There are 530,000 small businesses in New Zealand representing a whopping 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

So when New Zealand moved into total COVID-19 lockdown, they were all forced to shut their doors. The economy came to a grinding halt and a health crisis quickly 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 and in doing so help raise their own brand love metric with the New Zealand public.

Application objectives: capture details of 600 small businesses through entry mechanic

2 point increase to brand love scores

We looked at what we could give to truly make a difference. Financial support? Sure, so we did that, along with the other banks. Then we needed something unique to ASB. We turned to our sponsorship portfolio and that was our ‘Ah-ha’ moment.

We had the All Blacks. The most marketable team in the world. A sponsorship worth millions. And a stand at Eden Park, New Zealand’s most famous sports ground. Could we use these properties to help? It had never been done before, they are both highly protected national treasures.

We sure as hell could. And we did.

ASB Bank dedicated the biggest assets they had in their arsenal to their biggest asset - their small business customers.

The biggest contingent of famous New Zealand rugby players ever assembled - All Blacks, Māori All Blacks and Black Ferns - were going to personally promote small businesses.

The key outtake we wanted from the New Zealand Public was ASB’s commitment and support to SME recovery.

To maximise media coverage, we withheld the name of the small business until the opportune moment

Hero the small business as the face of the campaign and put the owners forward as spokespeople

Maximise earned media opportunities aligned with key target audiences, leveraging consumer, business, mainstream, sports, regional and international media

Amplify the campaign through owned channels and networks

All existing Eden Park branded signage was swapped out

High quality videos and images were produced for media and social distribution, including a reveal video with Coopers Catch that was played at the media conference.

Servings of fish and chips with blue cod shipped from the South Island were packaged up with Coopers Catch Park branding and hand delivered to tier 1 newsrooms across Auckland to formally announce the new naming rights partner.

A national TV, OOH, PR and digital campaign encouraged small business owners to apply for their own All Black sponsorship campaign. Each entry was analysed by a financial team at the bank and the legal and marketing team of our sponsorship stakeholders. 1000s of campaigns were then ideated. The information provided in the application acted as a creative brief to the creatives. Consultation with the small business and the NZ Rugby Union refined the executions that included a digital film, OOH, bus or press ad, PR support, Facebook, search and digital spend and free targeted media placements.

But one lucky business, Coopers Catch, a small fish and chip shop, received a lot more - winning naming rights to NZ’s national stadium, Eden Park, becoming the first naming rights sponsor of the famous ground in its 117 year history. Its name beamed around the country for the All Black’s biggest game.

1700 Small businesses applied (target 600)

70,000 ASB Business Hub unique visits

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) (target 2 point rise)

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

Individual success for small businesses featured in the campaign varied from increased social and website traffic, to new user sign ups, to selling out of stock, to opening new stores, to serving record numbers of customers.