MYOB puts the cassowary amongst the pigeons in ‘MYOBelieve’ campaign via Howatson+Company
MYOB has launched a new integrated communications and creative platform, led by Howatson+Company, showcasing how the business management platform unleashes business potential… to the power of infinity.
Famous for its role in the Australian and New Zealand business community as an accounting software provider, MYOB has undertaken a substantial transformation in recent years into an online business management platform, enabling business owners to manage all their key workflows, from finances to payroll, onboarding to inventory, in one place.
‘MYOBelieve’ launches in Australia and New Zealand this week, delivering a bold and bombastic new creative direction for MYOB to shake audience expectations about the brand’s broadened capabilities.
Directed by Stefan Hunt (Exit) and voiced by Rachel House, of Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Thor: Ragnarok fame, the spot follows a business owner as she gets sucked into an inspirational business presentation. The business owner explores a different dimension in which she experiences a range of sensational sights, from space cassowaries to flying strudel moguls, learning how the MYOB business management platform can unleash her business potential along the way.
Says Holly Rollo, chief marketing officer, MYOB: “MYOB is Australia’s original tech unicorn. We’ve been part of the fabric of doing business in Australia and New Zealand for more than 30 years, which means we have exceptional local expertise and knowledge of local businesses, inside and out.
“But over the last several years, MYOB gone through an enormous transformation. We have invested in the development of a next-generation technology platform and created a highly curated cloud-based experience wrapped around the most critical business workflows. We know how important it is for business owners and operators to have these workflows connected and working seamlessly together – and, without this, the impacts can be costly, time consuming and performance limiting.”
“That’s why we are incredibly excited by MYOBelieve. Our new creative territory will encourage a rethink of MYOB and the opportunity for us to proudly showcase our vision for the future. This is a great chance to show the next generation of Aussie and Kiwi businesses owners that MYOB’s business management platform is ready to believe in their business dreams and help achieve their potential.”
Says Gavin Chimes, executive creative director at Howatson+Company: “MYOBelieve is a long-tail platform that smashes preconceptions of MYOB as your mum and dad’s accounting software, and relaunches the brand as a modern, innovative, slightly outrageous business management solution. One that can’t be ignored.”
MYOBelieve launches via an integrated campaign in Australia and New Zealand across TV, online video, radio, out of home, digital display, PR and social.
Client: MYOB
Chief Marketing Officer [Interium]: Holly Rollo
Head of Design, Agency and Brand: Belinda Watson
Content & Creative Director: Tim Gill
Brand Strategy Manager: Scott McGregor
Agency: Howatson+Company
Founder/CEO: Chris Howatson
Executive Creative Director: Gavin Chimes
Head of Production: Holly Alexander
Chief Strategy Officer: Dom Hickey
Managing Partner: Rebecca Robertson
Group Account Director: Pat Nally
Creative Directors: Michael Kleinmann and Doug Hamilton
Account Directors: Madde King, Nikita Fursman
Production Assistant: Charlotte Breene
Design Director: Ellena Mills
Junior Designer: Jason Nguyen
Finished Artist: Simon Merrifield
Media Agency: Ryval Media: Trent Light – Head of Strategy, Isabella Jackson – Head of Client & Talent, Joseph Pardillo – Managing Director
Social Agency: Jack Nimble
PR Agency: Alt/Shift: Richard Hayward – Director, Sam Vassos – General Manager, Melbourne, Sophie Truter – Senior Account Director, Jacob Schnackenberg – Senior Account Manager, Bronte Mather – Senior Account Executive
Prod Company: Exit Films
Director: Stefan Hunt
Producer: Alexandra Taussig
Executive Producer: Leah Churchill-Brown
Executive Producer: Declan Cahill
DOP: Jeremy Rouse
Production Designer: Jen Waters
Costume: Megan Murray
Offline: The Editors / Mark Burnett
Post-Production Company: Heckler
Executive Producer: Carlos Zalapa
Post Producer: Coralie Tapper
Flame & Online Artist: Julian Ford
Design Director: Gina Wagstaffe
Design Director: Adrien Girault
Colourist: Matt Fezz
Music & Sound: Heckler Sound
Executive Producer: Bonnie Law
Composer / Creative Director: Johnny Green
Senior Sound Designer: Dave Robertson
Voiceover Artist: Rachel House
59 Comments
Ouch.
I can confidently say this is the first spot I’ve watched through to the end/ actually enjoyed for an accounting software business. Props on selling this through.
Yew! Stefan Hunt FTW!
This ad is being blasted all over Binge. When I’m trying to relax after a long day of work, the last thing I need is that drone assaulting my ears. “You’re talking about the ad, so it must be a success”, you say! No. Not only would I NOT buy MYOB, If I was a currently customer I’d be switching to Quickbooks post haste.
Agree 100%
essentially a brand platform manifesto, but executed so it’s actually interesting and quirky.
the licking the green graph moment in the second film made me laugh.
love it
Sure feels like the steggles campaign! even down to the bird with laser beans in its eyes
This is yet another example of the ad world talking to SMB owners as if they were idiots. I’m a small business owner. It’s bloody hard work and I do need help – more than I probably want to admit. But I have dreams of turning my small business into a medium size business and hopefully that into a large business (99.9% of business owners who claim otherwise are lying), so talk to me knowing that I want to be treated and talked to in a way that recognizes those dreams. Show me some respect and acknowledge what I and very few others have had the guts to do – put my money where my mouth is and opened up my own business. Don’t talk to me as if I’m a kid just out of school with no hope in hell of running my existing business successfully, let alone have any hope of growing it. This is the Business categories version of the ‘bloody Volvo driver’ campaign disaster of a few years ago – insult the very people who have spend tens of thousands of dollars but a Volvo! Here’s a question – if you opened a business, would like a bank, financial advisor, or business partner to talk like this to you? I doubt Chris Howatson would.
woah
That lick is priceless.
I’ll believe it when you can do timesheets on a Mac.
i think you’re taking things a bit seriously, hey.
it’s an ad that instantly says to a consumer (who is on their phone in front of the television)…myob has enough money for shiny ad, and by association their product must be of shiny quality…cool, whatever…oh look a picture of my cousin’s baby on instagram.
i don’t think that business owners are going to be in a huff that they’re not being recognised or feel they aren’t being ‘treated with respect’. there is nothing disrespectful or wrong here, and people don’t care as much about ads as you think.
Like I said, ask a small business owner – not someone in the creative department of an ad agency.
Hey nope – time to step away from the keyboard bud. Take a little chill time.
It’s difficult to understand what it’s like to run your own business, even a small one, unless you’ve done it. Kind of like not knowing what its like to be a parent until you’ve had a kid.
Nice! It’s fun, a bit weird and definitely eye catching – in a category that I imagine is next to impossible to actually get interesting things across the line.
This feels like a high gloss piss take of the people it’s trying to win over and the product it’s selling. Will probably get a WTF giggle, but not from the right people. This is why really good ads are so hard. Ironic piss take is easy. If anyone from MYOB is reading this and feeling uncomfortable, put your hand up – i dare you – there are plenty of creatives out there who will respect your audience without boring the shit out of them….
An entertaining light hearted take on a traditionally boring topic. Made me smile!
It made you smile. Great. It entertained you.
Now answer this – do you own your own business?
Do you have any need for MYOB?
If not – spending it to make you smile is a complete waste of money.
Boring to you and agency creative departments, not to small business owners.
Smells like Doug and I like it a lot.
Who hurt you?
The 30 is pretty great. Just makes one point and wraps it in absurd entertainment.
We’ve been draining the life out of advertising for years, time to have some fun again. It’s not that serious, it’s just ads.
(Few people need to lighten up in here.)
‘It’s not serious, it’s just ads’.
Says it all really and why this ad is wrong.
For ad people ‘it’s just ads’
For a small business owner ‘IT IS SERIOUS’.
This one was better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cd6DIM-fQM
Nice work Fist.
I like to push creative boundaries. I like lasers. I get the humour. Compared to the Quickbooks stuff (which is a much better product than MYOB), this feels like teenagers giving love advice to their grandparents. Cringe and totally devoid of telling me anything useful. I’m sorry, I really do want to love it, but if the end benefit of me using MYOB is a whole bunch of bullshit business self talk (with terrible customer service), you stick it up your affirmation.
Not for me. Left any insight or clever concept on the floor for absurd technique and shock value. No one will remember the brand. I’m all for quirk when it’s clever. Here it’s all they have.
LOVE it
Hyperbolic unnecessariness.
infantile rubbish
I am in love with you. ‘this feels like teenagers giving love advice to their grandparents’. Best comment ever. To me it seems like an ad for the creative team, not for the audience.
Excellent comment – I quite enjoyed it but at the end of the day it has a target demographic. It can win all the awards and get all the reactions, even have people like me talk about it at BBQs, but if it’s not right for the audience then what’s the point for the client? (I work in advertising, not a SME owner.)
Let’s get dinner first, but sure, I agree. How much is advertising pandering to itself instead of an audience? How often are the creative teams going to Rooty Hill RSL and talking to the small business owners they need to aka the ones slapping the tradies laptop? How often are they hanging out in the environments that our audience are? I agree, it seems like we are pandering to what we think award juries are going to like with bizarre culture references VS appealing to the people who need the product. Rule #1 for advertising. ‘What’s in it for me?’. No, not you, creative team, what’s in it for the customer?
Changes of getting the target audience to MYOBelieve? Xero.
Feels like an ad for the energy drink, V.
Anyone who has actually tried MYOB will not believe they can deliver on a promise to deliver ‘infinite.’ Perhaps this is MYOB expressing what they wish they were.
Btw, small business owners aren’t looking for ‘infinite.’ They are looking for the next 10%.
As a new business owner, this puts MYOB straight onto my consideration list mostly because its interesting and entertaining enough to watch from start to finish. Some keyboard warriors might need need a refresh on the marketing funnel.
Let be honest, you’re commenting on Campaign Brief…you’re not exactly a typical ‘new business owner’.
LOUD NOISES!
60% of the time it works every time.
Isn’t an idea.
This is really poor. Not funny. Not clever. Borrowing last decade’s visuals. Won’t work. Nope is 100% correct. Those disagreeing with he/her/them are poor creative judges, liars, or both.
An ad for ad agency people. Job done.
“Our new creative territory will encourage a rethink of MYOB and the opportunity for us to proudly showcase our vision for the future.”
Again, come back when you can do timesheets on a Mac.
Howatson &Co are probably the fastest growing agency in Australia at the moment and the standard of work,if not always brilliant is consistently good.
Be pleased for them.
Successful start ups are good for the entire industry.
They have done very well. They do produce some really good work. I’m delighted for them and the fact they’re growing the industry. And the platform of MYOBelieve is actually quite good. Sadly the executions are infantile, won’t resonate and won’t work, other than generating some positive comments from a few creatives who don’t understand the ads are targeting them when they shouldn’t be.
just because you have the power and creativity to get your clients to buy work like this it doesn’t mean you should. The creativity at all costs MO isn’t working for your clients and therefore not really a sustainable approach I do love this ad though
People love to have a pissy moan eh
I quite like it
I agree with bits and pieces of this thread. Firstly, it’s creatively exciting and challenges the category. Love that part. But as soon as I begin to lace up my is-this-saying-the-right-thing-to-the-right-people shoes, I feel like it all comes tumbling down. Being a small business owner is tough going, and all this does is make a mockery of that toil. Success comes miniature shuffles, not in rocket-propelled hoists – especially not form some accounting software. Also, a lot of the execution is borrowed – not in technique, but in flourishes. Which is less forgivable.
Again, it’s very creative. But I cannot imagine it will be very successful.
I think this work actually has everything the people who don’t like it want.
Yes, SMB owners are only looking for the next 10%, hence the line about turning small business into medium.
One thing all entrepreneurs have is belief.
More belief in themselves than all of us who claim to be ideas people but still work in this old industry.
This work couldn’t bring more attention to something so boring in a more interesting way – probably the extreme it needs to get that attention.
The ad you want would make sense and tick all the boxes but no one would be entertained enough to absorb it.
Getting attention is easy. But attention doesn’t equal effectiveness, nor does being entertaining; but creatives keep telling themselves otherwise, because they don’t know any better.
‘Coming in late here’ is 100% right.
Despite all the whizz-bang, category-busting creativity the end product is an insult to small business owners.
To quote from their comment:
‘It makes a mockery of that toil.’
this ad won’t win awards. it’s not meant for that. it’s introducing a platform. It’s essentially a manifesto, but a manifesto done in a fresh way. I like it for that, it’s good solid brand work. tells me they’re a modern fun brand, not a boring accounting software company.
the thing i hate the most about modern advertising strategy & branding, is the belief a target market will only respond positively if the work follows a narrow tonal path. i’m personally sick of the ‘tech-ification’ of brands, all trying hard to be serious, slick and straight. it’s time to veer away from that.
no small business owner is glued to 30secs of tv listening to every word to make sure they’re being ‘seen’. humans don’t work that way (but i get it, it helps you charge more head hours and look like you are offering value if you say they do).
what’s more, it also works as a recruitment exercise. getting workers is hard. it says to people it’s a modern and fun place to toil.
and finally, grow up.
I agree that this is a re-positioning piece. It’s jarring, knowing the brand. My biggest issue with the campaign is the fact that is is so disconnected from the rest of the brand. If you are going to take a leap like this, make it connect… At the very least consider your basic touchpoints.
You forgot vacuous. It’s vacuous, infantile, rubbish.
I switched off as there’s too much going on and too much talking, like most ads we produce here.
This is basic crude cheese slop masquerading as purposeful style and trend. Reality is this style, if done right, was interesting when Tim and Eric did it 15 years ago. This is not done right, and this is far behind contemporary creativity. Misses the mark by a decade or so. If you can’t see that then you shouldn’t be in this industry. Massive cringe.
This spot is so bad I briefly contemplated leaving advertising. After reading through the comments I just submitted a resume to Maccas.