Bank of New Zealand is one of New Zealand’s ‘big’ four banks.

But that was the problem. People weren’t distinguishing BNZ as anything special from the others.

We needed to launch a unique leadership position, communicated in an interesting and disruptive way.

In New Zealand (like most of the world) bank advertising is boring. However money is fascinating… so we started a conversation about money.

By starting the campaign unbranded and asking provocative questions in media all over New Zealand, the campaign felt like a movement.

This meant rather than a cynical and disengaged response from New Zealand to another bank campaign, people got involved and participated in the conversation, making it incredibly successful.

This was a creative and non-traditional approach to PR, unbranded media was used to provoke consumer response, which started a groundswell and conversation, that when we revealed built BNZ’s reputation and trust amongst New Zealanders.

1) To take a leadership position in the category by starting a conversation with New Zealander’s about money.

2) Establish our position as the bank that is helping New Zealander’s be good with money.

We were tasked with creating and launching a unique leadership position, communicated in an interesting and disruptive way.

In New Zealand (like most of the world) bank advertising is boring. However money is fascinating… so we started a conversation about money.

By starting unbranded and asking provocative questions in media all over New Zealand, the campaign felt like a movement.

This meant rather than a cynical and disengaged response from New Zealand to another bank campaign, people got involved and participated in the conversation.

What happened as a result of the communication activity?

1) We got New Zealanders talking about money: within a week we had over 100+ stories and in two weeks 1000+ comments, trended on twitter and reached 90% of our target audience. But best of all, 1 in 4 New Zealanders actively did something about their money as a result of seeing the campaign (TNS Research, Oct 2012).

2) We established BNZ's position as the bank helping New Zealander's be good with money, over 60% of people agreeing with the statement “Helps people be good with money” & increasing BNZ preference and consideration by 8%. We achieved 57% unprompted awareness of the campaign and a staggering 58% branded recall of the campaign.

3) All campaigns since the launch of the new brand platform have seen uplifts YOY of an average of 709%.