Diverse Kiwi brands showcased in Kiwibank’s major integrated brand campaign via Special
Kiwibank has unveiled a new brand campaign – ‘This is Kiwi’ – as part of its overall brand revitalisation produced by New Zealand independent agency Special. From a determined start-up in 2002, to one of New Zealand’s leading banks with over one million customers and 2,400 staff – Kiwibank has come a long way in twenty years.
As part of a multi-year transformation the B Corp certified-bank is undertaking, it is launching a total brand refresh including an integrated campaign that reflects the bank it is in 2022. The campaign will be distributed across television, online/digital, out-of-home, and social, with the support of media agency OMD.
Says Simon Hofmann, GM, brand and marketing, Kiwibank: “Kiwibank has ambitious plans for the future and is investing substantially to become the bank of choice for even more Kiwi. We are two years into a five-year transformation which delivers on a strategy that balances purpose and performance to achieve greater growth while helping make Kiwi and Aotearoa better off. The brand revitalisation is a critical part of this change and is a strong reflection of who we are as a bank today and the intent we have for the future.”
Says Vesna Nixon, head of marketing campaigns at Kiwibank: “As part of the overall brand repositioning, the new campaign will help deliver a strategic shift from the old school Kiwiana connotations of gumboots and jandals, to being seen as part of a modern and progressive New Zealand. The campaign from Special reflects this, featuring Kiwi brands that are diverse, game-changing, and passionate – demonstrating what it means to be Kiwi today. Kiwibank is proud to be the bank that is helping Kiwi thrive and ‘This is Kiwi’ captures our commitment to making Kiwi better off.”
Says Tony Bradbourne, founder and CEO/CCO of Special: “Kiwibank is an incredible organisation with an inspiring vision to help Kiwi thrive. Our challenge was to make sure the modern and progressive Kiwibank brand was accurately reflected in the campaign.
“Our approach started with a total relook at all aspects of the brand including the comms, identity and consumer touchpoints. And then even to how people perceived the name itself – Kiwibank. It has Kiwi at the heart of it, but that means different things to every single New Zealander, some patriotic, some nostalgic, some casual. In this we saw an opportunity to set out what Kiwi means in 2022, a fresh vision of Kiwi thriving domestically and internationally, to reflect the Kiwibank of today.”
The new campaign platform will launch on 15th May 2022, featuring a line up of some of the most inspiring and innovative Kiwi, including Allbirds, Dawn Aerospace, UBCO, Emirates Team New Zealand, Banqer, and pop duo Broods – all leaders in their respective fields and all making a positive impact on Aotearoa and on the world stage.
All of the featured brands have personally banked with Kiwibank for years, use Kiwibank as their business bank, or are a partner of the bank. All are examples of Kiwi pushing us forward globally.
As part of the refresh, Kiwibank is rolling out its revamped visual identity. The identity is inspired by the concept of a thriving Aotearoa and was designed around the te ao Māori metaphor for a thriving whānau and community which is symbolised in pā harakeke. The design work was led by New Zealand agency ThoughtFull and a cohort of partners including Special.
The transformation is a significant one. Kiwibank is the process of changing thousands of customer touch-points from website and digital tools, customer communication and social channels, to the app and ATM’s. Furthermore, all its physical stores are being reimagined and it is launching a new brand, “Local for Kiwibank”, across its network of 100 partner businesses which offer express banking services in communities.
But it’s not just all about Kiwi success on the world stage, to demonstrate its commitment to helping Kiwi thrive, Kiwibank has launched ‘Co-own’ to enable Kiwi with homeownership goals which are getting increasingly harder – especially for First Home Buyers. ‘Co-own’ is an alternative option to traditional home ownership, where friends and family can team up to get on the property ladder together.
Says Priyanka Patel, group business director at Special: “This is Kiwi’ is all about highlighting innovation that is helping Kiwi thrive. It’s going further than just talking about financial well-being, it’s also about creating products that can really help Kiwi achieve their goals. It’s been an incredible experience working so closely with Kiwibank to help bring their vision to life and deliver a brand campaign that demonstrates Kiwibank’s commitment to Kiwi and the future of Aotearoa.”
View the new identity below:
Client: Kiwibank
Agency: Special New Zealand
Production: Sweetshop
Director: Mark Albiston
Executive Producer: Kate Roydhouse
Executive Producer: Ben Dailey
Producer: Andy Mauger
DoP: Marty Williams
Production Design: Neville Stevenson
Editor: Simon Price
Colourist: : Images & Sound: Alana Cotton
Stills Photographer: Steve Boniface & Troy Goodall
Casting: : Adrian Dentice
Post Production – VFX: Mark Williams (Danger Studio)
Sound Design: Native Audio
Media Agency: OMD
Masterbrand Design: ThoughtFull
Logo Animation: toybox
Tikanga Strategy and Design: Johnson McKay & Ira
Logo Animation: toybox
24 Comments
What a beautifully shot ad – maybe the nicest production values we’ll see all year – but i’m left feeling a bit empty as to what it says about Kiwibank…
An ad doesnt maketh a brand positioning and so hopefully the team at KB have a raft of innovation in the pipeline to back this up to walk the talk and do what they did at their inception and challenge the status quo, be consumer centric and give us a reason to join.
Production values cannot hide nothingness. This is what happens when you make something beautiful to hide the fact you are saying absolutely nothing. We are Kiwi just like you. A sentence that has launched a million briefs.
I reckon it’s a good shift for Kiwibank and about time. But they’re gonna need to deliver the proof over time.
I must have missed the ‘We are Kiwi just like you’ message.
Seems like the entire campaign is about how Kiwibank are helping Kiwis thrive on a global stage and in achieving their goals.
Distinctively executed too.
Are these businesses Kiwibank customer?
I see no impact
I have made this same hype film of impressive kiwis 4 times, for 4 different clients.
Shame on me for not pushing back harder on the clients to not have to make it.
But actually having to spend millions making this blah, must’ve been gutting. Even a great director couldn’t make me give a flying rocket crap.
PS we even use Broods on one. Even then it felt a dated choice.
I bet you this was the hype reel from the pitch.
If I interpret this strategy correctly, show successful and innovative Kiwi brands (that cynically let’s assume that Kiwibank had little or nothing to do with the success of) to envoke some sort of nationalistic pride and choose a bank who has a history of serious core IT issues that often leave customers unable to access their bank accounts…
Bravo to Kiwibank for being 2 years into a 5yr transformation journey, but this strategy is fraught with danger IMHO and maybe they’ve got a little over excited and pulled the brand lever two years too soon?
@Kiwibank, aside from being “Kiwi” why should we actually consider/reconsider/join you?
And, as for distinctive, I’ve seen some serious BS on comments on this blog claiming distinctiveness… let’s face it, anything that is a departure for the brand from where it has been is by definition not distinctive as brand codes take time to build. Bravo for taking the brave decision to give a new lease of life to a tired Kiwibank brand, but don’t go claiming distinctiveness yet – you actually probably mean differentiated.
Another generic Kiwi hype film turned into a really boring ad. Nothing to see here.
Boring. Cliche. Seen it all before. Pitch winning idea, but bland and forgettable advertising.
At least it didn’t start with a bloke in a Swanndri saying “Gidday”.
Callaghan Innovation is going to love this.
I don’t give a damn about pitch-winning ideas, strategy, or deep meaning and analysis, but I do refrain from muting ads when I hear a feel-good tune, and might even pay attention when I see products and stories that I know and love. I might even, if my kids aren’t screaming, or my wife isn’t yelling at me, subconsciously think Kiwibank is cool, and think about them more than I did previously.
this is an advertising and marketing blog and so no one here is coming at this from the perspective of the average NZ household who may or may not be having marital strife when they are or arent muting the TV.
But if it were as simplistic as you are making out, let’s all put ads on with familiar music tracks that say nothing but look glossy and lets see what the ROI on that big hot mess would look like.
“In this we saw an opportunity to set out what Kiwi means in 2022”.
Why not explore what bank means in 2022?
I’m sure this would have been a long hard journey – from pitch to production. And while I don’t like the Westpac ad, at least I know what they’re saying. This seems like it made a lot of sense in a strategy deck. But in this film, I just don’t know what the brand is saying.
Hardly.
Nothing like a bank telling me what I am. Sign me up.
Here’s the rub: Kiwibank, since it’s inception, has had the shittiest of service.
One mediocre tv ad will not undo the embedded national cynicism of this government owned brand and their almost legendary poor service/IT/everything.
Instead of talking up a their new design system (personally, I think it looks like something from 10 years ago) and a new tv ad (I’ve worked in two agencies that have presented different versions of this ad), I think Kiwibank should just be honest, admit they have been crap and talk up what they’re doing to change and be better.
I suspect the Broods song choice might work better with this strategy.
Instead, the ad just ends up like so many other ads; trying to please everyone by trying to be everything to everyone.
It’s been a good year for 90 second ‘fil-ums’, a bad year for ideas.
Not even Special’s PR spin machine can save this one…
The design of the brand is actually brilliant. Sadly, the advertising isn’t.
Who did the amazing rocket shots, toybox?
I agree. The brand design and approach is brilliant. Great PR movie for it too.