Online bank RaboDirect plants money on a tree and films consumer reactions
RaboDirect, the online bank, this week staged a stunt which saw it stick real $5 notes onto a tree at The Rocks in Sydney and filmed people’s reactions with a hidden camera.
The experiential activity, which was developed by PR agency Zing, is part of the biggest marketing campaign to be launched by RaboDirect. It’s main aim is to inform consumers of its name change from RaboPlus to RaboDirect.
The campaign theme “Don’t accept laziness from your savings”, also aims to educate consumers on how to make the most of their money.
The video of the ‘money tree’ stunt shows that after a slow start where bystanders ignored the cash or simply took pictures of it, the tree was stripped bare in less than three hours as opportunistic passers-by worked together and employed various means to maximise their financial gains.
The video directs consumers onto its website to find out about the point of the experiment.
The stunt was featured in a segment on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise this week, with seeding of the video with bloggers such as Sarah Wilson.
Greg McAweeney, RaboDirect GM, said: “We wanted to do something unexpected to help educate consumers on the potential of their savings.
“It’s clear from the experiment, you wouldn’t ignore the opportunity of a money tree, so why ignore the growth potential offered from High Interest Savings Accounts?”
Whybin\TBWA\Tequila has headed up the above-the-line component of the campaign which includes TV, radio, print and outdoor. Below-the-line PR is being handled by BlueChip Communication.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Whoever came up with this is idea is a genius 🙂
Great work Zing and RaboDirect
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Not an original idea. Originated in New Zealand for PRF.
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bit stingy only using $5 notes what about $20’s!
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“It’s clear from the experiment, you wouldn’t ignore the opportunity of a money tree, so why ignore the growth potential offered from High Interest Savings Accounts?” … Is that really the message out-take from people passing by? Or will they think money grows on trees?
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Yes Simon, passers by probably won’t understand that this was a PR stunt, they will probably now believe that money grows on trees. Also, the whole thing was probably designed just for the passers by, they just made the video for shits and giggles.
/ENORMOUS, ENORMOUS EYE ROLL
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Clever. I like it. Surprised I’ve not seen something on it prior to now.
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“The video directs consumers onto its website to find out about the point of the experiment.” – if that isn’t a failure in communications, I don’t know what is. Mixed messages, an obscure connection to the point being made. Frankly this is just novelty for its own sake, and the dead-hand of an engineered viral. Rabo (God knows what a “Rabo” is) would have better spent those $5 notes on more effective communications.
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people,
it’s a positive, feel-good stunt which was probably low-cost (compared to advertising) and ahcieved massive ROI in editorial coverage. success, methinksso.
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forgot to congratulate Zing on a well-planned and implemented tactic and the videographer for a brilliant clip ;0)
(onya Adz)
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Yeah it was great for 15 mins of branding but if they had only finished the ad with a snippet that pointed out that the RaboDirect High Interest Savings Account has the highest interest rate for a savings account in Australia, at the moment, they could have actually captured some motivated customers.
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