with tennis superstar, Martina Navratilova, and champion of equality in the Australian Armed Forces, General David Morrison. At the launch event, ANZ announced that it would make extra superannuation payments to all female employees, plus additional payments to those on unpaid maternity leave. It also used the film and event to launch the hashtag #equalfuture and committed to donate $1 to International Women's Development Agency for every public post shared with #equalfuture. In just 10 days, the campaign has already reached a global audience of 112 million (and counting), generating nearly $10 million in coverage for ANZ. The campaign even elicited the three major Australian political parties to demand a senate inquiry into women’s superannuation.

The Brief

ANZ Bank’s primary objective was to build an affinity with women; for the bank to become an advocate for women’s financial
success and a facilitator of information, knowledge, advice, support and mentoring. They wanted to empower women to achieve greater financial security and get professional women to more actively manage their finances, starting with super. Part of this, was to increase women’s awareness and consideration of ANZ wealth propositions and services.


Results

Just ten days after launching, the video has been viewed more than 600,000 times across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter (or once every 1.5 seconds) and earned media for the campaign has reached a global audience of 112 million (and counting). Earned media is currently $10 million, and with more than 8,000 #equalfuture social posts, the commentary has been overwhelmingly positive (70%+ positive social sentiment). Significantly, the campaign stimulated a national conversation with a number of leading organisations publically supporting ANZ’s push for an #equalfuture. Beyond the millions of dollars in earned media and the positive staff sentiment realised, the offer of free advice for anyone with less than $50,000 in their super has set the phones ringing. And Australia’s three major political parties have called for a senate inquiry into inequality in women’s superannuation and applauded ANZ’s move to level the playing field.

Execution

Armed with the findings from a commissioned White Paper, ANZ partnered with Oscar-winner, Jane Campion, the only female director to win a Cannes Palme D’Or, to create a provocative online film. The film directed viewers to ANZ’s website, which listed a series of initiatives designed to change the status quo and launched #equalfuture. The film was launched by Australia’s first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, along with tennis superstar, Martina Navratilova, champion of equality in the armed forces, General David Morrison and ANZ CEO, Mike Smith. At the launch, ANZ announced that it would now make extra superannuation payments to female employees, plus further contributions for employees on unpaid parental leave. It also committed to donate $1 to International Women's Development Agency for every public post shared with #equalfuture and issued an open challenge to other organisations to explore what they too could do to achieve an #equalfuture.

The Situation

Girls develop far ahead of boys (learning to speak, read and write before boys do), yet somehow, they end up far behind, particularly financially. In Australia, women earn $700,000 less over the course of their careers than men, and retire with around 50% less super. ANZ Bank decided that, as one of the country’s largest financial institutions, they were in a position to do something about this. Not only did they have the ability to address the inequalities faced by their own female employees, but also had the clout to challenge other major organisations to follow their lead.

The Strategy

Women want their financial advisers to listen to them, not to “sell” or lecture to them. The industry’s perceived “close the sale” bias and focus on the accumulation of money as the end game is at odds with how women want to be approached and their view of wealth as the means to an end. Whereas a campaign for men might talk to expertise and knowledge, to connect with women, we needed to show that ANZ is on their side and truly committed to supporting women to build their financial strength. To do this, we needed more than words - we needed meaningful actions and a platform to communicate them.