At the peak of uncertainty following the pandemic, ASB teamed up with Youthline and Kiwi singer Benee to create a song that supports anxious rangatahi.
ASB Bank’s latest sponsorship campaign is unusual for a financial institution: it’s a song, backed by neuroscientists – and EEG imaging technology proves it reduces anxiety.
Bagels by Benee is a chill 60bpm. It’s a non-looping melody in the cheerful key of C-major. There are no sharp drums and the animated music video features smooth colour transitions and hypnotic swaying organic forms.
It was conceived after ASB Bank realised its Youthline sponsorship risked becoming a victim of its own success.
When the bank amplified its partnership with Youthline, the helpline received more callers, but there weren’t enough trained counsellors for young people to talk to.
“To help struggling rangatahi, we wanted them to call Youthline. But if too many of them did, people would be left on hold.
“Youthline cannot afford to leave people on hold. This conundrum was critical,” says the ASB marketing team.
ASB was investing in training counsellors. But that takes time, so the goal switched. Knowing that young people don’t seek professional support unless they’re ‘really struggling’, ASB researched how to support rangatahi before anxiety spirals.
“Ultimately, we wanted to reduce the number of youths that needed to call Youthline,” the team says.
The bank discovered three things: a rise in ‘digital psychiatry’, a gap in tools to help with ‘lower levels’ of anxiety and that a quarter of Kiwi youth spend more than six hours each day on their phones. ASB and Youthline needed a digital tool that was scaleable and accessible.
So ASB took on Benee, a young Kiwi singer/songwriter with an international following – who has openly talked about her mental health.
An anxiety-reducing song is a world away from ASB’s old methods.
“For a traditional bank, it’s hard to let go of traditions. We were already stepping away from splashing a logo and calling it a day, to moving into being a principal partner,” says the team.
Bagels by Benee fed into the headphones of young people to reach a total audience of 29.5 million, plus more through social channels.
The song has been played over 3 million times, with the music video clocking 343,000 views. ASB estimates 297,000 streams are from Kiwi youth suffering anxiety.
ASB’s innovative approach not only built long-term legitimacy and credibility for the bank and the social purposes it backs, it has expanded how brands can make an impact with partnerships.
Judges’ comments
“Impressive to see such an altruistic campaign make it to market, particularly in the banking sector. The team must have done a stellar job being able to gain internal buy-in. We were impressed by how deeply scientific the campaign was, adding to its credibility.”
This was first published in the 2024 September-October NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
