senckađ
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Group745
Behind the Work in association withThe Immortal Awards
Group745

Watch Melbourne's Maker Culture Come Alive in This Bank of Melbourne Spot

21/04/2015
Advertising Agency
Sydney, Australia
373
Share
Uncover the hidden cracks and underbelly of the city in Saatchi & Saatchi's new Bank of Melbourne campaign

LBB goes behind the scenes with Saatchi & Saatchi senior art director Flavio Fonseca (left) and senior copywriter Piero Ruzzene (right) on the Bank of Melbourne’s latest city-celebrating campaign.

Bank of Melbourne recently launched a new brand campaign looking to re-establish the brand’s offering as the only bank born for the city and Victorian state that is dedicated to building the prosperity of Victoria’s people, businesses and communities. 


The first work produced by Saatchi & Saatchi since being appointed as the bank’s lead agency in January 2015, the campaign’s objective is to demonstrate the brand’s 'customer first' approach. The agency wanted to capture the spirit of Melbourne and Victoria and prove that the Bank of Melbourne is more than just the Bank of Melbourne but the Bank for Melbourne. 

The creative team – senior art director Flavio Fonseca and senior copywriter Piero Ruzzene, believed there was no better way to showcase this than to feature some of the extraordinary makers, crafters and doers that make up the fabric of the unique city and state.

The 90-second launch film features short narratives on 12 Melbourne ‘makers’, from neon sign makers to boat builders. The brand film takes on a rather fresh approach for a bank that needed market cut through and an idea only it could own.



“We uncovered a truth that Melbourne is a city of makers,” said Ruzzene. “Talented, inspiring types who carefully build and meticulously craft their ideas into things they can be proud of. And, being the only bank born of that city, Bank of Melbourne is constantly creating and crafting its products specifically for Melbourne and these restless spirits,” he added. 

With a strong truth under their belts, the creatives pitched the idea and wrote a call-to-arms that simply celebrated the Makers of Melbourne. With a script devised early on, the creatives collaborated with the marketing team at Bank of Melbourne who also loved the idea of casting real Melbournians (including customers) who were making real things, without losing out on a strong storyline.  

“The danger with these kinds of ideas is they become a montage of images with no purpose,” explained Ruzzene. He said getting together early on with the spot’s director, Joel Harmsworth from The Sweet Shop, was key to creating a strong storyline and visual threads that brought to life what these ‘makers’ share with each other and with their city.

“In parallel, our casting agent was briefed to look for real Melbourne makers of all kinds. Bank of Melbourne also assisted in identifying customers that were feature too so we were crafting and changing the story right up to the shoot. Our director Joel was amazingly collaborative all the way through. For an idea called Melbourne Made, we needed a Melbourne-made director who’d done great work and was passionate about their city and Joel was our man.”

When it came to selecting the featured cast, the team wanted to celebrate ‘making’ that was synonymous with Melbourne – from nearly forgotten crafts to more contemporary creative pursuits to classic industries of the city.

Fonseca says: “We were also wary of being too hipster or tourism-like and felt it was also important to show a breadth in this idea of ‘making’… so we looked to those making a home, or a future, or a business empire and this gave us a good balance of ‘makers’.”



While the uniqueness of each of the makers was already established, what tied them all together was the idea of Melbourne being an interwoven network of makers who all benefit from each other. “What one maker produces here, another uses there and so on. It’s a giant ecosystem of creativity where every maker feeds on the other,” Fonseca explained.

The seamless pacing of the spot relied heavily on the edit and even though the creative team has a tight pre-production process, they deliberately kept the storyboards loose and the shooting fluid. “We had to shoot enough footage to give us options in the edit and then it was just a matter of working together to construct the right story,” he said.

Complementing the campaign visuals, the music was also a key component to the success of the campaign. 




“Music gives pace but also emotional weight and we wanted this ad to stir something in Melbournians,” added Ruzzene. “When we pitched the idea, we already had the musical-style in mind and even though we tried a few different things, we ended up going with our initial thought.”

The response to the campaign, supported across digital, outdoor, in-store, social and cinema, has confirmed the idea of capturing the spirit of Melbourne and its unique creative community has paid off. “Melbourne is looked to as a beacon of creativity because of its unique culture. And sometimes you need to look at the thing that you’re surrounded by everyday and say: ‘Hey, this city we live in is amazing. And here’s why’.”

Jac Phillips, Bank of Melbourne head of brand and marketing, said: “Victorian business and the passionate people behind them are the lifeblood of our community. This campaign is all about celebrating how they are making our city and state the great place it is to live and work.”



Credits
Work from Saatchi & Saatchi Australia
ALL THEIR WORK