We are inching closer and closer to the adland’s night-of-nights: the B&T Awards.
On 8 November, as ever, we will be taking over the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney to celebrate the businesses at the top of their game and laud the incredible work they’ve produced. Here, we’ll be taking a look at the finalists in the Best Video Campaign category, brought to you by YouTube — who else?
There’s still time to grab your tickets as well!
Plus, we’ve got a very exciting new offer, too. Those who have or will purchase a table of ten can pre-order a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label NV for just $120. To pre-purchase, please email [email protected].
But ahead of the big night, here’s a look at all the finalists, in no particular order, and in their own words.
Akcelo, “Big Tinder Wedding”, Tinder
In 2023, Tinder Australia celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Marriage Equality Act in Australia by launching “The Big Tinder Wedding” campaign. Tinder aimed to highlight & celebrate the many queer love stories that begin on the app each year, by offering to plan & pay for the weddings of selected LGBTQIA+ couples, who were ready to walk down the aisle.
The Big Tinder Wedding campaign spanned two distinct phases. At Mardi Gras 2023, Tinder initiated a nationwide search for LGBTQIA+ couples who met on Tinder & were ready to marry. Over 400 LGBTQIA+ couples initiated the application process, & two were chosen. The selected couples then featured in a YouTube reality series hosted by Brooke Blurton, documenting their journey from the wedding planning to the big day. The series was hosted on Tinder Australia’s YouTube channel, airing in time for Mardi Gras in February 2024.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
The content series, which included nine episodes on YouTube and additional highlights on TikTok and Meta, showcased genuine moments from the weddings, driving significant engagement. It not only celebrated LGBTQIA+ love, but also proved successful for Tinder’s brand, contributing to an uplift in new users and notable lifts in key brand metrics during the Q1 ’24 phase 2 key campaign period.
Innocean, “Kia is Getting a Ute”, Kia Australia
The Aussie ‘ute’ is a unique category, famed for its toughness, ruggedness, and well, it’s Aussie-ness.
Kia was launching its first ute ever—the Kia Tasman—but there were a couple of issues:
Kia couldn’t show the ute as it was still in development.
Kia’s never made an off-road vehicle before, meaning the brand lacked ute category credentials.
Given that the average ute buying cycle takes 18 months, building salience and equity around the Tasman now was critical to see success at launch.
Aussies love their sporting icons. They revere them for many of the same reasons they do their utes. They’re reliable, tough, and can overcome any challenge.
As we couldn’t show our ute, we used Aussie sporting icons as our proxy. UFC champions embodied Tasman’s toughness. Rugby players, it’s reliability.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
Any association we wanted to reinforce, we found a sporting legend to match.
We based our premise on a uniquely Australian idiosyncrasy: the nickname. Our flagship TVC focused on our sporting icons’ quest to get the ute named after them, inextricably linking the Tasman to their character.
This culminated in the reveal of its true, distinctly Aussie name—the Kia Tasman. Loaded with ockerisms, humour, and charm, our campaign was built to embed the Tasman not just in Aussie culture, but in Aussie folklore.
After generating 97 million earned impressions and 300+ pieces of editorial coverage, 86% of 4-year ute considerers now consider a Kia ute.
Kia was now set up for launch success, with nameplate recognition and equity skyrocketing. Versus pre-campaign levels, we increased;
-Knowledge that Kia’s getting a ute +96%
-‘Kia Tasman’ name recognition +76%
-‘Toughness’ associations +39%
-‘Australian’ associations +26%
-‘Good for off-roading’ associations +51% (remember, Kia has never had an off-road vehicle in its 27 years in Australia)
-‘Reliable’ associations +18%
Keep Left, “How To Upskill Your Financial Wellbeing”, ANZ
ANZ had conducted research that found most young Australians don’t have the financial acumen they need to ‘do life’ well.
Their lack of basic knowledge around tax returns, superannuation, capital gains tax, loan repayments and budgeting was affecting both their finances and wellbeing
As ANZ’s north star is to improve its customers’ financial wellbeing, it approached Keep Left to connect with these audiences, deliver complicated information in an engaging way.
With a focus on Gen Z and Millennials, we conducted robust audience research using psychographic data analysis, search trends and social searches. It led us to the following:
- Insight: They don’t teach financial skills at school and many Australians are embarrassed that they don’t have the knowledge they think they should.
- Idea: Develop a fresh and playful financial education series to tackle these boring, but essential topics targeting Gen Z and Millennials.
- Approach: Create a search-backed YouTube content series for ANZ to give them the facts they crave.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
Our solution was to create a 12-episode YouTube-first edu-tainment video series.
It involved a paid and owned digital media strategy to amplify across YouTube and ANZ’s social channels, while also supporting organic discovery through search optimisation and embedding the videos within financial wellbeing articles.
The results exceeded every KPI:
Campaign views: 8.9m
Total viewing hours: 44k
Rise in ANZ YouTube channel subscribers: 456%
Rise in organic traffic to ANZ site: 64%
ANZ is now ranked #1 for Financial Wellbeing in organic search amongst its competitor set.
The edu-tainment approach was an Australian first and helped cement ANZ’s commitment to supporting the financial wellbeing of Australians in a new and tangible way.
Perhaps most importantly, the videos were created to have longevity, helping support audiences long after the activation period and adding a sticky layer of engagement to the Financial Wellbeing Hub.
Optus, “24 Hours on the Optus Network”
As part of our ongoing Optus trust rebuild, we launched the new Samsung Galaxy S24 device to market providing Australians great value and building back trust in our network. The goal was to drive engagement, improve Customer First Choice and ultimately drive market share growth.
Objective 1: Increase First Choice & Build Trust
Objective 2: Drive YoY Sales Growth
Our goal was to excite Australians about the possibilities of using the new Galaxy S24 on Australia’s Fastest 5G Mobile Network, plus amazing Android apps – and drive cut through in a cluttered media environment.
Our mobile phones are our lifeline. To showcase the endless possibilities offered by the new Samsung Galaxy S24 on the Optus Network, we created ‘A Day in a Phone’s Life’ video campaign – showcasing 24 hours in the life of different Galaxy S24 users, highlighting the extensive range of features from Optus, Google, and Samsung that enhance everyday experiences.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
The YouTube campaign for Optus delivered strong audience engagement and solidified brand connection, achieving an impressive 87% brand linkage with an uplift in First Choice.
The performance metrics surpassed expectations, achieving completion rates well above benchmark for skippable ads.
The campaign reached 3.29M people and significantly impacted consumer consideration – six times the telco industry benchmark.
Beyond digital, the campaign also extended to CTV/BVOD and OOH placements, contributing to an uplift in year-over-year increase in sales for the Galaxy S24 phone. This success underscores the campaign’s effectiveness in delivering substantial business outcomes for Optus.
Sportsbet, “Volk is Too Old”
The story behind “Volk Too Old” is somewhat ironically one of agility, sharp insight and pin-point execution, all dressed in a cardigan and loafers, to deliver Sportsbet some of it most effective content and business results in years.
In February 2024, the anticipation surrounding a UFC Featherweight Championship match between Australia’s own Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria was palpable.
The bout was not merely a contest for the title; Historical data revealed a stark trend, with fighters over 35 clinching victory in only 2 out of 33 title fights in UFC history. With Volk already 35, Topuria seized upon this narrative, igniting a social media firestorm by provocatively labelling Volkanovski as “Old” in a widely viewed social post.
Recognising an opportunity to rally behind their fellow Aussie, Sportsbet swiftly mobilised. Their internal creative team ingeniously crafted a lovable and unforgettable character, cleverly playing on Volk’s perceived age. The result was a captivating two-minute film disseminated across YouTube as well as Instagram, Tik Tok and Facebook.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
The comedic execution cleverly leaned into classic “old man” tropes, depicting Volk engaged in scenarios like fielding scam calls, showing off his veggie patch and embroiled in neighbourly property disputes.
The impact of “Volk Too Old” was immediate and immense. The video garnered significant press coverage and generated a deluge of comments and impressions across digital platforms. Fans showered praise on the UFC champion for his comedic chops as well as calling out Sportsbet for bringing the concept to life.
In terms of video performance, it had over 3.1 million views, 100k shares and 304K engagement across all platforms and the highest volume of comments (33,959) and shares (2,975) on a Sportsbet Video ever across YouTube. A total of 54,777 Hours spent watching all our Volk Too Old content on YouTube.
The Monkeys, Part of Accenture Song, “Play it Safe”, Sydney Opera House
Unveiled in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has stood as a monument to the power of brave creativity ever since. But as Australia drifts towards conservatism and conformity, the Opera House’s message is being forgotten.
On the House’s 50th anniversary, we wanted to remind Australia and the global public why it’s more important than ever to keep the Opera House’s bold spirit alive, with one clear message:
If we silence the little voice in our heads that tells us to ‘play it safe’ and do the opposite – there’s no limit to what we can achieve.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
And so, we collaborated with two iconic and fearless Australian talents, songwriter and satirist Tim Minchin and director Kim Gehrig as well as a host of the House’s resident companies and performers to create “Play it Safe”: a visual and musical love letter to doing the opposite.
Tourism WA, “Drive The Dream”
Wavemaker, “Cadbury Gives A Cheer & A Half”, Mondelēz
Did you know that half of the community sport clubs in Australia are at risk of permanent closure? That’s why Cadbury is giving A Cheer & A Half by getting behind local sport clubs and connecting them with local volunteers.
Community sport runs on the generosity of Australians; it is through volunteers that local sport clubs thrive and are equipped to create a better tomorrow for the future generation.
See who’s at the top of their game at the B&T Awards!
To cement Cadbury as a Fabric of The Nation brand with strong connection to sports and community, we executed a 3-tiered video approach to inspire and mobilise Australians to support their local clubs.
Ambassador films, coupled with hyper-localised videos and a partnership integration drove breakthrough results for Cheer And A Half, delivering +6.3% YoY sales increase and a combined total of 1,000+ club sign ups, volunteers recruited and grant nominations!
