Great Southern Bank has launched a brand campaign this week, ‘Happily Clever After’, coinciding with its name change from Credit Union Australia, bringing to life its purpose of helping all Australians own their own home.

The journey to changing from Credit Union to Great Southern Bank began back in 2020.

When Australia’s largest customer-owned bank, engaged strategic consultants Growth Mantra to help identify the brand’s purpose, positioning and ticket to play with a younger demographic.

A driving insight was that the term ‘credit union’ held little relevance among the target audience, with 70 per cent of 18-29 year olds having no idea what a credit union even did.

Great Southern Bank, chief customer officer Megan Keleher, said: “It became clear that to remain relevant and to grow, we needed to rebrand as a bank,”

“We also needed powerful positioning in the market, a territory that was ownable, scalable, credible and relevant for our current and potential customers,”

Using extensive research and data analytics, Growth Mantra chief executive officer Simon Corah and his team helped develop a new brand purpose, strategy and execution: including a new brand name, identity and product and service line up.

Corah said, “Great Southern Bank and the brand purpose to ‘Help all Australians own their own home’ is the result, this work was a rare opportunity to develop a holistic brand strategy for the organisation.”

Creative agency Richards Rose were tasked with developing the brand’s creative strategy based on the new name, identity and positioning created in partnership with Growth Mantra.

 Carat was brought on board to develop the media strategy, with marketing communications agency Keep Left driving the campaign’s public relations and social components.

The campaign, ‘Happily Clever After’, consists of TV, OOH, digital, PR and social and aims to shine a light on new ways Great Southern Bank can help Australians on their home ownership journey.

“We know people haven’t given up on the great Australian dream and Great Southern Bank wants to empower customers to succeed against what can sometimes seem like insurmountable odds. Our Happily Clever After campaign will showcase clever ways to make these dreams a reality,” adds Keleher.

Adam Rose, executive creative director at Richards Rose, believes Great Southern Bank’s new products and home ownership strategies will help people take that first exciting step.

“We know buying your first home can seem tougher than ever, that’s why it’s so important to get clever. Reassuringly Great Southern Bank can provide the means for its customers to do just that. ‘Happily Clever After’ is the Great Australian Dream told as a modern day fairy tale. It’s an empowering and enduring idea that shows owning a home is still possible, you just need a plan.”

Danni Wright, national head of strategy & connections planning at Carat Australia commented, “We have worked with CUA for over seven years, and to be part of this brand transformation to Great Southern Bank has been incredible. At Carat we foster a collaborative and integrated way of working and our Designing for People positioning ensures we are launching the purpose led message with impact across Screens, OOH and Digital environments.”

Keleher concluded, “It was important to have the right strategic and creative skills on board with us at each stage of this journey. We wanted to highlight our 75 year history yet make the brand relevant, and the work of all our partners has bought this to life in a way that has us all very excited.”

 

Credits

Client: Great Southern Bank

CEO: Paul Lewis

Chief Customer Officer: Megan Keleher

Head of Marketing: Deborah Woodford

Senior Marketing Manager: Karen Gibson

Senior Art Director: Natalie Ambrosini

Graphic Designer: Mitch Gee

Studio Manager: Helen Leech

Creative Agency: Richards Rose

Executive Creative Director: Adam Rose

CEO: Digby Richards

Creatives: Justin Lim, Mark Sharman

Head of Production: Tanya Hairman

Production Assistant: Taylor Gooley

Head of Strategy: Jody Elston

Group Account Director: Kristen Sandberg

Senior Content Manager: Bonnie Ross

Studio Manager / Finished Artist: Alistair Donald

Production Company: Film Graphics

Director: Jesse James McElroy

Executive Producer: Anna Fawcett

DoP: Aaron McLisky

Post House: White Chocolate

Music Composition and Sound Post: Squeak-E-Clean

Photographer: Jeremy Shaw

Retouching: Mark Sterne

Casting: Toni Higginbotham

Media: Carat

Managing Director Carat Brisbane: Chris Ernst

National Head of Strategy & Connections Planning: Danni Wright

Client Director: Lauren Sayer

Media Investment Manager: Mark Pearson

Client Executive: Kirsten Bucceri

Digital Director: Joshua Iselin

Strategy Directors: Cameron Law & Nicola Watkins

Strartegy Partners: Growth Mantra

Public Relations, Content and Experiential: Keep Left 

Asset Rebrand Roll Out: Media Merchants