From news announcements and product launches to providing thought leadership on the back of key economic indicators as they happen, Keep Left offers a comprehensive press office function to ensure the ME brand is plugged into all available opportunities. This is supported by a series of consumer campaigns connected to the theme of ‘helping Australians get ahead.’ We’ve explored everything from financial literacy levels in Australia, to how comfortable we are discussing money with family and friends. The formula for these campaigns is they’re backed by Omnibus research from which the Keep Left team develops a package of angle and creative assets to effectively sell the story into Australian news, personal finance and lifestyle media.

ME’s Household Financial Comfort Report (HFCR) is a major communications initiative from the Bank that provides insights into the financial comfort levels of everyday Australian twice-annually. The report is now widely regarded by business, finance and news reporters as a credible economic indicator in its own right. On the day of launch, it is generally a feature of the national news cycle and can achieve up to 900 pieces of media coverage for ME, making it an effective brand awareness tool.

In October 2016, economist Bernard Salt accused millennials of overspending on smashed avocado brunches instead of saving for a home. Outraged hipsters went wild online causing an “Avogate” backlash against Mr Salt’s comments.

ME was perfectly placed to capitalise on this opportunity with an existing home loan advertising campaign in market “have your smashed avocado and eat it too” (what an amazing coincidence!), a thought leadership position on housing affordability and a new Life&Loan digital tool for consumers. Keep Left and ME swung into action to further maximise the escalating smashed avo debate with one key message for consumers: You can buy a home and keep your lifestyle too.

The idea? To hijack the “Super-Saturday” auction weekend that was approaching in just four days’ time – when everyone’s eyes would be on the property market – and turn it into a Super-Smasherday.

With just days to pull this off, the team organised a collaboration with real estate agents Harcourts and engaged a catering company to serve smashed avo on toast to hundreds of auction-goers across Melbourne on 22^nd October, 2016.

The Australian, Pedestrian TV, Business Insider, Smart Company and B&T all covered the buzz around ME’s campaign in the lead up to the activation. Channel 7 covered the auctions, including ME brand and a spokesperson, with further print and online coverage of the Super-smasherday auctions achieved in The Herald Sun, Adelaide Now, Daily Telegraph, Canstar.com.au and Noosatoday.com. Over 7.4m sets of eyeballs were reached through the earned media of this campaign.

As a result, from the 15^th-27^th of October ME achieved an over 600% increase in visits to its Life&Loan landing page. The only factor that changed during that period was the Super-Smasherday campaign. The ongoing effect being that visitors spent 44% more time on the Smashed Avo landing page after the 15th October 2016.

To round out a successful campaign, the Keep Left team were excited to win a Gold Stevie for Innovation in use of Events and be shortlisted with ME for Best Campaign With a Small Budget in Mumbrella’s 2017 CommsCon Awards.

The public relations program driven by Keep Left plays an important support role for ME’s marketing team and helps this challenger brand punch above its weight in awareness and reach, without having to always rely on above the line spend.