Goodbye ‘sadvertising’, and hello hahas and hehes. ANZ makes donating fun with its new marketing campaign for long-term partner The Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day.
After 33 years of sponsoring and being synonymous with The Cancer Society’s Daffodil Day, ANZ recognised things had gone “stale”.
Its recent QR-code led comms was lacking connection with both customers and non-customers, which also meant a decline in donations.
New Zealand’s current cost of living crisis is causing pain not just for businesses, but also for charities where demand is reaching an all-time high, resulting in more and more asking for a slice of Kiwis’ generosity.
With people reluctant to open their wallets and facing the additional problem of having to stand out from the crowd, ANZ decided to cut through the clutter with a fresh approach.
Instead of going down the typical ‘sadvertising’ route common to charity sector campaigns, ANZ took another road: New Zealand’s sense of humour.
Here is where Dai Henwood, a Kiwi comedian living with cancer, came in, to emcee ANZ Presents: The Comedy Treatment. It was one televised hour of perfect comedic timing to not only get the country talking about The Cancer Society, but also donating.
“While cancer is no laughing matter, we used humour to start a conversation with an audience who don’t engage with traditional fundraising campaigns,” says the ANZ marketing team.
By including Henwood, who has first-hand experience with cancer, the event became even more personal.
And it worked.
Donations to the charity increased by 36% YOY and ANZ was able to bring Daffodil Day to new audiences, with this being the most-watched live comedy show in New Zealand history. More than 445,000 tuned in live.
The event became something to watch rather than something to skip – and that’s marketing gold in this content-heavy era.
But not only was ANZ able to reinvent its sponsorship with The Cancer Society, the bank was also able to increase positive brand awareness among both customers and non-customers.
Sponsoring the charity already aligned with ANZ’s business objectives, but public perceptions of banks were declining, and it was important to make purposeful decisions that supported its brand reputation.
The Cancer Society has been part of ANZ’s DNA for the past 33 years and with the reinvented Daffodil Day, the sponsorship is set up for a new era.
Judges’ comments
“The entry demonstrated a clear change in direction in a long-standing sponsorship. Judges liked the innovative approach which recognised the need to refresh the partnership and leveraged a new area – comedy – with the perfect spokesperson to front the campaign in Dai Henwood.
“This has led to a great insight – that a value exchange drives a better donation rate for charity campaigns, which can be explored further in future executions, as can a new territory of comedy, helping boost donations and associations for the brand.”
This was first published in the 2024 September-October NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
