BANKWEST LAUNCHES ‘HAPPY BANKING’ VIA HOST AND THE GLUE SOCIETY
BankWest has launched a new marketing and advertising campaign, an initiative called Happy Banking, designed to spearhead its proposed aggressive expansion into the national banking market.
It is the first campaign to be launched by Host, BankWest’’s new agency partner, who were secured by BankWest after a rigorous pitch process in the second half of 2007.
It is BankWest’s biggest national marketing campaign to date and will be used to launch the BankWest Rate Tracker, a new category of home loan in the Australian mortgage market.
The new creative platform uses a series of animated characters who offer different insights into what makes people happy and uses real voices, not actors, talking frankly about what they believe bring happiness.
Says Host Managing Director Anthony Freedman: “The idea is quite simple. A bank that has the ambition to make banking a positive experience would conduct research to learn what makes people happy. The twist is that this research happens to be with things universally recognised as bringing happiness like the Sun, a flower, a basket of kittens and so on – happiness experts if you like.”
In July 2007 BankWest announced its intention to expand its physical presence on the eastern seaboard with more than 160 BankWest branches to open on the east coast over the next three years.
40 Comments
Strategically, I wonder if this campaign is fighting the last war. With interest rates rising, I don’t know if a focus on making a bank warm and fuzzy is relevant. Out there is mortgage land, I reckon a lot of homeowners would be willing to do business with a bank that’s a c**t so long as they were providing the best deal.
needs more michael bay
Another bank doing some sort of fake research take on their positioning. Oh dear!
It’s a clip from Aardman’s Creature Comforts, with a Bank West logo.
This makes the comm bank work look really, really good.
I prefer this execution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv2tdCEBkKg
A great deal, a bank that’s always open and more helpful products are what people want and that’s what the ads promise. When people get these things they feel warm and fuzzy. I really like this. I actually feel that this bank could be well meaning and honest.
Creature comforts meets award-winning Budget US campaign of a few years ago.
Also, 1:25 has a valid point. Banks in particular go round and round between touchy-feely corporate branding campaigns at one extreme and hard-nosed product driven ads on the other. This seems to be trying to have a foot in both camps.
Speaking of Michael Bay, here he is again lampooning himself in yet another expensive TV commercial:
http://www.adgabber.com/video/video/show?id=546804%3AVideo%3A79817
Is it true they used seven helicopters to do this?
It’s the old Heat Electric campaign, but nowhere near as good.
I prefer this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Z1dBd-fog
Lazy. Very lazy. Yip, it’s Creature Comforts Heat Electric campaign done badly.
There is an excuse if a junior team came up with the idea and hadn’t seen the Heat Electric ads, but surely there’s no excuse for the creative director not pointing this out and killing the idea instantly.
What a rip-off!!!
Even down to the mic in shot – how much do you guys get payed?
Um, maybe they shouldn’t have copied the RAC’s whole strategy in WA so closely. Just sayin’
Talking of banking…just noticed the CommBank are beside themselves with joy after research found their ads had great brand recall.
No offence Commbank, but brand recall is hardly your issue. Which Bank? had humungous recall as well. In fact, the Commbank could expect a 99.9%+ brand recall even without ads.
Your issue is relevance. Don’t try and be different, just do the everyday normal things customers expect from you.
I was wondering about that research. High recall and brand recognition can’t be good if 99% of people recall it was a really shit ad that annoyed the fark out of them, and they remembered not to bank with those CommBank idiots.
Everyone’s doing ads about fake research/ad agencies/institutes. wtf happend to us? What happened to , you know, coming up with a good idea? We’re completely fucked.
3.52
We’ve done some fake research on why the industry is fucked and will be turning the findings into a series of cute, 30 second ads. Nick Park is very excited about it.
who said you have to be Glue to get a good coment.
This just goes to show that nobody is safe on the blog.
Comm bank has actually killed every banks credibility to sell a message. How long will it be until people trust banks (advertising)?
These guys are supposed to be the pinnacle of the Australian advertising & production industries. Apart from the rather naff idea, this is highly insulting to the many skilled directors and animators whose industry is being raped by guys who think that they can shoot stuff themselves. Nick Park doesn’t have a lot to worry about. Next please.
3.34.
How ironic that the agency behind the RAC campaign in WA also produced the utter shit that led to BankWest heading east in the first place.
5.58
So does this make Host’s work any better? who cares about WA anyway?
Al Queda has really good brand recall. And they dont do any advertising.
Just ambient stuff.
First Wizard ‘blob’ now Bankwest ‘happy’. Me thinks the Glue’s come unstuck.
A bank that’s open 7 days a week…
Now that’s being different without the fireworks bullshit ‘we are different but we won’t do anything different” standard bank approach.
This comes through and I don’t feel like they’re trying to be something they’re not.
That’s why I like this work. Because there is truth.
I really like these ads & think you’re all harsh!
How can you guys justify criticising a partnership like The Glue Society and Host. Did any of you see any of the monuments and statues with smiles attached to them?
It reminded me of recommending to FINA, Telstra and their Experiential Companies and Ad Agencies to change monuments and statues around Melbourne CBD into roving ticket sellers to the 12th World Championships..
Surely-no matter what your take is on Bank West, you cannot say that The Glue Society and Host are not about sufficient differentiation from their competitors that make consumers certainly think about buying the communications they make?
How many commuters had a different and POSITIVE opinion of Bank West after walking past a temporary art makeover of landmarks they’ll never forget? Many I reckon! And if anyone does enter objective or even subjective debate on this, they might try and tell me that The Glue Society and Host did not handle this part of the campaign; but I bet their influence had something to do with it!
And NO! I’m not looking for a job with The Glue Society, Host or Bank West…I’m too busy. (I wouldn’t mind a bash at some of the street art though!)
LOVE THE CAMPAIGN GUYS….Thank you….Bracket Boy.
Call me crazy but I’ve been raving about this campaign. The line ‘A Bank West ininitiative’ is a great response to a bank determined to be different. They’re just doing stuff that make people happy. A bank that’s open 7 days a week demonstrates a bank that wants to win. Stop and ask yourselves what does this do to a bank’s overheads? They’re smart marketers.
Doesn’t anyone else get the impression that with a line like ‘an innitiative from bank west’ that there will be plenty more to follow. From a punters perspective these are the only ads of seen from a bank that let me believe that there’s a bank that is determined to win my business not expect it.
As for the Miller likenesses… Get your hands off it guys. (A) The likeness stops with the microphones. (B) These are not ads based on casting sessions. (C) Miller weren’t the first to do castings as ideas. We did those style ads out here in WA for Lotto and I’m sure they weren’t the first.
The latest commonwealth bank ad… hmmm. All that leaves me with is the impression that that marketing idiot (Let’s just tell them to come to us for a second oppinion) hired that idiot agency. I bank with the Commonwealth and I wouldn’t trust an oppinion from a company that’s making record profits.
At the moment I’m having trouble deciding which bank I’m going to move my accounts to. NAB (Free transactions regardless of which ATM you go to) and Bank West (Who have got a whole lot of innitiatives). One thing is for sure its Bye bye Commonwealth. All talk.
And this was concept number…?
Even though it’s a tad too reminiscent of Creature Comforts, I think that the average consumer will still walk away feeling refreshed, entertained and far more likely to feel good about Bank West that say, oh, I don’t know: CommBank. If I didn’t have my sodding mortgage fixed with the bastards for the next two years I’d be jumping ship to the Happy West before you could say: “Creature who…?”
If Host’s Anthony Freeman had just said “we’re great admirers of Nick Park and the execution of this campaign was obviously inspired by his work” then I don’t think anyone would have a problem. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, we’ve all been ‘influenced’ by others work whether it be tvc’s, music, film, art. Personally I’d think Host would look much bigger in everyone’s eyes if they’d just given credit where credit is due.
12.38pm. You’re crazy.
flawed strategy, flawed execution.
It is Creature Comforts…….not a bit like,alot like.There may well be alot of creatives out there who are too young to remember,but go on to Youtube and check that campaign out. Personally, i’m disappointed that Host are pedding this second hand idea…..i thought they were better than that.
I am definitely liking what I’ve seen so far.
Let’s not forget what this campaign is really about: the line “Happy Banking”, backed up by a series of initiatives designed to make people happy.
It feels simple and honest. Well done.
this bank customer service sucks. HAPPY BANKING?? ARE THEY ON DRUGS??
Its simply a pile of shite. Aggrivating shite. The latest ones include a pseudo-Asian accented flower which is actually verging on racism as well.