Ironically, there was no actual client brief for this idea. Rather, we identified the opportunity to drive greater earned media for ANZ’s tennis sponsorship campaign and further reinforce the brand’s reputation for inclusion.

Having successfully partnered with wheelchair tennis champion and social influencer, Dylan Alcott in 2018, the brief for ANZ’s 2019 Australian Open tennis campaign was to once again make Dylan the face of our campaign.

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 shoes struck us as mutually beneficial for our partnership with Dylan and inherently newsworthy.

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.

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).

-And 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 event 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.

First, we took the idea to Nike, together with a cheeky ‘Air Jordan-esque’ Alcott logo. They loved it. And despite less than three months to implement, designed 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 to ANZ’s Australian Open Hospitality Suite under the guise of a Q&A session, where we gifted him with his ANZ + Nike branded shoebox. Initially speechless, Dylan choked up with emotion upon registering the significance of the moment.

We shared the presentation video with news media and across social media. And a delighted Dylan took every opportunity to talk about his shoes, announcing in his tournament winning speech (broadcast live around the world) that he was putting his match-winning pair up for charity auction on eBay.

Wearing his eponymous sneakers, Dylan won the men’s Australian Open Quad Wheelchair Doubles and Singles. In his acceptance speech, broadcast live to over 100 countries and millions of people around the world, Dylan thanked ANZ and Nike announcing the auction of his match-winning shoes.

The video of Dylan being presented his sneakers by ANZ’s CEO reached an audience of 97 million through earned media and a further 1.7million people via paid social.

Triggering a surge in positive social sentiment, people wanted to know “where can I buy some? and “Do they come in a US4?”.

The auction attracted 28,000 visitors to eBay with a winning bid of $3,600 and all monies going to The Dylan Alcott Foundation, helping young Australians with disabilities.

Most importantly, ANZ sent a powerful message of inclusion to disabled athletes and spectators around the world, described by Wallara Australia as “an inclusion ace”