Athena’s campaign shows Aussies how to break out of their mortgage life sentence via The Royals

Buses plastered with images of trapped prisoners attempting to break out and digital screens at train stations shattered from the inside by frustrated mortgage customers are spearheading Athena’s latest marketing campaign via The Royals.

Aiming to inspire Australians to take power into their own hands and switch home lenders, the campaign from The Royals outlines everything that makes Athena a different home loan provider: one of the best rates in the market (including passing on the entire Reserve Bank cut at every drop), no fees, and their automatic rate match that guarantees existing customers get the same new rates as new customers on a like-for-like loan.

With executions across out-of-home, transit, animated OOH digital screens, radio and digital, the campaign continues Athena’s brand platform of “Love us and leave us”, highlighting that Athena helps gets people out of their home loan faster and gives them a great experience along the way.

In the animated OOH digital screens, trapped individuals and groups of people attempt to solicit help from passengers and passersby, before taking matters into their own hands and “breaking” the screen from the inside in order to escape their mortgage entrapment.

Says Natalie Dinsdale, chief marketing officer, Athena: “Our research shows that 2 in 5 customers feel trapped by their home loan provider and over a third of customers feel ripped off. We wanted a campaign that motivated customers to take action, that tapped into that ever-growing discontent and said to customers that NOW is the time to break free and move to a lender that is truly on their side.”

Says Sebastian Vizor, deputy ECD, The Royals: “Off the back of launching ‘Love us and leave us’, this campaign helps reinforce with Athena, Aussies no longer need to feel trapped by their mortgage as they can escape to something better.”

Client: Athena Home Loans
Chief Marketing Officer: Natalie Dinsdale
Head of Digital Marketing: Tom Franklin
Senior Digital Designer: James Henderson 
Marketing Executive: Wendy Tran

Agency: The Royals
Managing Partner: Dan Beaumont
Creative Partner: Nick Cummins
Deputy ECD: Sebastian Vizor
Senior Copy Writer: Lewis Farrar
Senior Art Director: Pete Sherrah
Group Account Director: Priyanka Patel
Account Manager: Amy Duignan 
Creative Artworker: Kitty Turpin
Video Content Creative: Luke Dansick 

Production Company: Limehouse
Producer: Ashlee Savins
Creative Director: James Lucas
MD: Duncan Harriss
3D & VFX: Chris Andrews
Videographer: Jeremy Shaw

Sound Studio: Rumble Studios
Sound Designer: Liam Annert
Producer: Fiona Dunn