Westpac New Zealand promises greatness in latest brand campaign via DDB Aotearoa
For the first time in over five years, Westpac New Zealand has launched a new brand platform ‘Together Greater’ via DDB Aotearoa, that underpins its ambition to bring more of life’s possibilities within reach of all New Zealanders.
Westpac New Zealand’s new brand platform launched at the beginning of August with an integrated campaign that is a unique piece of work in the financial space. Through a metaphorical story set in a fantastical Aotearoa, it demonstrates how anything is possible when you have a partner that has your back.
The film, which is released on 8 August, tells the story of a young girl Maisie, who has the idea to build her own tree house. Representative of Westpac New Zealand’s customers, Maisie sets out on her journey and meets an unexpected friend along the way. The creature provides strength and security and together, they build a tree hut that’s even better than she imagined.
Suraiya Phillimore Smith, chief marketing officer at Westpac New Zealand says the company worked with DDB to redefine their purpose, which shapes how the organisation operates: “This is more than just a new piece of creative – through Together Greater, we are letting New Zealanders know that we have their back; we know they have dreams and goals, and we’re there to support, strengthen and empower them to achieve those goals because we’re stronger together than we are alone.”
Together Greater is a concept that is central to Westpac New Zealand’s identity, demonstrated by its long-standing sponsorship of New Zealand’s rescue helicopters and support of Rainbow communities, as well as initiatives such as the Women of Influence programme, SeniorNet partnership – which aims to help senior customers make the most of current and future banking technologies – and the Innovation Fund, a joint initiative with the New Zealand Government to invest in innovative ideas and opportunities.
Says Smith: “Westpac is committed to leading by example and helping Kiwis achieve their financial goals, and these initiatives are true demonstrations of Together Greater.
“We live by this promise – that’s why Westpac was the first bank in New Zealand to be accredited as a Living Wage Employer and why we recently reduced our KiwiSaver Scheme Fund fees – further examples of how the Together Greater concept is central to how we operate both internally and externally.”
DDB Aotearoa managing partner Nikki McKelvie, says the new brand platform aims to set Westpac New Zealand apart in a category that uses a rational approach to deliver its messages: “Through the use of a unique character and emotive story, the campaign personifies the bank – we begin to see Maisie’s friend – Westpac – as supportive and caring.
“The campaign and new platform are completely different for Westpac and in fact any other bank in New Zealand. The work goes beyond the ‘slice of life’ storyline, to ensure Westpac is distinctive in market by emotionally engaging with the audience and delivering a different take on what a bank can help you to achieve in life.”
Westpac New Zealand’s new brand platform is integrated with media extending across radio, OOH, digital and social media. The 60” film launches on 8th August, followed by a 30” and 15” version in September. A further three films are underway to continue the story in 2022.
Chief Marketing Officer – Suraiya Phillimore-Smith
Head of Brand – Frith Morrissey
Brand Lead – Charlotte Sangster
Agency: DDB Aotearoa
Chief Creative Officer – Damon Stapleton
Executive Creative Director – Gary Steele
Creative Director: James Conner and Christie Cooper
Managing Partner: Nikki McKelvie
Business Partner: Laura Bathurst Adams
Business Director: Becky Kusel
Business Manager: Katie Shrubb
Planning Director: Lucinda Sherborne
Strategist: Tom Sykes
Agency Lead Integrated Producer: Claire Colohan
Agency Integrated Producer: Melissa Ching
Production Company: FINCH
Executive Producer: Rebekah ‘Bex’ Kelly
Producer: Sarah Cook
Director: The Bobbsey Twins from Homicide
Casting: Catch Casting Ltd
DOP: John Toon
Post- production online: Blockhead
Editor: Simon Price
Music Licensing: Jonathan Mihaljevich, Franklin Rd
Original artist and name of song: Stand By Me by Ben E. King.
Composer: Cam Ballantyne, Beatworms
Singer: Milana Janis
99 Comments
Bring back stapleton.
the Gobbledok is alive and living in New Zealand
Has this got to do with a bank?
i enjoyed it – but thought the doegcoin logo was gonna come at the end.
It was nice of them to cast the Gobbledock, he’s been out of work for a while now.
Chippy chippy chippy!
Wish it was a 90. Could’ve done with that little extra bit of storytelling (and yes, a link to a bank).
Those bullies should have gotten completely minced by The Crack Bear
The craft on this is absolutely gorgeous
Great, love it. Love the daring.
Taking nothing away from The Bobbsey Twins craft, but this is so close to Spike Jones’s imagining of Where The Wild Things Are, that surely some sort ‘inspired by’ credit is necessary?
Child dreamer goes it alone? Tick. Spike Jonze is 80% of the moodboard? Tick. Twee/shit cover of classic feel good song? Tick. ‘Together’ in the line? Have a meat tray.
Looks like they ran out of money half way through the creation of that monster.
Sorry but I don’t like the ad at all. I had to google to get to this website to find out what the heck it was about and what it had to do with Westpac. It’s a big fail and it must be one of the wort ads of seen. Also, I don’t feel that Westpac care for their customers at all. Shutting the majority of their branches. Branches which are still open only have two tellers on so you wait over an hour. Charges for deposits and withdrawals. Long wait to phone them. I also bank with ANZ and they have their flaws but they are great compared to Westpac. Rubbish ad for a rubbish bank.
I think , along with my family, this would have to be the “Worst Ad of all time on NZ television “!! As a Share holder of more than 45 years , this would have to be a New Low in Westpac NZ history ! Time to dump it !!!!!
What WAS THAT!
Laughing, my god.
And the cheap costume too.
Will anyone even connect its for a bank? What a stinker.
Is there anything in this piece of work that is okay? Was it tested before sign off ? I am embarrassed to be a W customer.
Imminent letters from Maurice Sendak’s lawyers aside, why does New Zealand seem to be pumping out the same paint-by-numbers feel good fantasy spots over and over again the last few years? I used to get excited to see work from New Zealand but it’s all blended into the same mush of forced quirky wallpaper. Also, what does this even remotely have to do with a bank? You could slap a Cadbury logo at the end and it would still make about as much sense and whatever this is meant to be.
So you reckon this massive, first time in 5 years, brand ad has been done in the 3 months since Stapleton left? Nah mate. This is his ad.
It was written by two CD’s???
Brilliant for the portfolio, but pointless for the consumer.
“Brilliant for the portfolio”
Not really.
If you were to explain this to someone in between floors, what would that person say?
Like the ad. Doesn’t tell me what it is promoting but like it
It’s surprisingly charmless
Swap the monster for a giant koala and you have an NRMA ad, which is not a good thing.
… it basically says that Westpac is a monster.
The Royal Commission kind of agreed.
No idea. Tortured connection back to the bank. Default to sad kid and famous song. Naughty naughty.
I’m selling my shares in Westpac. This is a shocker.
Did I just watch? How does this even relate to a bank?
…on those 3 next spots…
… they want their ad back
Actually they say you can keep it
Where the Lazy Things Are. It was harder enough watching Spike destroy it, let alone this dribble! An absolute embarrassment of riches.
Can you please ruin a beloved childhood book but please at no point make any reference to our brand or our product?
Nuff said.
I love it when directors won use a real name on a TVC because they think they have a future in feature film and dont want to tarnish their names with bad ads for banks. Just own it. It’s what you do,- you’re not Scorcese.
Does anyone else realise the MONSTER is the bank as a metaphor in this spot? Interesting mnessaging.
and that’s not a compliment. this is clearly made by someone who wanted to make films but didn’t take the risk to put their salary on the line and join the film industry. ironic given the courage they demand of their clients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zTbVRPh5EI
Obsolute gold that link, nordic hippy, gold!
As a Westpac employee I find this incredibly offensive to the years of service I have dedicated to the bank. I can tell you these comments are somewhat representative of the sentiment shared by many staff inside the bank. I cannot believe they said it tested well. Did they mean tested well with friends and family of the agencies and the exec team? I hope I am proven wrong when customers see it.
This story line is eerily close to the Air New Zealand Safety video with the young girl, the takahe, a tree hut and a monster. Could creative have been a bit more unique perhaps..?
This is honestly the worst ad in history. Fire the marketing team immediately!!!! You are a bank be a bank…..real shame they used to do great ads….
Has to be one of the worst banking campaigns ever, total waste of money – doesn’t represent a brand and if the intention is to gain new customers what an epic fail. Wouldn’t join a bank that spent money and signed off on this embarrassing attempt of advertising. Indicates that Westpac employs incompetent staff if they are willing to invest and sign off on this. Change the advertising company prove you can invest wisely …. Certainly won’t be getting any of my money.
Thanks, I needed that.
I don’t mind the ad (well…I do, but that’s another thing), but what rips my undies is the fact that a few months ago Westpac proudly announced they were going to sell the NZ business and were going to exit the NZ market.
Suddenly, a few weeks later – once the Au shareholders realised how much profit they’ll be losing – Westpac does an about-face and announces they’ll be staying in NZ (I get three urgent emails from the CEO confirming they’re staying and there’s no need to panic).
Talk about taking the piss out of us and treating us with contempt.
I’d already started the ball rolling of shifting my accounts and credit cards.
I still went ahead and changed, they’d lost me by that point.
Then this ad comes out.
I get it – they need to do a happy, smiley feel-good commercial to wallpaper over the contempt they’ve treated their business clients – let alone the NZ public.
Together stronger? More like Together stronger profits.
I’m not going to diss DDB too much, they’re just taking the money, I would too.
The client needs to be taken to task.
I enjoyed it. It brings some character and personality to the bank that we as Kiwi’s can relate to. Nice move Westpac 🙂
I really enjoyed it. Kudos to Westpac for trying something new. It’s good to see a bank taking some risks for once!
It’s just beautiful, no complaints
Love It!
unfortunate miss – design of creature is not up to the task . id redo it in cgi and replace it .
SHOCKER!!! What did I just watch? Well done DDB for selling other peoples ideas, Westpac OMG if you want to give away money give it to me. Can’t wait to see brand stats tank as long as this ad hangs around….
I love the ad – brilliant. Where is it filmed?
Arguments are being made. I don’t love this ad. I don’t hate it.
But one of the arguments is just ridiculous. People asking what’s it got to the do with bank?
How many scripts do you see every week that have got very little to do with a brand? You have probably written some.
It’s a brand ad. It’s just trying to make people feel good about the bank by telling a feel good story.
So many of the world’s best ads – Cadbury Gorilla, Levi’s Flat Eric, much of the Honda Power of Dreams work, to name a few, have very little to do with the brand but were incredibly successful for their respective business.
Arguments like this don’t help us make great creative work when clients read the blog.
Great creative like Flat Eric, Gorilla and Power Of Dreams make total sense for the products and brands they represent. This drivel on the other hand makes no sense for anything much. And despite what all the DDB keyboard sniffers have to say the ASB campaign is 1000 times better than this.
…there isn’t even a sniff of bank relevance. Which you could get past if it was Cadbury Gorilla level awesome, but its clearly not.
I think the majority can agree that the ad is rubbish. But to add insult to injury, Westpac also emailed the spot to their customers (luck you, here’s a TVC) with a bribe to watch it and be in to win cash. Oof.
surprised I didn’t see “directed by Spike Jonze” in the credits
It’s awesome! A beautiful story about teamwork, well done Westpac💛
Story:
Girl gets bullied.
Massive monster builds her a tree houseboat.
Bullies turn up and get intimidated by monster.
(the lesson here is the only way to change people is to threaten them)
This is followed by letting the bullies stay in your treehouse and effectively rewarding them for being bullies?
Please explain what your actual intention is?
Missed opportunity here. I was waiting for the Wildthing to be his dead mother.
Love it! And the vocals are beautiful!!
The singer was like an amateur drunk on karaoke night….. the one that didn’t make the semi’s Could have been the worst rendition of that song I’ve ever heard
Yasssss that girl can sing!
Oh, and I’m also relieved to announce I joined NZHL under Kiwibank and am leaving Westpac a.k.a the biggest bullshit bank
I actually Google the ad to find out what it represents as I was a bit confused. Bank with Westpac and they’re not the most supportive bank ..but then none of them are
Love the ad and the singing voice made it!
Just awful. Trying way too hard and missing every mark. Good thing for them is no-one will associate it with a bank or Westpac… totally forgettable
Instead of spending time and my money with a ridiculous ad why dont they concentrate on making banking better. Wait they have. Closed branches. Made the branches they have only open half the time. And the audacity to say they are changing banking to reflect me the customers needs and wants. Now they do this ad which is s complete waste of time. Who do they think they are fooling.
Yeah, nah, didn’t relate
Westpac should start by delivering service. Westpac is the” kids” stopping the client getting into the tree house. When the client finds another caring friend. ( competitive bank) . Westpac realizes its shape up or lose out. Then Westpac decide to concede and let the client into the treehouse.
Westpac is nothing but a monster with a culture and identity crisis and thinks its time is more valuable than the customers. When Westpac realize that its all about relationships and service, they may be able to stop the ground swell of discontented customers leaving.
Fantasy movie with a fantasy bank. Johnny might have helped improve it, or then probably not considering the circumstance he has found himself in.
Blatantly ‘inspired’ by Where the wild things are, the kid even has the same haircut. Where’s the creative?
So not only did they rip off ‘where the wild things are’, the cover of ‘stand by me’ is a blatant ripoff of the Florence and the machine version from Final Fantasy XV. It even has the final fantasy prelude part in it!
What a totally weak version of the original stand by me song…..insipid and over acted….and typical bank making zillions and producing crap like this.
It has all been said – just a load of woke rubbish. Why reward the bullies?
I switch to another channel when this comes on. I watched it once but can’t stand the song. No offense to the singer but have to say, it’s awful – like a lament and depressing.
Possibly(?) the worst thing about this effort it that the travesty is only equalled by the frequency. ASB anyone?
The west pac bank add monster is the same entity as the ben monster in the asb tv add . The only differences with the westpac monster is its no quite so yellow and it is wearing Queen Elizabeths Silver Fern Brooch given to her by women of NZ in 1953. The Indians ANZ add about from a little acorn good indian cricketers are made , Queen Elizabeth went to Tirau and planted two pin oaks on new years day 1954 . Im sure that the morons that are in our media industry now just go to work and please them selves what they do and get payed ,resulting in no real worth to the country . You will notice we now have a Sky tv add on now with a deer coming out from behind a tree ,You may find that tree represents one of the pin oaks Queen Elizabeth planted in Tirau . The themes of most of the current tv adds are connected , it really has nothing to do with making good relations between CO s and customers . As I have said the bosses just go to work and please themselves with what they personally want to do .
I really like the ad and the singers voice gives me goosebumps it is so good!
We. All love this ad, my kids love the story and my wife loves the singers beautiful and really cool voice!
Sorry but this ad means nothing – is it a bank ad? Been a Westpac customer forever but can’t see any logic in this ad – so disappointing!
I think the Ad is great and the singing is breathtaking, well done Westpac!
This ad is so odd ..what has it got to do with banking?. It terrifies my toddler to the point shes screaming and running off. Can’t wait til it’s off tv
I hate it and agree with ‘I don’t know what parents/kids are suppose to take out of this?’ from above.
Those bullies follow and intimidate girl twice!
Then only back off when scared by a monster.
Then become friends?
Cast of characters: 3 male bullies, 1 bullied female that needs protection to go about her day, 0 role models
I wish I could get this version on my playlist!
At least there was no puerile rhyming. The marketing and movie industries have been ripping off great children’s books for years now so just go and read the original. And maybe stop spending a fortune on absurd or poor quality marketing and instead make your product cheaper. If it’s any good you can rely on word of mouth. Bad advertising isn’t going to help anyway
Wasn’t this the same bank that wanted to sell their New Zealand business a few months ago…. classic agencies just trying to win awards for feel good short movies., what a waste of money.
The worst singer I’ve ever heard try sing that song, unfortunately it’s on over and over. The only ad I switch channels on. Did people actually pay for and think that is a good advertisement? Top marks for selling that.
Everything about this ad sucks especially the singer what an insult to original
Absolutely disgusted at the ad. This is a bank which has stolen millions of $$$ from its customers, WP just had to pay back $10 .5m to its clients from overcharges & only paid it back because it was caught, and they have the stupidly to advertise “ Stand by Me” , stupidest bank in AU / NZ. In the Australian Royal commission report, 2018 they were caught overcharging for 10s of millions of dollars along with a number of other banks and they want you to “ Stand by Them”. Take your ad down Westpac or leave it there & make fools of yourselves. This is an absolute insult to your clients, the WP has never stood by anything but themselves and their bonuses.
We love the Ad and the singers soulful voice
Love this ad- my cuz wants the singer to sing at his 21st
Thank you Westpac for such a lovely ad in difficult times. Riley you are wonderful and we all love the singers fresh and edgy voice!
My family love this ad and my 9month old baby really loves it when it comes on she stops what she is doing and watches it till the end with a big smile on her face. Good work. 🙂
Hate this ad. Totally irrelevant to banking. I can’t imagine how much it cost to make and be continually shown on TV. Clearly making too much money at the expense of customers. I’d never bank with this bank.
“Stand by Me” – this tired old dirge trotted out yet again!. Have you no imagination? The creature is repulsive and the ad is incoherent. Which demographic were you targeting – six year-olds?
Awesome Ad! That singer has got the vibes!
I LOOOOVE THIS ADD, IT’S ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT, I LOVE THE MONSTER, THE HAPPIEST GIRL AND THE AWESOME MUSIC. PLEASE DON’T CHANGE IT. I CAN NOW PLAY IT 😁😉 ON MY PHONE WHEN I NEED SOME CHEERING UP.
worst ad ever hate it and turn it off
The only good thing about the add is the song choice….and no I won’t be coming back to the bank after the shoddy home mortgage service I received.
I absolutely LOATHE this ad
Could it be any more banal, overproduced and excruciatingly boring ?
The new Meridian ad with the ‘full figured’ woman in green is just as bad with a similar formula
Rehashed old song etc etc
They both get switched/muted as soon as they come on which is WAY too often 🤮
Make it stop….!