Title | ANZ MR HUMFREEZ |
Brand | ANZ BANK |
Product / Service | ANZ BANK |
Category | B01. Brand-led Education & Awareness |
Entrant | TBWA\AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND |
Idea Creation | TBWA\AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND |
Production | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO INTERDISCIPLINARY CENTRE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE, CANADA |
Additional Company | TBWA\AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Shane Bradnick | TBWA\NZ | Chief Creative Officer |
Catherine Harris | TBWA\NZ | Chief Executive Officer |
Guy Roberts | TBWA\NZ | Executive Creative Director |
Ashwin Gopal | TBWA\NZ | Creative Director |
Wiktor Skoog | TBWA\NZ | Creative Director |
Julian Andrews | TBWA\NZ | Creative Director |
Watchara Tansrikeat | TBWA\NZ | Senior Art Director |
Kate Heatley | TBWA\NZ | General Manager |
Ruth Coulson | TBWA\NZ | Group Business Director |
Matt Kingston | TBWA | Head of Planning |
Mark Paisey | TBWA\NZ | Senior Producer |
Jodie Hari | TBWA\NZ | TV Producer |
50% of Kiwi homes are too cold and damp, falling below World Health Organisation standards for a healthy home. Living in unhealthy homes causes 1600 premature deaths each winter. 1 in 6 Kiwis suffer from respiratory diseases, especially children. New Zealand’s largest home lender, ANZ bank made a commitment to help through their Healthy Homes Initiative - offering interest-free loans for home insulation and heating. But faced with a culture used to ‘toughing it out’ over winter, our brief to was to captivate and educate Kiwis by creating a new way for them to understand the issue. So that households would care enough to fix the problem with help from ANZ.
Mr Humfreez by ANZ is an innovative household device that indicates healthy humidity and temperature levels in a home. The 100% sustainable device works without relying on any power source, and is calibrated to World Health Organisation standards for a healthy home. Instead of a plasticky marketing gimmick destined for the landfill, our intention was to create a sustainable device that occupied pride of place in the household. More than just give a readout of current temperature and humidity levels, Mr Humfreez is a world-first innovation aimed at capturing the imagination of families with young Kiwis that were worst affected by this crisis. A cute, clever and unmistakably Kiwi icon of home health, Mr Humfreez forms the centrepiece of ANZ’s Healthy Homes initiative
The innovation in Mr Humfreez was inspired by the same phenomenon that warps wood in the damp Kiwi homes. In collaboration with the University of Toronto, we created a world-first by coding and calibrating wood, one of earth’s most abundant materials. Mr Humfreez’s hygroscopic horns uncurl when humidity exceeds 65%. Custom made thermochromic ink on his face turns blue below 18ºC. Instead of plastics and rare earth metals, the cutting edge technology in this device is made with just wood, wool and ink. Kids were at the forefront of every design choice. From his core behaviour that even a child can understand (blue face to show cold, horns pointing up as a warning), to his name (‘hum’ for humidity, ‘freez’ for cold), his rhyming message and his fluffy coat of merino wool for added warmth. The launch campaign was combined with an education programme to help young Kiwis take action.
• Thanks to Mr Humfreez, over 3X more Kiwis now associate ANZ with Healthy Homes than any other bank. • Mr Humfreez drove 5X more search volume than any other ANZ campaign. • We received over 30,000 registrations for the device during the campaign. Government agencies and NGOs have reached out to seek potential partnership opportunities - including Housing NZ, EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority), The Asthma & Respiratory Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. • Mass production is underway in phase 2 due to global demand. • Mr Humfreez is being trialled as a teaching tool to become part of the NZ school curriculum. • 94% positive social media sentiment during the campaign. Incredible for ANZ bank at a time of significant reputational challenges in New Zealand and Australia.