Young cricketer makes dad proud in new ANZ campaign

ANZ has launched a new campaign for the New Zealand market using the catchphrase 'We do how'.

The campaign, by TBWA New Zealand, is about "giving people the practical know-how they need to start their financial wellbeing journey", according to the companies. The campaign includes TV, digital, social, PR, OOH and in-branch advertising. The brand has also set up a six-step program for financial health, and reports that more than 22,000 Kiwis have already used the tool.

As ANZ is a longtime sponsor of New Zealand cricket, the campaign's kickoff film tells a cricket story.

Ad Nut really likes the stated practical intent of the campaign. Ad Nut also appreciates the slogan 'We do how'; it's simple and noticeable, and although it might not be immediately clear what it means, the brand can imbue it with meaning over time. 

However, the launch film just doesn't work. 

It's great that a major campaign from a big brand puts a New Zealand family of Indian descent front and centre in its big statement film. The hopes and dreams of such families—and the tensions between immigrant parents and their more assimilated children—are all fertile ground for meaningful drama, as is sport. The way the son achieves his goals through hard work, and the way the dad comes around...all that is great.

However, the product placement in the film is unforgivably out of place. The cricket narrative gets put on pause repeatedly to show us how easy it is to open a business account or to save for a new car. We don't know why these things are happening or how they're connected to the main narrative—because they're not. Thus, they stick out as crass and annoying. They interfere with our involvement in the story. 

Maybe if the film were a broader tale about all the family members and how their lives in New Zealand improved over the years—in part thanks to a friendly and helpful bank—then the product moments might be more organic. And ironically, this seems to be what the agency had in mind. TBWA says in a release that the film is "a universal story...about why we work hard in New Zealand and how we want our families to enjoy a better, happier life".

Ad Nut submits that while that might have been the intent, something got lost along the way. The film in front of us just doesn't fit that description. That said, the broader film TBWA apparently envisioned might be hard to pull off without falling into cliché, although at least the product integration could have worked.

As with so many things in life—and in the words of a certain British singer of some reknown—you can't always get what you want. Your kid might become a cricket star, but he'll end up playing for a team you don't love. And your brand film might not work with overt product placement, but you have to put it in anyway. 

Client: ANZ NZ
Agency: TBWA\NZ
Production Company: Goodoil
Director: Adam Stevens
Executive Producer: Matt Long
Post Production: Blockhead
Editing: The Editors
Audio: Beatworms
Music Licencing: Franklin Road
Media Agency: PHD
PR Agency: TBWA\Eleven PR

Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'.