Save the Planet One Home Loan at a Time, from ANZ and TBWA\NZ

The latest adventure of the Sharma family sees them grappling with energy consumption, in a new campaign from ANZ Bank NZ and TBWA\NZ. 

The Sharma family were introduced by ANZ over a year ago, and are intended to embody the spirit of the bank’s ‘We Do How’ brand platform. This long-running campaign follows the journey of one New Zealand family through time. Its spots are casual, humorous, and relatable, and drive home the message that consumers need financial tools for a variety of different, personal ends - the bank’s role is to provide the ‘how’.

And this latest set of tools is intended to help with energy efficiency. To that end, this new chapter in the ‘We Do How’ campaign is designed to help launch ANZ’s Good Energy Home Loan, a latest product which aims to help Kiwis be more energy-efficient. 

ANZ’s Good Energy Home Loan enables customers to top up their home loans by $80,000 at a low rate, with that top-up being used to purchase energy upgrades such as solar panels, insulation, electric vehicles and more. 

Catherine Harris, CEO at TBWA\New Zealand, describes the latest product offering as one that aligns with a “pretty clear national agenda” held by both “the government and the country. “It's now really on every household, community, brand, or business, to look at how they're going to contribute to achieving those goals and those outcomes,” she adds.

Catherine explains that rising costs of living are factored into the campaign as well, “It becomes a really accessible way for people to save on energy costs in the long term. I think it's the perfect trifecta: it’s looking to contribute to the community, which we know consumers want to play their part in; it's an incredibly low interest rate with really broad application in how you can adapt good energy practices; and it also gives people some hope around some of those really tricky energy and petrol costs, which is why electric vehicles were included as well.”

But rather than being a campaign that’s simply about the benefits of sustainability, TBWA\NZ delivers a poignant, relatable, and personal story of energy-use reduction. To do this, they return to the Sharma family. 

As Matthew Pickering, GM of marketing at ANZ puts it, “The ads show that not only can this be good for the planet and good for your pocket, in the case of our young lead character Sameer, but it’s also good for your heart.”

This approach, says Catherine, comes from a desire on ANZ’s part to empower, rather than lead, the consumer. “They've got an ambition to contribute to New Zealand's carbon neutral goals. And as a brand, they’re all about enabling and empowering New Zealanders with the tools and the products that can help Kiwis live the way they want, either under financial well-being, or in this case, under sustainability.”

Shane Bradnick, chief creative officer at TBWA\NW, explains further, describing the effect of the low-rate loans, “All of a sudden, it makes it accessible to a lot more people, which means the actual impact can happen at a much larger scale.”

But why return to the Sharma family? The answer, reveals Catherine, lies in their relatability. “When you're the biggest bank in New Zealand you have to appeal to absolutely everyone. You can't be niche, or appeal to one group. You can't be a disruptor.” 

And the Sharma family, Shane explains, has been created with the greatest possible authentic relatability in mind. “One of the things that we were very conscious of was that the family didn't become walking mascots for the bank. I think we really wanted to create a sense of their life, and their world, and their reality.”

That reality extends also to the fact that people have “many reasons why they’d want to make a sustainable change in their lives”, shares Shane. “We wanted to show how adopting more energy-efficient practices can feel accessible to everyone, and that being more sustainable can be a smart financial choice as well. The work inspires us with some of the big changes we can make at home through a new ANZ Good Energy upgrade loan as well as the smaller changes we can make daily.”

Catherine adds that the campaign works on two levels, “The reality of any top-up loan is that, whilst it's universal and definitely makes it far more accessible to anyone, you still need to be a homeowner, and you need to be able to afford to take up that loan. 

“What I think is really beautiful in the campaign is that, whilst that's playing out in one dimension, you've also got little simple things such as turning off lights being done. New Zealand homes are notoriously draughty, so the little doorstop dog that's made out of scraps of fabric actually makes a huge difference to the warmth and the energy efficiency of your home. 

“What I love about the ad is it inspires on both levels: there are some things that we can help with through the good energy upgrade, but there are lots of little things that we also know we could all be doing in our homes. I think the spot definitely talks to those as well.”

Highlighting the ad’s subtle humanism, Shane concludes, “New Zealanders love storytelling, and when they can feel that authentic relatability at the heart of it, that’s when a campaign really works.” He’s quick to addt “I’d also like to say a big thank you to Michelle Savill from Good Oil, who did an amazing job of bringing heart and humour to our love story.”

The ANZ Good Energy Home Loan campaign will follow the 60” launch TVC with a variety of supplementary works, including TV, OOH, EV bus wraps, digital, social and in-branch. Says Catherine, “You start with the big emotional inspirational brand piece, and then follow that up with the right detail around what the loan is. That’s in channels like social and digital, where we can get more specific again about what it is you can buy.”

Shane elaborates about the Sharmas and their popularity within New Zealand, “There's a lot of recognition of the family itself, and with them across the different channels, you get to have the biggest possible impact.”

The Sharma family’s authentic relatability, it seems, remains an asset – one that ANZ and TBWA\NZ are tapping into for continued success.