We Get The Lowdown And Pictures Of ANZ’s New Branch “Fit For A Queen”

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Monday morning saw a small crowed gathered halfway down Oxford Street in Sydney for the unveiling of ANZ’s grandiose and fabulous new bank branch.

The ANZ team, and the guys at Whybin\TBWA and The Glue Society, had spent the past weekend completely refurbishing the inside of the Oxford Street ANZ branch – to let the bank come out as GAYNZ, an extension of its GayTMs in support of LGBTI celebration Mardi Gras.

We got a few extra tidbits from Carolyn Bendall, head of marketing at ANZ Australia, on the campaign, what it means to ANZ, what it took and her favourite part.

Whose idea was it to take out the whole branch and not just the ATMs?

We’ve have had a fantastic response to our GAYTMs over the years so we wanted to step things up to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of our partnership. GAYNZ is an affectionate term that’s often used to describe ANZ by our staff and members of the LGBTI community.

We thought transforming the Oxford Street branch at the heart of the Mardi Gras parade was a great way to demonstrate our support. In addition to this ANZ has collaborated with Twitter to develop a rainbow flag emoji which will appear when #GAYNZ is used and we’ve also brought back four GAYTMs to ANZ’s George St and Pitt Street branches.

What’s your favourite part about the campaign?

From the perspective of Daniel Pizzato, Whybin/TBWA creative director: Our favourite part was the wildly unique creative opportunities that redesigning an entire bank branch gave us; from teller booths and ceilings, to lighting and directional signage. It was the perfect canvas on which to showcase ANZ’s proud support for the diversity of the LGBTI community because we were able to transform so many different elements.

From ANZ’s Bendall: Personally my favourite part of the new activation (aside from gorgeous poodles and penguins) is that we were brave enough as a brand to change our name to underline the significance of our commitment to diversity, inclusion and respect. This is not an easy thing to do, as our brand mark is very carefully guarded as one of the most valuable assets. It makes me very proud to work for a company such as ANZ.

What was the most difficult part?

From Whybin/TBWA’s Pizzato: The most difficult part was the reality of installing such an ambitious and intricate design without disrupting the branch’s regular opening hours. We managed to do it all in one weekend with a great team of people and very little sleep!

Are there enough brands supporting the community, not just saying they’re going to do something?

I absolutely believe there is a role for corporations and big brands to play in our culture and the societal debates that are raging at any given time – but there’s a hitch to this – brands need to be relevant and to add something useful to the debate, their actions needs to be authentic to the brand’s values, and most importantly of all, I’d encourage brands to be clear on its purpose.

Why you are doing it is just as important as what you do.

Besides showing support, what else is ANZ doing to make a difference in LGBTI areas like marriage equality?

ANZ has always been an advocate of diversity and inclusion, not just at work but in the broader community. Our support for marriage equality is part of our commitment to diversity and in partnership with Mardi Gras we hope we can continue encouraging Australians to both embrace diversity and contribute to an inclusive society and culture.

Another example of this is ANZ’s Equal Future campaign. Inclusion lies at the heart of ANZ’s brand beliefs so when the statistic was uncovered that 90 per cent of women retire with inadequate savings, our brand had a responsibility to act. ANZ’s #equalfuture campaign centres on the insight that young girls develop ahead of boys, yet end up far behind financially because the system isn’t geared for them to succeed. In response to this, we led a campaign that sought to not only raise awareness of this fact but in doing so challenge the system itself.

We commissioned a white paper to uncover the extent of the issue, teamed with award winning director Jane Campion to deliver a compelling film and then addressed ANZ’s own policies on superannuation. Consequently, ANZ now pays an extra $500 pa super contribution for ANZ female staff, awards super contributions whilst employees are on paid parental leave and offers free advice for anyone with less than $50K in their super. The campaign provoked enormous debate in the media and most importantly helped drive a senate inquiry into gender superannuation, with ANZ invited to make the opening submission.

What else can other big brands do to make a difference?

It’s important for big corporations to do things that are absolutely true to the brand’s DNA and walk the talk. Respect is a central corporate value of ANZs, in our brand expression we encourage you to live your world your way, and we’ve been supporting Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for a decade now.

Through this we have an authentic voice and have earned the right to participate with creative ideas like GAYTMs and GAYNZ.

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