ANZ #HOLDTIGHT

Bronze Spike

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleANZ #HOLDTIGHT
BrandANZ
Product / ServiceANZ BANK
CategoryA06. Financial Products & Services, Commercial Public Services, B2B Products & Services
EntrantTBWA\MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation TBWA\MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement PHD Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
PR ELEVEN Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
PR 2 ELEVEN Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Production LEVEL TWO MUSIC Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Production 2 THE GLUE SOCIETY Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Production 3 REVOLVER/WILL O'ROURKE Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company DIGITAL ARTS NETWORK Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Paul Reardon TBWA\Melbourne Chief Creative Officer
Tara Ford TBWA\Melbourne Creative Director
Tim Woolford TBWA\Melbourne Creative
Scott Canning TBWA\Melbourne Creative
Margot Ger TBWA\Melbourne Head of Broadcast
Dave Keating TBWA\Melbourne Head of Integrated Production
Harrison Webster TBWA\Melbourne Content Director
Stephanie Leddin TBWA\Melbourne Content Producer
Jesse Richards TBWA\Melbourne Content Creator/Editor
Michael Edwards Level Two Music Composer
Pete Baker The Glue Society Director
Michael Ritchie Revolver/Will O'Rourke Manager Director/Executive Producer
Josh Mullens Revolver/Will O'Rourke Executive Producer/Head of Projects
Jasmin Helliar Revolver/Will O'Rourke Producer
Geoffrey Simpson Revolver/Will O'Rourke DOP
Ricci Meldrum TBWA\Melbourne Regional Group Head
Claire Tenzer TBWA\Melbourne Group Business Director
Amelia Van Veenendaal TBWA\Melbourne Project Director
Todd McClerie TBWA\Melbourne Project Manager
Paul Arena TBWA\Melbourne Digital Planner
Fee Townshend Eleven Managing Director Melbourne
Angelina Farry Eleven Managing Director Auckland
Louise Cargo Eleven Senior Account Director
Jade Glashoff Eleven Account Director
Christy Peacock TBWA\Auckland Executive Creative Director
Karen Maurice O'Leary TBWA\Auckland Creative Director
Robyn Budd TBWA\Auckland Head of Client Service
Maike Blackman TBWA\Auckland Group Acount Director
Ruby Soole TBWA\Auckland Account Manager

The Campaign

For many in the community even if you're ‘out’ and completely comfortable with your sexuality, holding hands with a partner in public can still feel awkward, tense or even scary – sometimes making it easier to just let go. So we encouraged people to #HOLDTIGHT instead. We wanted to celebrate the simple act of LGBTI couples holding hands. We made it a mainstream conversation, spreading ANZ’s message to the community to ‘stay strong, be resilient, equality is coming.’

Creative Execution

The campaign began with ANZ publishing a series of interviews online featuring staff members, sharing stories about holding hands. Results from the study commissioned by the bank were then made public, validating the insight. A film was created and then shared online, showing a situation all-too-real for so many LGBTI people when holding hands in public - the moment where they let go. It appeared via every ANZ owned social channel across both Australia and New Zealand. Billboards, radio and GAYTMs continued the #HOLDTIGHT theme. Bringing the message to life during the festivals, we created a piece of wearing tech, a custom wristband that used infrared to detect proximity between two wearers - lighting up when they held hands. And in collaboration with Twitter, a custom emoji was developed to appear when people used the hashtag #HOLDTIGHT

Results

The #HOLDTIGHT campaign generated nearly 750 million impressions. The film alone was viewed over 12 million times, and its message shared more than 150,000 times. The hashtag #HOLDTIGHT was used in more than 100 countries during the campaign, even being adapted into its portuguese translation #segurefirme Facebook data showed discussions about equality in Australia doubled during the campaign period. Social sentiment was at 98% positive in response to the campaign - The highest the bank had ever seen. Tone in reporting by third parties was a resounding 100% positive Official brand tracking data put ANZ as the only one of the big four banks in Australia to achieve nett positive sentiment on social media during this time. Engagement on Twitter exceeded industry benchmarks by 60% and view rates by 75% All of this resulting in the most successful sponsorship campaign ANZ had ever created.

The #HOLDTIGHT campaign was all about developing stronger, more meaningful relationships with the LGBTI community and general public, by showing that ANZ understood specific and nuanced issues that affected equality in Australia. The bank had a clear objective of getting people to share, comment, and respond to the #HOLDTIGHT campaign - to spread their message of diversity, inclusion, and respect with as many people as possible. In the long term, the aim is to inspire change in public perceptions of same sex affection, as well as inspire LGBTI couples to change their behavior by holding hands in public.

The primary target audience were members of the LGBTI community. #HOLDTIGHT also targeted non-LGBTI, as it gave this loving gesture new perspective and brought to their attention something that they take for granted every day. ANZ commissioned research across Australia and New Zealand, surveying people about the simple act of holding hands. This research wholeheartedly validated the insight, and found LGBTI couples struggle to feel comfortable with basic displays of affection in public such as holding hands. The call to action was the hashtag #HOLDTIGHT which featured on every piece of collateral, becoming the name of the campaign itself. This encouraged people to share their response to various executions such as films, staff testimonials, GAYTMs, and research, and explore the conversation relating to the campaign, online.

Links

Video URL