St George launches kid-fronted ‘Start something’ positioning from Saatchi & Saatchi
Then first work by Saatchi & Saatchi on behalf of St George Bank has been unveiled, along with a new “Start something” positioning.
The ad features young children dressed as dragons – in a nod to the legend of St George and the dragon – talking to the camera.
The bank is owned by Westpac.
George Frazis, CEO of St.George Banking Group said in the relaunch announcement: “St.George was built on a foundation of helping people ‘start something’ – helping people to start saving for their first home or helping them start a business. This is the underlying concept of our brand refresh – we want to challenge and inspire people to get out there and start whatever it is they really want to do.”
Martine Jager, GM of strategy, marketing and customer experience, said: “St.George is passionate about helping customers and our local communities. We’re here to help people stop renting and start buying – if that’s what they want.”
The campaign will run in NSW, ACT, Queensland and Western Australia. The campaign includes TV, print, out of home and digital.
Credits:
- Client: St.George
- Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney
- Business Director: Josie Dadd
- ECD: Damon Stapleton
- Creatives: Dan O’Connell & Sam Chappel
- Agency Producer: Kate Gooden
- Production Company: The Feds
- Director: Matt Palmer
- Producer: Karen Watson/Lizzy Nash
- Post Production: Fanatic Films
- Music: Dead Mono
- Sound Design: Saatchi & Saatchi
- Editor: Dave Anlezark/Saatchi & Saatchi
- Media: Mediacom
St George advertising is best known for Ogilvy’s long-running TVC featuring a banker at a barbie.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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I LOVE BANKS!!!! I LOVE THE FINANCE INDUSTRY!!!!! (Hang on a minute….)
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Strong message. Lovely idea. Arresting copy and execution. Well cast, too.
Nice work S&S. Welcome back. And thank you St George for helping them to make a great ad with you.
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Nice work boys.
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I can’t believe you ripped me off so blatantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-gQLqv9f4o
If you’re going to take the path already travelled, at least acknowledge it.
Uncool.
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A bank that enables, hardly ground breaking.
Still, well cast and shot.
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Yep, they nailed that. Awesome talent.
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Just a minor detail, the banker at the BBQ wasn’t Ogilvy’s ad… that was Whybin’s many moons ago. Ogilvy just had the fun of rehashing it for the second time around.
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How bad has my Australian agency got that one of our esteemed clients was running ads from their previous shop? By jove!
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Nice work guys! cute ad
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Kid President – cute kids saying cute things?! How did you *ever* think of something so unbelievably fresh and new and different?
This is the best Aussie bank ad I’ve seen in years.
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LOVE the powerpoint end-frame. A couple more logos and it would be 10/10
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Forget Ogilvy, Shamless lift of CommBank’s Can strategy, only with a really annoying little kid
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You’ve just had an hour long tussle to get your 8 year old off to bed, while trying to resettle your 6 year old, you finally sit down to your hot chocolate, then this ad comes on….
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Note to Saatchi’s, M&C did the whole bank enabling thing last year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BL7CJsrXY4 and with watchable talent.
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Reminds me a hell of a lot of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIqCCS4KeEw
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Sorry, banks are for grown ups, no matter how many overacting kids in dress up you throw at me.
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I think this style has become a genre rather than a rip off, but I think a director with some empathy with kids might have helped. This one always worked for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiFzrQw_weM
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M&C can’t own the notion of financial services enabling people to do things. Besides, “CAN” was so boring. I like this a lot more.
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@ So 2012
Banks have been doing ‘enabling’ ads forever. If you think Commbank’s ‘Can’ campaign was the first of its kind you need to do some research.
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Nice one Kid President.
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Hmm… I think this one goes beyond just “enabling” (ie Can) and is more about encouragement (ie Do)
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Gold star to pedantic planner.
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Oh, and a chocolate starfish to How Can you.
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Such a rip off of Kid President.
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I like the idea but hate being lectured by a kid.
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This looks like the young girl from the Greater Building Society’s latest adverts and cashback campaign. http://www.greater.com.au/Campaign/Home-Loans.aspx
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Is the kid a boy or a girl
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Wrong on how many levels? Let me count the ways. One: Convenient skipover of ethics in giving a child seriously adult concepts to sell. Two:twisting and mashing up adult needs and desires into a fake child landscape. Three: Exploiting a child with a script hat has nothing to do with that child’s inner self but designed to look like it. Four: using the ‘whatever it takes to get the client’s message through’ method through the ‘turning a blind eye’ method.
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