BORROW EDEN PARK

TitleBORROW EDEN PARK
BrandASB BANK
Product / ServiceBUSINESS BANKING
CategoryA06. Consumer Services / Business to Business
EntrantASB BANK Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Idea Creation WITH COLLECTIVE Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Media Placement CARAT Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
PR ANTHEM Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Production TWO BEARDED MEN Wanaka, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
John Marshall WiTH Collective General Manger
Claire Bradbourne WiTH Collective Head of Strategy
Hadleigh Sinclair WiTH Collective Creative Director
Jack Delmonte WiTH Collective Creative Director
Chelsea Sietses WiTH Collective Senior Art Director
Matt Woods WiTH Collective Senior Copywriter
Tim Costar WiTH Collective Senior Content Producer
Steve Nute WiTH Collective Design Lead
Carl Dixon WiTH Collective Senior Designer

Why is this work relevant for PR?

New Zealand is rugby obsessed. The players, heroes, and Eden Park, the game's spiritual home. It’s a sport that dominates the airwaves and lounge conversations across the country. Due to the government’s hasty response to COVID-19 the pandemic quickly turned from a health crisis to an economic one. With small business suffering, NZers defaulting on mortgage, wages and rent payments, pressure mounted on big banks to step up and make a meaningful difference. ASB took it upon themselves to not just say they were here to help, but instead inspire Kiwis to support local small businesses and kickstart the economy.

Background

There are 530,000 small businesses in New Zealand representing 97% of all businesses. They’re the engine room of the economy, accounting for 28% of employment and contribute over 25% of NZ’s GDP When New Zealand moved into total COVID-19 lockdown, they were all forced to shut their doors. The economy came to a halt and a health crisis became an economic one. These small businesses, the lifeblood of the New Zealand economy were no longer able to serve the communities they were so invested in and immensely important to. ASB Bank wanted to help kickstart the economy by helping small businesses get through these government enforced lockdowns. The objective was to inspire the New Zealand Public with a feel-good story that instilled consumer confidence as well as increasing ASB Bank’s brand love scores by 2 points.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We wanted to give a small business the sort of sponsorship opportunity that’s usually only afforded to large multinationals. We were going to rename Eden Park. The spiritual home of New Zealand rugby. A ground that had never sold its naming rights. Due to New Zealand’s obsession with rugby, and reverence for Eden Park, we knew it would get people talking - especially when it initially appeared that a large (Australian-owned) bank could potentially be the new naming rights owners of the ground. Once the real naming rights holders were a small fish and chip shop from Kaikoura, conversation was steered to the role the New Zealand Public could play in helping get the economy going again by supporting small local businesses.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

The key outtake we wanted from the New Zealand Public was ASB’s commitment and support to SME recovery. The plan was Create interest and excitement around the campaign with a three-phase PR campaign: tease, launch and reveal Use the element of surprise and delight to maximise media coverage, withholding the name of the small business until the opportune moment Extend the surprise to the small business itself, revealing they were the new naming rights owners just days before it was announced to the public Hero the small business as the face of the campaign and put the owners forward as the main media spokespeople to achieve nationwide interest Maximise earned media opportunities aligned with key target audiences, leveraging consumer, business, mainstream, sports, regional and international media Amplify the campaign through both ASB and Eden Park owned channels and networks

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

We leveraged the element of surprise and unprecedented nature of the announcement. Tease 24-hours ahead of the official announcement we leaked the news to top tier national and sports media. Announce Media release distribution A joint media release from ASB and Eden Park confirmed that naming rights were being given away – the twist- for one week and to a small business in need. Launch Media conference Start of game week, ASB hosted a media conference at Eden Park announcing the new naming rights sponsor, inviting top tier broadcast, print, digital and sports media Media announcement ASB and Eden Park issued a second media release announcing Coopers Catch as the selected small business. Signage All eEden Park branded signage was replaced with Coopers Catch Park branding Radio interviews The owners of Coopers Catch visited 12 radio newsrooms International distribution The media release was distributed to key international markets.

List the results (30% of vote)

Success was achieved through a variety of tactics that leveraged the element of surprise and unprecedented nature of the announcement. The public relations approach was bold, considered and planned meticulously. The news leak resulted in Newshub, TVNZ (New Zealand’s largest new shows) and NZ Herald (NZ’s largest newspaper) breaking the news that Eden Park was set to give up naming rights, with the announcement debated further through conversations on Twitter and Facebook. The distribution resulted in 35 pieces of coverage across tier 1 media, business, consumer and sports media, despite the identity of the chosen business being kept under wraps. The second media release announcing Coopers Catch as the selected small business, resulted in 57 pieces of earned coverage across tier 1, broadcast, consumer, marketing, business, sports and regional media outlets. The owners of Coopers Catch visited 12 radio newsrooms and participated in interviews with leading business, sports and consumer broadcast radio stations. This inherently NZ campaign achieved 10 pieces of international coverage across Australia, UK and Spain – including coverage in ESPN. 25.8M People reached (both domestically and globally) Over $3 million earned media value for Coopers Catch Fish and Chip Shop ASB Bank recorded their highest ever brand love score since measurement began in 2012 (rising from 99 points pre COVID to 111 points post COVID) Awareness of ASB All Black sponsorship doubled 117 total media items 47 radio items 13 print items 32 online items 15 TV items 10 international news items