How thinking smart and working fast helped us support Aussie businesses

It takes courage and an agile team to turn on a 10¢ piece and deliver an entirely new message. But that’s exactly what Six Black Pens and Business Australia did together in the face of a global pandemic.

Scope of work

  • Strategy
  • Out of Home
  • 30- and 15-second TVCs
  • Social media campaign
  • eDM campaign

The (original) objective

To explain NSW Business Chamber’s major transformation: the launch of a national brand, Business Australia, and its membership model. Through an internal and external marketing campaign, we were asked to:

1

Explain the need for change
to employees and help them feel part of the journey.

2

Promote the benefits
of the new entity at a national level to potential members.

How we planned to do it

For the internal campaign targeting Business Australia employees, we created rich, engaging assets designed to ‘Inspire’ (build awareness of the launch), ‘Energise’ (build momentum) and ‘Engage’ (create long-term engagement and cultural shift).

Externally, to target C-suite decision-makers and influencers, we created TVCs (30” and 15”), Out of Home assets, digital display banners, and carousels and static ads across Facebook and Instagram.

And then came COVID

Bang! A week before launch, the original campaign celebrating business success – months in the planning and development – was irrelevant and inappropriate to business owners who, in many cases, woke up facing abrupt financial hardship and the threat of closure.

Business Australia needed totally new messaging – messaging that could both quickly raise awareness of its expertise among as many businesses as possible and engage its own employees to help.

How we reacted

Almost overnight, Six Black Pens came up with brand-new on-brand messaging and concepts. Then, in less than two weeks, we created a storyboard for an animated TVC (with the actual animation done by another agency), new Out of Home assets and new YouTube TVCs (30” and 15”).

Results

Our radically reimagined campaign, this time conceived and delivered within two weeks, smashed its targets.

Membership hit 32,609
up from a target of 30,000

Prompted brand awareness hit 52%
(on a rolling average) up from 37%

Brand consideration across key products and services
reached 15.76%

Financial member satisfaction
of 4 out of 5

“Six Black Pens was able to pivot within two weeks to create an entirely new campaign that resonated with our customers and our employees. They gave the campaign every bit of their energy and passion, over-delivering with a campaign that we’re very proud of. In tough times, that’s exactly what you need.”

Richard Spencer, Chief Customer Experience Officer, Business Australia

Switched on

Ideas, inspiration and other interesting stuff from the Six Black Pens team.