Demonstrating ANZ’s understanding of women, our idea was built around the simple, but troubling insight that girls start out ahead in many developmental areas (such as speaking and reading), yet in many aspects of life (particularly financial) women fall far behind.

This uncomfortable truth of ‘potential vs reality’ was brought to life in a Jane Campion directed share-able online film and supported by a PR agenda-setting white paper documenting the evidence for financial inequality.

Former and first ever female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was invited to officially launch the campaign and announce the steps ANZ was taking to help change things - including the announcement of a $500 per annum superannuation (retirement) payment to every female employee. This, and ANZ’s other employee and customer initiatives were communicated through digital display,4x15” television ads, POS and 4x15” online videos re-targeting viewers of the original 90” film and participants in the #equalfuture conversation.

The 6 week integrated campaign consisted of three components: provoking the issue; demonstrating ANZ could be a part of the solution; and calling on ‘systems’ for change.

To provoke the issue, we released the online film through social media channels (paid and unpaid) and approached social influencers to support and share. Two weeks after launch, a low weight television schedule, bank POS and online banner series were added to drive broader reach, directing viewers to the anz.com/equalfuture website and encouraging them to add their voice to the conversation through use of the equalfuture hashtag.

To demonstrate the actions ANZ was itself taking to help change things, a series of 15” online films were re-targeted to viewers of the original 90” and participants in the online conversation.

All communications culminated in the call out for “other organisations” to explore what they could do to better support a more #equalfuture.

The campaign triggered over 4million video views, with one view every 1.5 seconds in the first ten days, making this the highest viewed ANZ online video ever.

Sparking a national conversation online, more than 8000 women, media and influencers added their voices to ANZ’s call for systemic change and a more #equalfuture.

Within days, Australia’s three major political parties successfully called for the set-up of a Senate Inquiry into the ‘Economic Security of Women in Retirement ‘- and ANZ was invited to make the opening address. With inquiry recommendations due later this year, ANZ’s provocation has the real potential to drive systemic change and truly build a more equal financial future for Australian women.

With significant shifts in reputation, brand image and consideration, ANZ saw an uplift of 144,536 female customers over 6 months, representing a growth rate of 8.3% versus category growth of just 0.9% for the same period.

In 2015, one Australian bank wanted to fuel a conversation around gender equality, loud enough to influence the most powerful forces in the country. To rally the voices of Australian women to join in ANZ bank’s call for a more #equalfuture, an integrated campaign was created around one simple, but compelling question:

How was it that girls start off ahead in life, yet women fall so far behind?

The campaign kicked off with the release of a provocative online film and agenda-setting white paper to present the uncomfortable facts of financial inequity with television, display and POS to follow.

Three key audiences were identified:

1. Professional women in their 30’s to engage with ANZ’s message and join in the call for a more #equalfuture.

2. Media, social influencers, and women’s groups to put the issue on the agenda, share the film and stimulate online conversation.

3. And by fuelling the collective voices of the first two audiences, the third and key audience was “other organisations” (particularly Government) calling for them to redesign “systems” to better support the success of women, starting with the system of superannuation (retirement savings) - a system in which ANZ as a financial services provider could legitimately play a role.

In Australia, with women earning on average $700,000 less over their lifetime than men and accumulating significantly less in retirement savings, the statistical evidence shows that financial gender inequality is a very real issue. Exacerbating this further, research showed that women were largely dissatisfied with male dominated financial brands and under-penetrated in the category as a result.

With women living longer than men, the financial disadvantages of financial inequality over a woman’s life will have serious economic and social issues if not addressed. Indeed, the Superannuation Trust of Australia calculated in 2013 that 90% of Australian women will retire with inadequate savings.

With the brief to increase ANZ’s share of the female segment and “help women achieve financial success”, ANZ Bank set out to lobby for systemic change by publicly provoking the issue and rallying the support of Australian women to join in their call for a more #equalfuture.