Because, Qantas and Sydney Water bring home some metal from the Australian Marketing Institute Awards, and we are beyond proud.
There’s no denying it, it’s been a pretty (insert expletive here) year to date. So, when you get a little good news, you’d be forgiven for shouting it from the rooftops, literally, and celebrating in spectacular style (albeit over Zoom) with an inordinate amount of your beverage of choice.
Well, Because ANZ has a little something to celebrate. Two little somethings in fact, as we have been named the National Winner of two categories at the Australian Marketing Institute Awards. The team brought home the awards for the Loyalty & Retention category for the work done on the Qantas Rewards Room, and the Sponsorship category for the Sydney Water campaign, and we are beyond proud.
But we can’t just take our hats off to the Because crew, as awards like these are often won by strong client/agency partnerships, which was most certainly the case here. Both our Qantas and Sydney Water clients were willing to take calculated risks to innovate, and where there is a will, well, there is a way to do exciting work that not only benefits the brand, but turns heads (of some rather prestigious judges) while doing so.
For Sydney Water it was about a government agency moving away from functional, conservative communication, to a sponsorship campaign that embraced gamification using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in the form of tags that were affixed to fans’ water bottles.
Sydney Water is the official Hydration Partner of the Thunder and Sixers cricket teams in Australia. Working closely with the client, we created the innovative ‘Bring It to Win It’ campaign, which focused on normalising the behaviour of bringing your own water bottles to matches.
All fans needed to do was fill their bottles up at dedicated water stations, and tap their NFC-activated water tags on the specially created app found on tablets across the venues. Everyone with a tag was entitled to one tap per match day, so the more matches they attended, the more they stood to win.
In year two of the three-year strategy, over 25,000 fans engaged with the campaign over the season, and a massive 17,000 plastic bottles were saved from entering landfills and waterways. The campaign has positively changed human behaviour, helping to protect the environment and create a more sustainable future, something Because, as an agency, are pretty proud of, and we’re not alone, Carmen Prince Brand & Marketing Manager at Sydney Water had this to say, “We’re really proud to have won this award with the Because team. The results we achieved shows just what a right approach with the right partner can deliver.”
The Qantas Rewards client took an innovative leap with our digital-first programme, embracing a ‘clicks to bricks’ strategy to drive engagement with their wider programme.
The new Qantas Frequent Flyer Rewards Room at Melbourne’s Terminal 1 brought a physical edge to the typically, digital-centric marketing programme. This customised experiential retail showroom incentivised flyers to visit by offering 100 points for entering the store daily. Then the expert brand ambassadors, affectionately known as ‘Point Pilots’, would spend quality time with each visitor sharing with them how they could best use the programme specifically to their requirement. Stock in the store was on hand to bring tangible benefits immediately to life, and was carefully chosen to cover all the traveller profiles. Tablets were also stationed around the room so consumers could order items for home delivery. Naturally, to draw footfall into the stand, there were also ‘experience zones’ where we partnered with retail brands like Dyson to offer a free blow-dry bar while demonstrating new products.
The QFF Rewards Room helped Qantas recruit new customers, build brand loyalty and increase product sales and engagement among their existing network and third-party partners. The brand activation showed that the Rewards are a powerful digital currency, and that Qantas as a brand, is about more than just flying – it’s an innovative retail partner that offers its passengers more. “In our digital age, it’s a privilege to have had the opportunity to create a ‘click to brick’ campaign. The team at Qantas Loyalty were so agile and collaborative in their ways of working. They trusted us and the process, which allowed us to bring to life an innovative piece of work that delivered results for members and partners” said Steph Babin, Senior Account Director at Because.
Good news like this, in a tough year like 2020, is just that much sweeter. We are incredibly proud of the greater team for winning the AMI awards, and feel so fortunate to have such collaborative clients who trust us to create innovative work, that really works. It’s partnerships like these, and the campaigns that comes from them that makes it ALL worthwhile. Here, here!