The No.1 rule of bank advertising? Never show real account numbers or codes, in case people use them fraudulently. But to launch Westpac’s new cardless cash service, we broke that rule. We created a series of step-by-step tutorial videos and released them on Facebook. But the ‘example’ codes the actors were using? They were real. Hidden in plain sight. Anybody watching could enter one at an ATM to withdraw free cash. We released the tutorial videos online and let people discover it for themselves.

We didn’t have a huge budget. So instead of burning money on media (crazy for this demographic), we gave what cash we had to the target in the form of prizes instead. We simply released our first tutorial on Facebook, waited for word to spread that the codes were ‘real’, then released additional tutorials at planned intervals to feed our constantly building audience. To ‘win’, you had to learn about the product online, then actually go out and use it in the real world.

People scoured our films for codes, in the process learning every single detail about the new service. By redeeming the codes at ATMs, they were trying it out. In ten days, we had over 5 million views, reaching 74% of all 18 to 30 year old Australians on Facebook. The use of Westpac Get Cash increased by 30%. And most incredibly, young bank account applications went up by an amazing 31.1% from the same time last year.