Westpac Air rescue

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tell a brand story in a none self serving way

Banks have never been a popular part of Australian culture. Despite doing amazing work within the community, conventional advertising wasn’t moving the brand consideration needle and hadn’t for years. As Westpac celebrated it’s 40th anniversary as partner of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, we saw the unique opportunity to tell an amazing Australian story of support, friendship and community in a way that wasn’t self-serving.

Air Rescue was the first ever fully ad-funded series to air on Australian prime-time TV and it delivered beyond all expectations :

  • Over a quarter of the Australian TV audience tuned in

  • No. 1 in its time-slot for metro and regional areas

  • The average audience over 14 episodes was over 1.1 million

  • Sold into 45 countries (UK, Asia, Brazil)

An extra 25% of people said they would consider Westpac for banking services as a result of Air Rescue (source: Milward Brown)

 

Air Rescue social

In our third season we had to radically adapt a stunning, cinematic, edge of your seat storytelling format from TV and into the hands of a hard to reach audience.

Our Solution

An explosive social content series that straps in millennials and takes them along for the ride making them feel part of the rescue crew. We featured younger crew members,
19-year-old Sammy and 28-year-old paramedic Charlie, characters we knew would resonate with millennials. Sammy showed bravery and skill to winch a woman 150ft from
a tall ship and Charlie flew out to a remote tourist spot to help an elderly man in distress. We also created an Australia Day thank you from Westpac to the service which targeted the younger audience at a peak-time of social activity around the national holiday.

The Results

  • We captivated 1.6 million young Aussies aged between 17 and 34

  • 676,000 social engagements.

  • User initiated social video content received 330,000 views

  • Incredible view through rates of 75%

  • Average view time was 83 seconds

  • Snapchat Stories had an impressive 60% open rate.

  • 864 activated cards and 31 Home Loans
    (estimated revenue of $401,965 over three years.)

AIR RESCUE Results

Over all 5 seasons the content series has reached 41M people, generated $8.5M in PR value and has now been sold into 100 markets globally making it the most in demand brand funded format on the planet.