Australian financial services outfit Westpac leveraged its status as an official partner of National Rugby League (NRL) by celebrating ‘A Beautiful Partnership’ in a campaign leveraging Game One of the annual State Of Origin series between the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons on 31 May.
Working with agency DDB Sydney, the activation was anchored by a rousing musical style commercial featuring an unlikely friendship between a banker and referee for Westpac
Directed by Revolver’s Matt Devine, the creative brings to life the feelings of these two much-maligned professional figures and, through their shared anguish, the banker and referee find both solace and strength – proving the power of the partnership between Westpac and the NRL.
The spot, simply titled ‘Westpac x NRL’ dropped from 31 May and ran across TV and online platforms.
“At Westpac, we are extremely proud of our sponsorship of the NRL and NRL Women’s (NRLW) competitions. We know nobody really wants to think about banking during the footy, instead we wanted to be adding to the positive moments of the sport,” commented Westpac Chief Brand and Marketing Officer Annabel Fribence for the campaign launch PR. “So we set ourselves the impossible goal of being as entertaining as the game, at least for the length of an ad. There’s nothing more Australian than being able to take the mickey out of yourself. As Australia’s oldest bank, it just felt right.”
DDB Sydney Executive Creative Director Matt Chandler added: “An epic slice of musical theatre was really the only way to do justice to the coming together of Westpac and the NRL. The plight of these two characters was a joy to bring to life for all of us, so we’re very excited for their story to be told on one of the biggest nights of the rugby league calendar.”
The campaign was created for client Westpac by a team at creative agency DDB Sydney which included Chief Creative Officer Stephen De Wolf, Executive Creative Director Matt Chandler, Creative Partner Dan Bolton, Creative Henry Kember, Copywriter Hannah Lawson, Art Director Kate Idle, Managing Partner Sasha Firth, Business Director Siobhan Kelly, Business Affairs Manager Manon Debus Pesquet, Chief Strategy Officer Fran Clayton, Brand Manager Michael Sinclair, Strategist Tom Witcombe, Head Of Production Adrian Jung, Producer Liz Nunan and Operations Manager Tim Lunken.
The production gruop at Revolver included Director Matt Devine, Managing Director Michael Ritchie, Executive Producers Pip Smart and Anna Mannix, Producer Serena Paull, Director Of Photography Jeremy Rouse, Production Designer Enzo Iacono and Costume Designer Sophie Fletcher.
Post Production and VFX were handled by Arc Edit’s Editor Dan Lee, Colourist Ben Eagleton, Online Editor Eugene Richards and Producer Jess Ryan.
Music and sound was by Soundtree Music Publishing Limited Composer Joel Hartman and Producer Neil Athale, plus Rumble Studios.
Comment
In October 2022 it was announced that Westpac had signed on as the official banking partner of the NRL and committed to providing equal financial support across both the men’s and women’s competitions (in terms of dollar-for-dollar investment).
The Westpac/NRL partnership runs across to all levels of the game in Australia: stretching from the elite game to providing junior pathways for emerging women through the ‘RISE Rookie Academy’ and supporting for regional communities with the ‘Roads to Regions’ program and ‘Community Awards’.
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