ANZ rebranded as GAYNZ - transforming their entire identity, from the top down, into a celebration of their commitment to the LGBTI community. They changed their name across their owned media channels and they changed their outfit, by completely rebranding an entire bank branch at the heart of the Mardi Gras parade route, into a baroque-inspired GAYNZ bank branch fit for a Queen.

ANZ rebranded to GAYNZ for the month of Mardi Gras across all their owned channels. Even the heads of the bank, including the CEO and the Chief Risk Officer, changed their business cards to GAYNZ.

ANZ then transformed an entire bank branch into a Baroque-inspired homage to LGBTI icons. It took teams of scenic artists, architects, engineers, carpenters and sculpturists three months to design and assemble, then it was installed in just one weekend.

A media event was then hosted with the branch being unveiled in front of camera crews and reporters for various publications.

They also partnered with Twitter, creating Australia’s first branded emoji and asked people to share their pride and support online with #GAYNZ.

GAYNZ was big news, generating 816,000,000 media impressions, and generating over 21 million dollars in PR. And covered by international publications like The Huffington Post, Mashable, and The Mirror.

Notably, in 83% of the coverage ANZ was the only brand in a competitor set mentioned.

The GAYNZ branch was visited more than 7,000 times - seven times the foot traffic of a regular ANZ branch, and 80,000 people took the virtual tour via the 360 degree Facebook video. Plus, sign ups for ANZ accounts at the GAYNZ branch more than doubled.

#GAYNZ became the most popular brand hashtag of the entire Mardi Gras and trended Australia-wide. Twice. Positive sentiment shifted from 18% when talking about ANZ, to 98% when talking about GAYNZ - a positive emotional connection with the public that was greater than ANZ could have ever imagined, and a powerful response to a corporate responsibility campaign.

The focus of the work was to further cement ANZ’s reputation as a corporate pioneer for LGBTI rights, and as a champion for equality, by taking their message of commitment and support not just to the Mardi Gras, but beyond, pushing it into the mainstream. With no paid support, this campaign relied solely on generating earned media.

ANZ is one of the world’s few double A rated financial organisations, operating in more than 30 markets.

ANZ is also one of the longest serving partners of the Mardi Gras, celebrating their 10th anniversary of support in 2016.

Located at 81 Oxford Street, the GAYNZ branch was at the center of not just the Mardi Gras parade route, but the Sydney Gay and Lesbian community itself. Oxford street has for almost 40 years been the spiritual home of Sydney's LGBTI community, and where the first parade took place.

ANZ asked people via their own media channels to show their support for this community by visiting the GAYNZ branch, and by sharing their support online with #GAYNZ.

And pushed to drive the message further via media and influencers.

In 2016, one of Australia’s biggest banks, ANZ, would celebrate their 10th year of partnership with Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras - one of the biggest celebrations of pride in the world.

ANZ were famously one of the first major corporations to sponsor the event, a move that at the time drew criticism from the wider business community. But as the years went on, commercial support grew, and more corporations followed in ANZ’s footsteps.

On their 10th anniversary, ANZ wanted to show that even though they were one of the corporate pioneers for LGBTI rights, their commitment has never been stronger. The brief was to do something truly meaningful, facilitating a deeper emotional connection between the brand and the public.

ANZ wanted to prove that their commitment to the LGBTI community went beyond just a sponsor name. So they changed theirs.