Westpac’s ‘captivating’ ad takes home Mumbrella’s April Ad of the Month
Mumbrella has revealed the winner of the April edition of Ad of the Month, with the industry choosing between Westpac, Holden, KFC and Samsung.
DDB’s ad for Westpac has won Mumbrella’s of Ad of the Month for April. Voters labelled the ad as “captivating”, “heartwarming” and “inspirational” with the bank receiving 58% of the votes.
“This ad is very engaging and keeps you involved until the end. Westpac is positioned to be there to help you and that’s giving the brand value above and beyond taking profits in a competitive and uncaring segment. Nice strategy,” one voter said.
“Highest quality production and story telling. Delivers on brand purpose not and what they sell. Insightful brand land work at its best,” another commented.
“It is relevant to modern Australians, thought provoking and emotional. Really sits at the core of what we want to achieve as a nation.
Other voters said they got “goosebumps” watching the ad and made them proud to be Australian with the commercial “hitting the nail on the head”.
Ben Welsh, chief creative officer at DDB, said the win is a “fantastic acknowledgment”.
“We’re really proud of what Westpac and DDB have done with this creative to build upon Westpac’s long standing ‘Proudly Supporting Australia’ platform.
“It’s emotive and compelling storytelling, that goes to the heart of a cultural truth about Australia and embraces everything that is great about this country – Aussie mateship and our willingness to jump in and help one another in times of need.”
The other April contenders included:
- Agencies and brands involved in creating ads that first run during April are invited to put them forward for consideration. Please email abigail@mumbrella.com.au
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Interesting choice to run that campaign in the middle of the royal banking commission and choose it as ad of the month…
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Really. Westpac!! They promote all of the cuddly stuff while scalping their customers.
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It’s the same ad as the new NRMA campaign…
Far from original…
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Get it together Mumbrella! The flak Westpac is receiving in the Royal Banking Commission almost makes this worst Ad of the month. Even if it wasn’t under scrutiny about its bad business practices, nobody owing money to any bank in Australia would refer them as their ‘hero’.
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Helicopters don’t come cheap. Sometimes you need ‘alternative revenue sources’.
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It’s disingenuous to suggest it’s a rip-off of the other spot, they’ve both obviously been in development for months leading-up to launch, with each idea presented a loooong time ago.
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This is a nice ad sure, but this one, NRMA, and First State Super are all running similar iterations of the same strategy at the moment. Surely lost points for originality? Or for having absolutely nothing to do with the product offered….
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DDB did what the monkeys tried very hard but couldn’t do
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I can’t stand that TVC. It’s so cringeworthy that I groaned aloud when I first saw it. A number of my associates feel the same. It’s so lame that I will change the channel if it comes on.
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How then do you propose buying your home without owing money to a Bank? Wait 30 years while save up to buy it on cash? By which time inflation and capital gains now mean you can’t afford it…
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I’m curious, how then do you propose buying your home without owing money to a Bank? Save up for 30 years so you can buy it for cash? By which time inflation and capital gains have meant you now can’t afford it. And you’ve been renting for those 30 years, because you needed somewhere to live. Sounds like a great plan.
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So this is my personal opinion obviously, but hey it’s the internet.
I think the Westpac ad whilst have lovely production values, and some nice acting, unfortunately, speaks to nothing whatsoever about Westpac. What’s the story – Aussies help each other, and we are Australian so therefore we are helpful? By that thinking, Andrew Bolt is helpful. I think it’s a stretch. If you took the helicopter out of the ad, no one on the entire planet would guess that it’s an ad for Westpac. It’s like a team had an idea for a blockbuster ad (music video really) in their drawer and went looking for an end-card/client/cash. This ad would work (better) for any insurance company, charity or healthcare company etc.
At least the other three have stories that are direct connections to the brands/products they represent.
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This will definitely be miss-attributed in NRMA. Watch your band tracker Westpac (and NRMA). NRMA has owned the position of HELP for 90 years. NRMA should pick up the phone and thank Westpac for the free h e l p.
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What a beautiful ad. It makes me proud to be Australian. Thanks goodness it was voted on by the people, not most of the people commenting above. Banks are allowed to advertise. They are allowed to paint themselves in a positive light, They can even do it while a Royal Commission is showing them to have deplorable behaviour. And as Zac said above, good luck trying to buy a car, start a business or buy a home without a bank.
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I liked the Westpac ad and I like the NMRA ad. I am glad there are these messages going around being beamed into homes. I think of them more of education messages than ads. We need some antidote to the body plastic messages we get from all the reality TV on dating / marriages and all the crimes shows on free to air TV. I walk away with a renewed feeling that it is important to care for other people and I would want young people to see that. In our heavily “me” oriented society, it is the family, friends and helping people we don’t know that makes our world go around. The purpose to help is central to who we are as human beings.
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Isn’t that exactly why they have ran this ad? (Re to try to muddy the waters and look shiny, whilst the truth about them gets plastered all over the news and social channels?)
There seem to be a lot of crooks associated with Australian financial institutions. I wonder if the Westpac helicopter would be used to free some of their execs from a jail yard…?
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Hi Dennis,
Appreciate the feedback. Just to clarify, Mumbrella’s Ad of the Month is chosen based on an anonymous survey completed by members of the advertising industry and not by Mumbrella. Last month, Westpac had the most number of votes and was therefore awarded the title of Ad of the Month.
Cheers,
Abigail – Mumbrella.