The Campaign

‘Fortune Favours the Brave’. A content-driven social campaign featuring Sam V, a brave student who seized an opportunity and was rewarded with the experience of a lifetime.

Creative Execution

The story kicked off with a tease on world-famous choreographer Parris Goebel’s social channels. 24 hours later, ANZ launched an unscripted hero video that went behind the scenes from the moment student, Sam V, answered the ad, to his surprise when he discovers who he will actually be making a music video with. Sam premiered his official music video on his social channels and made his single available on all streaming platforms. Things got big, fast. Appearing across all the major media outlets, Sam was slingshotted into celebrity status, proving that fortune really does favour the brave. This all happened in real-time on social media watched by hundreds of thousands of other young students, all made possible by ANZ bank. The campaign lasted 4 weeks. All students who interacted with any campaign content were served with specially targeted Facebook posts, driving them directly to the ANZ banking website.

Objectives were not only met, they were exceeded. Brand consideration in the 15-24 segment grew to over 60% following the campaign with ANZ gaining a 15% increase in market share. In a country of only 4 million people, the campaign had over 3.6 million impressions and gained over 290,000 reactions, comments and shares. Thanks to the huge amount of shares on social media, within just a week of launch Spotify announced ‘I Just Wanna Love U’ as one of its most played and shared viral tracks. ANZ regained a dramatic market lead as the number one bank for students, all with a catchy tune that you can’t help but love. Ultimately, ANZ bank was able to reach a fickle youth market by creating a multi-platform, content-driven social media campaign, that students wanted to engage with.

46% of New Zealanders have never switched their main bank account, which makes winning their first student account crucial. However, few students visit a branch anymore, they sort all their banking online. Additionally, the young market stream ad free content, preferring to use their mobile phones to connect with the world. Our approach was simple. No mention of products, benefits or incentives. Banks love talking about themselves but we needed to stop acting like a bank. Instead we needed a way to be a part of young students’ daily lives. Fortune Favours the Brave was a multi-platform, social driven campaign that used inspiration to create entertaining content that would see ANZ welcomed onto students’ digital newsfeeds. We timed our campaign to launch 2 weeks prior to the first day of uni, just it time for students planning their semester but late enough not to interfere with their ‘holiday mode’.