Westpac: Westpac Chopper Appeal

Credits & Description:

Agency: Ddb Group New Zealand
Brand: Westpac
Country: New Zealand
Advertising Agency: Ddb Group New Zealand, Auckland
Entrant Company: Ddb Group New Zealand, Auckland
Media Agency: Ddb Group New Zealand, Auckland
Pr Agency: Ddb Group New Zealand, Auckland
Production Company: The Sweet Shop, Auckland
Additional Company: Westpac New Zealand, Auckland
Executive Agency Producer: Judy Thompson (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Account Director: Mark Wilson (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Director: Sam Holst (The Sweet Shop)
Executive Creative Director: Shane Bradnick (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Creative Director: Ben Pegler (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Producer: Anna Stuart (The Sweet Shop)
Account Executive: Kate Coppersmith (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Art Director: Sarsha Drakeford (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Group Business Director: Elizabeth Beatty (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Executive Producer: Fiona King (The Sweet Shop)
Digital Creative Director: Haydn Kerr (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Offline Editor: Michael Lonsdale (The Sweet Shop)
Agency Producer: Sam Royal (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Chief Creative Officer: Damon Stapleton (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Senior Account Manager: Deepika Goundar (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Copywriter: Geordie Wilson (Ddb Group New Zealand)
Dop: Ian Mccarroll (The Sweet Shop)
Strategy:
We couldn’t afford to be ignored. The situations the Choppers deal with are not ones people like to think about and in a Facebook newsfeed, they’re usually easy to ignore. We needed to tell our story in a way that couldn’t be ignored so easily, and that would get people caring (and donating) again. In this space there can is just a few clicks between emotional connection and effective action, if you can break through the newsfeed clutter. People often think what they do or don’t do online doesn’t matter. We had to show that their actions had the power to save lives.
Execution:
We put a life in your hands: a sequence of videos of a woman, trapped in a car on a cliff, in your Facebook newsfeed. We launched the videos in Facebook newsfeeds using sequencing and Daypart targeting that time for her was passing relative to your day. If you scrolled past her, you’d be served another film later in which her situation had become worse. The longer the situation was ignored, the worse it got. When you interacted with the video, you saw the rescue video on The Chopper Appeal donation site. This created a story that felt real, to bring attention to situations that are.
Synopsis:
The Westpac Rescue Helicopter depends on public donations to fly. Westpac have long supported this vital service, but in recent years people have come to take it for granted and public donations had dropped. We needed to remind everyone how vital this service is for New Zealand, and get them involved again. The goal was to maximise online donations and increase awareness of the vital work the choppers do.
Outcome:
People took action… Over 12 million videos were served.Donations were up for the first time in four years.Three times as many people visited the donation site than ever before. We had 85,065 visitors in 2015, up from 27,718 visitors in 2014.And more online donations than ever before - $1.5million dollars raised online, in one month.
Campaign Description:
We wanted to show the difference you can make, by putting a life in your hands. Instead of posting a single video of an emergency situation that could be skipped or ignored, we created a series of retargeted videos about a woman's life-threatening emergency. If you ignored a video you’d be served another and, just like in real life, her situation would be worse. How her story ended depended on whether you acted before it was too late.