We’re super excited to unveil our new campaign to the world. We’ve been working on this for a long time and it’s finally time to share it.
But what's the meaning behind the Squirrel Effect?
When JB founded Squirrel, he was disillusioned by the banking system and he believed there must be a better way. He left his senior banking role, took out his entire superannuation and opened a Squirrel office, at the height of the GFC. Fast-forward 16 years and here we are, still going strong.
When it came to the challenge of creating a new brand campaign for Squirrel, we wanted to make absolutely sure that what we did was true to the brand, true to where we came from and what we’ve always been about – disrupting the status quo and trying to give kiwi a better and fairer way to get a mortgage (the biggest financial commitment in most kiwis lives), and now a better way to save and invest too.
But we know that it’s not easy to get people to sit up and take notice. Getting people to change banks is hard enough, let alone getting them to actually move away from the banking system.
First we did some research. With the help of SixFold we got some in-depth insights into kiwi attitudes towards money.
Next, we enlisted the help of the talented Special Group, and passed the challenge along to them.
We ultimately wanted a campaign that would give us longevity for years to come, and also make us stand out in the crowded financial services category.
We found that Kiwi are doing the same thing with their money, day in, day out. It’s easy to trust the big banks, they’ve been around for decades and with them, you know what you’re getting.
But now it’s time to shake things up – just because this is the way it’s always been done, doesn’t mean it always has to be.
We’re looking around and waking up to the idea that it’s possible to change what you do with your money. And we’re not talking crazy things here. We’re talking little things.
When you make small changes, it can have a big effect overall.
- Use a mortgage broker – it’s a no brainer.
- Get ALL your money earning interest instead of sitting there, languishing sadly. Also a no-brainer!
The insights that led to the campaign idea were that everyone has money ambitions but we tend to get stuck in the system that’s offered to us by the big banks – we’re sleep walking through the process of getting a mortgage, or keeping our money sitting idle instead of helping it grow. None of us are questioning the system and as a result our money dreams become difficult to achieve.
Squirrel has come up with a better way of doing these things – and that’s what our campaign is all about; waking people up to the possibility of doing things a different way, and what that can mean.
Have you heard of the butterfly effect? It’s when a butterfly flaps it’s wings in one place, it can cause a hurricane in another place. Well, it’s like that. But for your money. We call it…the Squirrel Effect.
WAKE UP to the Squirrel Effect
WAKE UP to a better way to grow your money
WAKE UP to an easier way to sort your home loan
A huge thank you to everyone involved in creating this campaign.
Agency – Special
Production Company – Sweetshop
Max Barden – Director
Ben Dailey – Executive Producer
Jimena Murray – Producer
Crighton Bone – Cinematographer
Neville Stevenson – Production Designer
Kristin Seth – Wardrobe Stylist
Adrian Dentice, AKD Casting – Casting
Julian Currin – Editor
Matic Prusnik – Colour
Blockhead VFX – Online & VFX
Troy Goodall – Photographer
Audio – Liquidstudios
Craig Matuschka – Sound Design