Aussie undertakes a rebrand, new campaign

One of Australia’s original financial challenger brands, Aussie, has a new purpose and marketing strategy and is undergoing a brand relaunch starting with a fresh campaign. 

The brand relaunch is part of Aussie’s new three-year business strategy 'Experience 22’, which aims to re-orientate the financial service giant to be a more customer-focused organisation. All this stems from its new purpose: Putting progress within reach of more Australians.

Chief customer officer at Aussie, David Smith, who took on brand and marketing responsibilities late last year, said Aussie undertook some consumer research to find out what their customers wanted. In an increasingly regulatory environment, with trust in banks at an all-time low, and with open banking coming up, Aussie found customers are confused, nervous, and just want things simplified. 

Now, Aussie is putting customer at the centre of everything it does, from its purpose, to its advertising and marketing, and bringing back that loud, humorous voice Aussie was launched on. 

“We’ve always been a consumer champion, but now we are prioritising our messaging and our investment around that,” Smith told CMO. “We undertook consumer research which told us the confusion message. It is all more difficult given the current regulatory environment. We’re saying it doesn’t need to be, and our messaging aims to cut through that. 

“The culmination of our new strategy and purpose is in the campaign just broken, it is the first thing consumers and our broker network will see. It is the first marker we’ve put down in this consistent clarity message.” 

Providing a reset and refresh moment, the fully integrated campaign, put together by CHE Proximity, is rolling out nationally, taking a fresh approach to a category where ‘financial blah blah blah’ is everywhere causing consumer confusion and complication. 

It aims to reclaim Aussie as the go-to for buying, owning or investing in property, the campaign sees the 27-year old brand redefining its communications as the modern, approachable and straight-talking brand Australia needs. 

“When it comes to buying, investing or refinancing a home, it’s hard to know where to start. Who do we go to help navigate this mess? The Internet. The banks. Friends and family. Uber drivers. Anyone except someone who knows what they’re talking about. When you come straight to Aussie, you get someone to guide you through the confusion. You get help. Real help from a qualified broker. And you can be sure they know their stuff,” Smith said. 

“For this reset moment we wanted to not only show we’re the experts, but we have a new approach - a customer first approach to renew and amplify our brand, reimagining every step of the communications journey.” 

Trust in the category is at an all-time low, with 25 per cent of Australians displaying zero trust towards their bank and the increasing difficulty in purchasing real estate. Statistics show it takes up to 9.5 years to save a deposit in major capital cities. 

The campaign launches with three 30-second hero films highlighting typical occasions where laughable ‘wisdom’ around buying a home is given freely. Showing everyone from your old school Dad to your hairdresser and even your tailor wants to weigh in. 

The campaign is aimed at buyers at all stages in the market from first time buyers, people looking to upgrade, investors or people look to refinance to free up some equity. Alongside the hero films; First Home Buyer, Refinancer and Investor, the integrated campaign will see 15-second and 6-second social cuts downs, and GIFs and static which will run alongside out-of-home, retail, display and online. Other elements include a strategic media partnership and earned campaign.  

“The current environment is a great opportunity for a trusted brand like Aussie to bring our loud voice back. We’ve got a really strong proposition, we just needed to sharpen our message and reach out to customers better," Smith said.

“We are also working on new digital experiences for customers to help them navigate the complicated market better. 

“We need to keep in mind, no one in interested in a home loan, everyone just wants a home. 

“The campaign involves a pretty heavy digital presence, press, social, TV and OOH. For measurement, we’re NPS advocates; we want to hear the truth from customers. 

“Our marketing moving forward is building on this campaign, both from digital side; we will be undertaking a re- launch of our Web presence, but also on the physical side via store network.”

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