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When it comes to financial institutions, glitter, rainbows, leather and studs aren’t often the first images to spring to mind. This year, that all changed when ANZ’s GAYTM campaign set a high (and colourful) benchmark for content marketing – all the more so in our traditionally staid financial services sector. The viral campaign shows just how far brand campaigns have come in terms of integrating ‘paid’, ‘earned’ and ‘owned’ channels to capture audience engagement.
A long-time sponsor of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, ANZ showcased its support for diversity and commitment to the parade by having artists transform ten humble ATMs into bejewelled works of art – immediately dubbed ‘GAYTMs’.
Capitalising on an audience of 300,000 Mardi Gras partygoers, the ANZ had the GAYTMs dispense rainbow-coloured receipts carrying a “Cash Out and Proud” message and donating GAYTM-operator fees from non-ANZ cardholders to a non-profit organisation, Twenty10, which supports young people of diverse genders and sexualities.
As part of the initiative, ANZ encouraged its customers to upload pictures and videos of the GAYTMs to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, promoting crowd-sourced social conversation around the event. These images were then superbly curated to integrate the social hub directly into the campaign micro-site.
The ANZ campaign went on to win the prestigious Grand Prix Award in the Outdoor category at the Cannes Lion Festival. Here are some lessons we can learn from it:
- Integrate your campaign. Keep your brand in front of your audience by maximising the touch-points and channels through which you can reach them. ANZ transformed the mundane activity of withdrawing money into a branded experience which led to customers co-creating and curating content on ANZ’s social media platforms, development of a microsite and support for a non-profit organisation, tied together by strong PR initiatives.
- Segment your audience. To celebrate its partnership with Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras, ANZ effectively aligned itself with a message that resonated with its target audience: equality. Understanding the target persona plays a pivotal role in hitting the right content marketing notes.
- Bring your brand to life. The GAYTMs were a public way to bring ANZ’s corporate message of supporting diversity to life in a fun and liberal way. The campaign went beyond a customer-facing initiative by giving customers an ideology or higher ideal to relate to.
