DOMUTS, donuts for dogs: CGU rescues Australia’s ambition in brand relaunch via The Monkeys
Last year, almost half a million ABNs were cancelled, many of them business ideas that never got off the ground. Lost ABNs are symptomatic of a bigger societal issue: ambition has become a dirty word. Unlike other insurers, CGU Insurance believes your most important asset is your ambition. So to tackle this problem, CGU has launched ‘ABN Rescue’, an integrated campaign developed by The Monkeys, part of Accenture Interactive, to help ignite the ambitions of small business owners in Australia.
The centrepiece of the campaign is the rescue of a lapsed small business called DOMUTS: donuts for dogs.
DOMUTS the brainchild of a working mum, Thea, and her young son, Marcus, was all-but-dead six months ago. CGU Insurance stepped in to work closely with Thea to help her realise her ambition, providing advice and assistance to get DOMUTS off the ground.
CGU supported Thea’s ambition by gifting DOMUTS with an AFL Grand Final spot, launching DOMUTS on a grand scale during one of the most watched TV events of the year.
Directed by Jeff Low at Rabbit Content, the film tells the story of DOMUTS, showing dogs from everywhere making the pilgrimage to Dogtopia, where DOMUTS blossom. It even has a special message for dogs, embedded in a frequency only they can hear.
Additionally, as the spot features animals, CGU Insurance has pledged .05% of its media spend to support The Lions Share Fund, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Other campaign elements of the ABN Rescue campaign include content films, influencer engagement, PR and social, along with a dedicated website that houses a custom tool that lets people explore the business trends in their area.
As part of the wider out of home component of the campaign, special-built ‘Ambition Wanted’ installations have also transformed empty shopfronts around Sydney into visions of ‘what-could-be’. Projections of potential businesses transformed these forgotten spaces, inspiring locals and bringing life back to dwindling retail strips.
Says Sally Kiernan, marketing director, CGU Insurance: “As a long-standing champion of ambitious Australian small businesses, we are looking to inspire Australians with an idea to follow their ambition.
“CGU insures and protects the goals of Australian small business owners. That’s why we’re helping Thea make her ambitious idea a reality. DOMUTS has faced its hurdles but we believed that with a little support from the right people, we could get the DOMUTS business back on track. Through sharing Thea’s story, we hope to inspire many more people to revisit their own business ambitions and give it their best shot.”
Says Vince Lagana, executive creative director, The Monkeys: “With so many ABNs dying every year, we knew Australians were losing their ambition. This inspired ‘ABN Rescue’ – a campaign dedicated to getting Aussies everywhere to reignite their small business dreams. We shone a light on one of those small businesses, DOMUTS, to inspire the rest of Australia. After all, we know everyone loves dogs. And who doesn’t love donuts?”
While other insurers are content just getting businesses back on their feet, CGU wants Australia to recapture its entrepreneurial spirit. In addition to helping DOMUTS get back on track, CGU Insurance is offering three Ambition Grants worth $40,000 each. Anyone looking for an ‘ambition boost’, can apply for a CGU Ambition Grant at www.cgu.com.au/abn-rescue.
Client: CGU Insurance
Chief Marketing Officer: Brent Smart
Marketing Director: Sally Kiernan
Content & Digital Director: Zara Curtis
Content Creative Lead: Simeon Bartholomew
Creative Lead: Cath Bosson
Digital Lead: Cath Carrington
Creative Specialist: Mark Pearson
Creative Agency: The Monkeys, Part of Accenture Interactive
Group CCO/Co-Founder: Scott Nowell
CCO: Scott Nowell
Executive Creative Director: Vince Lagana
Creative Director: Jay Morgan
Creative Team: Danny Pattison, Barnaby Packham, Michael Canning.
Business Strategy Director: Hugh Munro
Planner: Henry Bilson
Digital strategist: Tim Smith
Digital producer: Tamara Wohl
Lead digital designer: Eva Godeny
Digital Designers: Lauren Elliot, Laura Ives
Designer: Mel Watson
Group Content Director: Katie Wong-Hee
Senior Content Manager: Fizzy Keeble
Content Manager: Sophie Finckh
Agency Producers: Simone O’Connor, Katie Bassett
Earned Media & Influencer Agency: Thinkerbell
Earned Media Strategy: Cath King
Influencer Engagement: Georgie Cavanagh
IAG Media Team: Lisa Jarvis, Tom Dodd
Media Agency: Mindshare
Strategist: Rebecca Alexander
Planner: Louise Blackwood
Media Buying: Lee Dobbins, Alexandra Carroll, Isabelle Wall
Production DOMUTS TVC: Rabbit
Director: Jeff Low
Executive Producers: Lucas Jenner & Alex Hay
Producer: Marcus Butler
DOP: Simon Duggan
Editor: Adam Wills
Post: Blackbird
Production Shopfront: Scoundrel
Post: The Editors
32 Comments
This is a very impressive body of work for a single campaign. Absolutely fantastic. Well done all.
Ultrasonic frequencies are baaaack! Haven’t seen this trick since 2005 when D-D-Boom were on this blog with a radio ad for dogs. Jack Russell, wake up and check this out bro! We can both start commenting again on the ultrasonic renaissance… Bow Wow!
Nice build on their rescue of Tropfest a few years ago.
Love it!
I’m not sure what to think but that was the best thing I’ve seen in ages. Great execution and bloody brave client.
This is so impressive. Some of the best work I’ve seen all year.
Well done all involved.
Saw this during the AFL final. My mates and I laughed and had to search to see if it was real. Great to see all the other elements to the campaign. Best thing I’ve seen in a while.
Seriously good. Congrats to all involved. We need more of this standard.
Love this! Seriously clever and the dog lover in me loves it too.
Good stuff Monkeys
Yep, great. I love the fact that it had to be a 60″
Who did the music?
…list of credits – bloody longer than the PR itself
Loved every crumb of it.
… but I work at the agency (or did). And we get told to make sure the first ten comments are positive cause that’s the way the Monkeys do business.
Because I too once worked at the Monkeys I can say you’re so full of shit.
The Monkeys have more class than that which is more than I can say about your jab.
I’m proud to see my former colleagues do such great work. Shame you’re so bitter.
… the is the best thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And I saw the campaign on night and I felt so . No I don’t work at the Monkeys. Neither do the people who wrote the first ten comments.
Well done Monkeys.
“They’re Domuts, but they’re for dogs”. Pretty sure that’s some Jeff Low VO right there. So good. Love the idea behind this and brilliantly executed. Good on CGU for doubling down on a great idea. Really hope it becomes a long-term play.
Barclays
Go Daddy
Obviously didn’t work there sunshine, cause I only freelanced there and it was mentioned every time a new piece was PRd. Don’t be so upset though. A lot of PR whore agencies do it. And fuck, read the first comments; they don’t exactly try too hard to hide it.
My mum loved the ad
I wished I worked on it
My mum loved the ad
I wish I worked on it
So refreshing for the insurance category.
No worthy nonsense, no emotional manipulation, no bullshit app, no pretending to be my friend. Just a smart, fun, inspiring campaign with every touch point considered.
THE PORTMANTEAU FOR DONUTS FOR DOGS WOULD CLEARLY BE “DOGNUTS”
WHY ARE NONE OF YOU COWARDS TALKING ABOUT THIS
define: mut. You absolute mut.
Brilliant to see clients making work that is smart and brave enough to get engagement.
What a breath of fresh air. Thank fuck for the teams behind this at the agency and Kudos to the client for giving the green light and identifying a problem. Not just turning out more unresponsible crap.
Executions fun too.
This is killer.
these are great comments
The ad “even has a special message for dogs, embedded in a frequency only they can hear.”
WTF?
Dig it. Great ad. But I don’t buy the ‘ambition is now a dirty word’ part. Just because a business doesn’t get off the ground, doesn’t mean the person behind the ABN has no ambition.
Wow! This campaign hit the mark in just about every way. The introduction peeked my interest and kept me interested throughout, well done to everyone involved the campaign was amazing!