SBS Bank Saves First Home Buyers from Endangered Status

New Zealand-owned SBS Bank has reignited its positioning, Bank With Heart, and its 154-year heritage with a brand campaign highlighting the bank’s commitment to conserving the Kiwi dream of home ownership. In a category first, the campaign reframes first home buyers as New Zealand’s latest endangered species - crucial to the survival of our good life here in Aotearoa and one we can all play a role in helping save and protect.

SBS Bank group chief executive Mark McLean says the bank is delighted to champion first home buyers across New Zealand with its first national brand campaign. “The great Kiwi dream of home ownership was the very reason SBS was established in 1869 and, 154 years later, we’re just as passionate about working hard for our purpose of helping New Zealanders find a place to call home,” Mark said. “It’s exciting to launch a new campaign that brings that purpose to life, supported by our back-to-back Canstar award-winning commitment to first home buyers and market-leading products and services.”

Created in partnership with ABEL Aotearoa, Scoundrel, and Match Artists, the work also sees the introduction of SBS Bank’s Kiwi Dream Conservationists — the team dedicated to conserving the dream of home ownership.

Abel Aotearoa’s creative co-founder Simon Fowler said, "We’ve had an incredible time bringing this work to life alongside the SBS Bank team and our partners. As someone who’s just settled into their first home, I know there’s never been a more important time to show first home buyers across New Zealand that we understand the challenges they face, and there’s never been a more important initiative from a Kiwi-owned bank to help support their home-buying journey.”

Scoundrel director Jamie Lawrence says: “The opportunity to help build something for an iconic Southland brand has been an amazing process. Alongside that, the opportunity to reshape the way New Zealand thinks about first home buyers on a national stage has been epic.”

SBS Bank brand lead Mandy Oosterbroek says the launch of the new brand campaign is the culmination of a lot of hard work and a focused approach to bringing the bank’s purpose to life in a new and exciting way. “It enables us to tell the SBS story about helping Kiwis find a place to call home, and how it’s still relevant over 154 years later,” Mandy said.

The work will be launched New Zealand-wide across TV, social, and OOH.