Since 2014 banking business ANZ has given some of its ATMs in Sydney a fabulous makeover with glitter, paints and sparkles in support of LGBTI celebration Mardi Gras.
And this year – to mark ten years of the bank’s backing of Mardi Gras – the bank and its agencies have spent the weekend completely refurbishing the branch on Oxford Street to make it “fit for a queen”.
Taking inspiration from artistic style Baroque, the walls are covered in 16 different colourful and detailed murals, from drag queens riding unicorns, puppies with wings to fluffy poodles and gay penguins. The creative geniuses behind it also took inspiration from famous houses and landmarks – such as Liberace’s pad and the Sistine Chapel.
The murals are all symbolic of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) community, and developed in consultation with the community.
And as customers walk in, they’re greeted by two giant penguins – symbols of the two male penguins who struck up a relationship and somewhat “adopted” an abandoned egg.
The creative agency behind the concept was Whybin\TBWA with execution by The Glue Society. Daniel Pizzato and Paul Reardon from Whybin explained the look and feel at this morning’s unveiling, using inspiration from Baroque and others.
“We wanted it to be as if the GayTM mothership had landed,” Pizzato said. “And I hope we’ve achieved that.”
Reardon added: “The brief we gave ourselves was, ‘create a bank fit for a queen’.”
As the refurb took the whole weekend, with rather late nights, Mark Hand, managing director of corporate and commercial banking and chair of ANZ’s diversity council, joked this morning the lock out laws didn’t apply to those decking out the branch, earning a number of good humoured laughs.
“I saw it around 11 o’clock last night and have to say I was a bit worried about whether we’d get there, but the guys have done a fantastic job,” he said.
“It’s been a remarkable achievement. We’re very proud of our ten year involvement with the Mardi Gras which is fast approaching its fabulous 40s.”
To add to the further celebrations, social media platform Twitter has announced it has developed an emoji specifically for ANZ and its Mardi Gras support. From 12.30pm today, each time someone tweets the hashtag #GAYNZ a small rainbow flag will appear.
While a number of brands do support Mardi Gras, B&T‘s account manager Frank Masterson questions why more don’t get involved, given it’s a brilliant way for brands to get some of their own support. Check out his thoughts here.
On a side note, we’re waiting for the official fabulous photos from the event, so check back here later today where you can see the branch in all its glory! Or, if you’re in Sydney, head on down to the branch on Oxford Street yourself.
