Westpac New Zealand promises greatness in latest brand campaign via DDB Aotearoa
For the first time in over five years, Westpac New Zealand has launched a new brand platform ‘Together Greater’ via DDB Aotearoa, that underpins its ambition to bring more of life’s possibilities within reach of all New Zealanders.
Westpac New Zealand’s new brand platform launched at the beginning of August with an integrated campaign that is a unique piece of work in the financial space. Through a metaphorical story set in a fantastical Aotearoa, it demonstrates how anything is possible when you have a partner that has your back.
The film, which is released on 8 August, tells the story of a young girl Maisie, who has the idea to build her own tree house. Representative of Westpac New Zealand’s customers, Maisie sets out on her journey and meets an unexpected friend along the way. The creature provides strength and security and together, they build a tree hut that’s even better than she imagined.
Suraiya Phillimore Smith, chief marketing officer at Westpac New Zealand says the company worked with DDB to redefine their purpose, which shapes how the organisation operates: “This is more than just a new piece of creative – through Together Greater, we are letting New Zealanders know that we have their back; we know they have dreams and goals, and we’re there to support, strengthen and empower them to achieve those goals because we’re stronger together than we are alone.”
Together Greater is a concept that is central to Westpac New Zealand’s identity, demonstrated by its long-standing sponsorship of New Zealand’s rescue helicopters and support of Rainbow communities, as well as initiatives such as the Women of Influence programme, SeniorNet partnership – which aims to help senior customers make the most of current and future banking technologies – and the Innovation Fund, a joint initiative with the New Zealand Government to invest in innovative ideas and opportunities.
Says Smith: “Westpac is committed to leading by example and helping Kiwis achieve their financial goals, and these initiatives are true demonstrations of Together Greater.
“We live by this promise – that’s why Westpac was the first bank in New Zealand to be accredited as a Living Wage Employer and why we recently reduced our KiwiSaver Scheme Fund fees – further examples of how the Together Greater concept is central to how we operate both internally and externally.”
DDB Aotearoa managing partner Nikki McKelvie, says the new brand platform aims to set Westpac New Zealand apart in a category that uses a rational approach to deliver its messages: “Through the use of a unique character and emotive story, the campaign personifies the bank – we begin to see Maisie’s friend – Westpac – as supportive and caring.
“The campaign and new platform are completely different for Westpac and in fact any other bank in New Zealand. The work goes beyond the ‘slice of life’ storyline, to ensure Westpac is distinctive in market by emotionally engaging with the audience and delivering a different take on what a bank can help you to achieve in life.”
Westpac New Zealand’s new brand platform is integrated with media extending across radio, OOH, digital and social media. The 60” film launches on 8th August, followed by a 30” and 15” version in September. A further three films are underway to continue the story in 2022.
Chief Marketing Officer – Suraiya Phillimore-Smith
Head of Brand – Frith Morrissey
Brand Lead – Charlotte Sangster
Agency: DDB Aotearoa
Chief Creative Officer – Damon Stapleton
Executive Creative Director – Gary Steele
Creative Director: James Conner and Christie Cooper
Managing Partner: Nikki McKelvie
Business Partner: Laura Bathurst Adams
Business Director: Becky Kusel
Business Manager: Katie Shrubb
Planning Director: Lucinda Sherborne
Strategist: Tom Sykes
Agency Lead Integrated Producer: Claire Colohan
Agency Integrated Producer: Melissa Ching
Production Company: FINCH
Executive Producer: Rebekah ‘Bex’ Kelly
Producer: Sarah Cook
Director: The Bobbsey Twins from Homicide
Casting: Catch Casting Ltd
DOP: John Toon
Post- production online: Blockhead
Editor: Simon Price
Music Licensing: Jonathan Mihaljevich, Franklin Rd
Original artist and name of song: Stand By Me by Ben E. King.
Composer: Cam Ballantyne, Beatworms
Singer: Milana Janis
62 Comments
They called this script ‘Where The Westpac Things Are.’
Monstrous budgets and production work in this but don’t get the link to Westpac.
Is this the Air NZ safety vid reworked? Quality production.
Did DDB just disappear up their own arse? Along with whatver smoke they were blowing?
Your big furry friend a bank is
Lipstick on a pig
At least I made sense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa5dzQhvbiI
Does this link back to Westpac?
This has a few issues but it will still be the best thing on TV and better than anything anyone else in the comments is making.
Not perfect. But pretty good. And way better than any other bank ad in the market.
Steinlager: Let’s ask DDB to make a massive ad that has nothing to do with our brand. Just chuck our logo on the end.
Westpac: Hold my beer.
100%. That Steinlager ad is dreadful, bordering on offensive. Imagine sailing into the pacific just to find out this many years later that a beer company has thrown it’s logo on the end and tried to take some of the credit.
We’ll be in touch.
What was the brief? Take a beloved childhood favourite, rip if off and ruin it but please make sure there is absolutely *no* connection to the brand or business whilst you are doing this?
Seriously folks. Circle jerks at their worst.
a bank ad about banking. Great production.
at least the other banks try and make their ads about banking. If we just ripped off famous movies and put our logos on the end, job would be easy.
Lord of the rings battle scene – cut to Mercury Energy.
Darth Vader cuts of Luke’s arm – The Warehouse
Pulp Fiction dance scene – GJ Gardner
It’s rad! Good work DDB & Westpac. I’m not sure how the haters can’t see the power of celebrating BIG. Westpac is big. Big is helpful. Yay. Fun.
How is big helpful exactly?
… it basically says that Westpac is a monster.
The Royal Commission kind of agreed.
This is good. Beats the ASB drivel. Banks can be goodies too. They can help. Even if if they look like monsters, and are probably.
…it’s way too subtle.
NZ’s longest running and most iconic bank ad was just a black horse galloping to ‘four seasons’. Bank ads don’t need to tell you about their service options to work.
Thanks for explaining the strategy. makes a bit more sense now.
This is likeable, loveable, way better than any other bank ad out there, but I sure hope the bank itself is about to do some things to live up to Together Greater. Great ad to set up the platform, let’s see what Westpac actually now does…
Is it just me or is CB become the place where sad ad guys who ain’t getting no pussay at home, hang out and chat these days?
It’s great, isn’t it?
I would rather watch this, than an ad showing someone doing their internet banking or signing some mortgage papers. It’s magical, entertaining, and communicates a pretty clear message about the bank. I just wish it was a 90″ in fact I’m surprised it isn’t. I thought they were a DDB specialty.
…level of propaganda doesn’t work right?
Perhaps Westpac could sell this ad at the end of the campaign because any other brand thy doesn’t stand for anything could then put their logo on the end
Looks like DDB and Finch just jumped on to defend this. Good luck guys. This blog is brutal.
Pre Testing has a lot to answer for with all these companies making “’emotional” storytelling spots with big overpriced music tracks to ensure it hits testing benchmarks.
I like it! Big idea. Big budget. Big song. Big client.
Do your best work for your biggest clients.
Well done.
STFU
Utter crap, I’m changing banks… spend money on things that matter people.
From scoping a sale to Together Greater. Really. Bank marketing is BS and luckily for those involved makes no really difference commercially.
It gets the people going.
No connection to banking or Westpac whatsoever. Zero branding cues. This is lazy marketing. Clearly Westpac have WAY too much money. Beautifully shot.
But we are currently experiencing high call volumes so we’re sorry it will have to be Together Greater a Bit Later. We’re also closing down bank branches so if you don’t mind we can do Together Greater Remotely. If you’re looking for a mortgage then we are Together Greater for certain people that fit our criteria and lastly if you have a credit card or mortgage with us already then thank you Together you have made our profits Greater, why thank you
The best example ever of an agency that’s jumped the shark?
Westpac your baggins!
This is quite literally the *worst* type of ad wank.
It’s stealing and degrading a beloved cultural icon.
It’s enormously self indulgent.
It literally has no connection to the brand or product that *any* consumer is going to be able to make.
It manages to still somehow be totally forgettable.
If you want to go and make high end short films, you really should do that on your on time and not get your clients to waste their marketing budget to finance it for you.
Hi there,
I saw someone mention the Steinlager spot, and whilst I personally dont get the connection to the brand and think its terrbile marketing, Steinlager brand tracking scores we monitor have actually increased since the launch of this spot.
I prefer Tamati Ellison’s rendition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_TlqqbDSgQ
Yellow’s Tree House meet’s the pink fluffy guy that HUMM Group uses for their Q Card. The monster is nearly identical. Q’s is pink and been around for 3 years now. Stolen, or no one bothered to check.
must have been BOGOF DAY at DDB for their clients.
Steinlager bought one song and soundtrack, and Westpac got the companion track for FREE. They sound identical. Just different songs.
Bet someone at DDB said, ‘ no one will notice!’
Tuiiiiiii. Dur Dur Bummer. We all did.
It’s all fun and games until the monster eats your kids and forecloses on your mortgage. Read the room guys – when they said ‘Monster’ in the focus groups, it was a scary thing.
Yeah, they are not available but how about the Bobsey Twin/s
Doo Doo B
Ad of the Year Ad Wankers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zTbVRPh5EI
Keep the trolling & lockdown comments to https://campaignbrief.com
I think everybody needs to lay off agency a touch and get stuck into testing and the clients that rely on it. I think we can all assume this isn’t the spot they wanted to make.
* Every ad on TV: Together Stronger, Together Greater, With You All The Way
*Research companies: That will be 1 million dollars
There are eerie similarities on the creative side to a recent Air NZ Safety video that had a young girl, a takahe, a treehouse and a monster… Could the creative have more creativity perhaps..? It’s kinda been done.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ps2SHQdj0H8
I posted this on the Aussie site, should’ve been on the NZ one, so please forgive me, CB editor, if I repost it here…
I don’t mind the ad (well…I do, but that’s another thing), but what rips my undies is the fact that a few months ago Westpac proudly announced they were going to sell the NZ business and were going to exit the NZ market.
Suddenly, a few weeks later – once the Au shareholders realised how much profit they’ll be losing – Westpac does an about-face and announces they’ll be staying in NZ (I get three urgent emails from the CEO confirming they’re staying and there’s no need to panic).
Talk about taking the piss out of us and treating us with contempt.
I’d already started the ball rolling of shifting my accounts and credit cards.
I still went ahead and changed, they’d lost me by that point.
Then this ad comes out.
I get it – they need to do a happy, smiley feel-good commercial to wallpaper over the contempt they’ve treated their business clients – let alone the NZ public.
Together stronger? More like Together stronger profits.
I’m not going to diss DDB too much, they’re just taking the money, I would too.
The client needs to be taken to task.
Nice ad but I doubt that the connection between the story and brand is not strong enough for Westpac to benefit from this investment (like far too many ads these day). Consumers rather than marketers are going to be the ultimate jury for this ad’s effectiveness even if the marketer is the executioner.
Some worry research stifles creativity, but too much creativity can inhibit comprehension. It’s just about finding the balance and brands need their story to be understood… and to be credited for it!!!
Every time this ad comes on my kids and I switch channel…. Say no more
Who the who sang the song and beat it up?
Let’s use another really annoying song like “born free”? Like they do in oz. and what they used for AA. Unfortunately advertising works and the songs get stuck in our heads… ddb you do it well.
This ad is offensive in so many ways – Aussie bank hijacks the song from an iconic NZ rugby/beer marketing campaign. A bank trying to ditch NZ. A bank making record profits yet closing so many branches in NZ making it is impossible to talk to a real person (ATMs don’t count). A bank jumping on the Woke bandwagon with a cutesy not so subtle theme:- group of boys shun girl who goes off and discovers her Wild Thing strength (presumably Westpac?), builds her ship which the boys try to commandeer. But with her monstrous friend she assumes control of the wheel, steering the ship with boys as passengers quivering yet strangely enjoying the experience. What else is the point of the story? Together Greater? Surely we can do better than this whimsical garbage. Coming from Westpac, the hypocrisy stings. Westpac, and all the old traditional Aussie banks ripping off Kiwis, your glory days are behind you. Ad agencies, is there any integrity, originality left in your craft?
The little boy in this advert is very good
Gosh what small minds most of the people have that made negative comments re Westpac Ad. I am not a Westpac client but funny enough have noticed whose ad it is. Everyone who did or didnt like the ad wakeup!!!!! As long as you know whose Ad it is has walked straight into the marketers hands. Good on them they have succeeded their goal and you are all talking about the Westpac Ad, positive or negative it doesn’t matter you are saying West Pac hahaha.