ANZ BANK KICKING DOWN BARRIERS

TitleANZ BANK KICKING DOWN BARRIERS
BrandANZ BANK AUSTRALIA
Product / ServiceBRAND SPONSORSHIP
CategoryB06. Use of Events
EntrantTBWA\MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Idea Creation TBWA\MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Media Placement TBWA\MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
PR TBWA\MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
PR 2 THRIVE PR + COMMUNICATIONS Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Production NIKE AUSTRALIA Melbourne, AUSTRALIA
Additional Company ANZ Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Paul Reardon TBWA\MELBOURNE Chief Creative Officer
Matt Stoddart TBWA\Melbourne Creative Director
Rob Hibbert TBWA\Melbourne Creative
Mark Jones TBWA\Melbourne Creative
Eric Benitez TBWA\Melbourne Head of Art
Ricci Meldrum TBWA\Melbourne Regional Group Head
Cathryn Reed TBWA\MELBOURNE Business Director
Jeff Malone TBWA\Melbourne Executive Planning Partner
Alex Horner TBWA\MELBOURNE Planning Director
Tania Babiolakis TBWA\MELBOURNE Project Manager
Zoe Watts TBWA\MELBOURNE Agency Producer
Wiktor Skoog TBWA\Melbourne Creative Product Director
Sweta Mehra ANZ Australia Chief Marketing Officer
Carolyn Bendall ANZ Australia Head of Marketing
Rosana Lambardi ANZ Australia Brand Expert
Hayley Smith ANZ Australia Sponsorship
Maggie Jones ANZ Australia Sponsorship
Marnie Benfold ANZ Australia Social Media & Expertise
Kimberlee Wells TBWA\Melbourne CEO
Mark Jones The Sports Group Director
Ashley Reade Nike Australia General Manager
Andrew Keith Nike Australia Marketing Director
Brett Tamburrino Nike Australia Sports Marketing Manager
Stephanie Gold Nike Australia PR Manager
Paul Arena TBWA\Melbourne Group Planning Director

Why is this work relevant for Media?

As sponsors of champion wheelchair tennis player, Dylan Alcott, ANZ Bank identified a unique event-based opportunity to highlight its support for diversity. ANZ determined that Dylan’s incredible sporting achievements deserved greater recognition and so took the idea to Nike to present Dylan with his own eponymous sneakers. Surprising Dylan with his ANZ + Nike Alcotts on day one of the Australian Open Tennis, Dylan went on to wear his sneakers throughout the tournament, publicly thanking ANZ and announcing the auction of his Grand Slam winning footwear in his acceptance speech which was broadcast live around the world.

Background

Having successfully partnered with wheelchair tennis champion and social influencer, Dylan Alcott in 2018, the brief for ANZ’s 2019 Australian Open event was to once again make Dylan the face of ANZ Tennis. At a product level, ANZ wanted to be known as the bank that helps you to save. Discovering the disarming insight that Dylan saved his money for sneakers (500 and counting), we decided to make this the focus of our ‘See it. Save for it’ 2019 tennis campaign. Knowing Dylan’s personal mission to ‘mainstream disability’, the idea of making him his own eponymous sneakers struck us as mutually beneficial for our partnership with Dylan and inherently newsworthy.

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

Our idea was for ANZ, together with Nike, to put Dylan on a deserving equal pedestal to his able-bodied counterparts by having him join the exclusive group of elite athletes with their very own, eponymous shoes. Having replaced Novak Djokovic as the face of ANZ’s Australian Open sponsorship, ANZ’s advertising with Dylan already embraced him as an elite athlete and charismatic personality - who just happens to be in a wheelchair. The ANZ Savings Campaign, featuring Dylan, also established his real-life obsession with saving for (and buying) sneakers. By surprising Dylan with his own Nike Player Exclusive sneakers to wear throughout the 2019 Australian Open tournament, our idea was designed to: ● send a powerful message of inclusion to disabled individuals everywhere; ● amplify ANZ’s inclusion efforts; ● and put ANZ ‘bank’ alongside one of the world’s most aspirational brands.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

We were appalled when the September 2018 US Open decided to play Dylan Alcott’s Quad Wheelchair men’s final against US Champion David Wagner on an inside-court, behind closed doors and with no spectator stand. This unsavoury insight spurred us on to ensure ANZ’s work with Dylan continued to treat him with the respect he deserved and led to our key message, that disabled individuals deserve equal recognition to their able-bodied peers. Our key target audiences were: ● The Australian Open tennis audience, specifically ANZ’s key 18-39 year old banking prospects (a socially-minded age cohort). ● The 1 in 5 Australians living with a disability (and their family and friends). To target earned media, news outlets and specialist media were invited to attend the presentation and an edited video of the presentation was distributed later the same day, together with a tailored media release and images for broader media pick up.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

First, we took the idea to Nike, together with a cheeky ‘Air Jordan-esque’ Alcott logo. They loved it and agreed to create not one but two pairs of Dylan Alcott Nike Court Air Zoom Zero’s, resplendent with our Alcott logo on the heel, tags and dubraes. Then we hatched a plan to surprise Dylan, inviting him on day one of the Australian Open event to ANZ’s Corporate Hospitality Suite under the guise of a Q&A session. There, ANZ’s CEO and Nike’s Asia Pacific GM gifted him with his ANZ + Nike branded sneakers. We then shared the video of this event across owned and paid* social and distributed it to news media with a tailored PR release. (*paid social <$10k). To drive further earned-media, we presented Dylan with his second pair, suggesting he might auction them-off for his charity, knowing full-well he’d take every opportunity to talk about them.

List the results (30% of vote)

Tier 1: Media Outputs: Earned media hits reached an audience of 97 million. Quality coverage included; The New York Times, Fox Sports, Pedestrian, ABC News, The Australian and sneaker culture titles Boss Hunting and The Weekly Drop. The social video of the presentation reached a further 1.7m through owned and paid social Tier 2: Audience Outcomes: Described by disability organisation, Wallara Australia as ‘an inclusion ace’, ANZ sent a powerful message of inclusion to disabled athletes and spectators around the world. The sneaker auction attracted 28,00 visitors to ebay with all monies from the winning $3,600 bid going to The Dylan Alcott Foundation to help young disabled Australians. Tier 3: Business Outcomes: Dylan thanked ANZ in his winning speech broadcast live to over 100 countries and millions around the world, taking every opportunity over the tournament to draw attention to his sneakers - shining a light on ANZ's inclusive reputation.

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