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RaboDirect and Shine part ways, M&C Saatchi takes up the slack

M&C Saatchi recently lost its biggest client to .99, but it has clawed some business back after taking over from Shine on the RaboDirect account. 

RaboDirect marketing manager and ex Aim Proximity bod Matt Gardner didn’t return our calls but M&C Saatchi’s Dave King confirmed the partnership, which is thought to have kicked off at the end of last year. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRwNEWOAXhM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCi_tFLZZyQ

Shine worked with String Theory on last year’s brand campaign, which, like its Australian arm, took aim at the big banks (this campaign is still running). Shine’s managing director Simon Curran was unable to be contacted, but it’s thought a combination of decreasing budgets and the arrival the GE Capital business played a part in the decision to part company. 

When the campaign launched, general manager Mel Templeton, who has held senior roles with RaboDirect in Australasia and Europe and led the successful ‘Lazy Money‘ campaign in Australia in 2010, said it followed on from Shine’s last effort in 2010 when it won the account off Ogilvy. The push was part of an effort to increase the ‘straight talking online bank’s’ presence in New Zealand and grow its customer base by 15 percent to provide more deposit funds for its parent Rabobank, the rural lending side of the bank’s business in New Zealand.

In addition to its advertising, RaboDirect also signed up as the main sponsor of TVNZ’s new current affairs show Seven Sharp. 

RaboDirect has advertised on TV since the bank launched in New Zealand in 2006, but Templeton said the company wanted a different approach to straight forward advertising in 2013. The show’s online elements were merely a contributing factor towards sponsoring it. 

“We were discussing it internally since [Seven Sharp] was announced, and the show presents a great opportunity to expand what we do,” she says.

She said the deal was initially limited to billboard advertising on the show (“name on the jersey type scenario”), and includes ad packages during the show’s commercial breaks and branding on the website (for those who can’t get enough, there’s even a new live camera streaming the action in the studio while the ads are on). 

She said she hoped to do more than just advertise in the future, expanding into running competitions, sponsored polls, and partnered charity events. 

Templeton wouldn’t reveal exactly when the initial sponsorship deal was penned, or how much it was worth. But she did say the bank waited as long as possible in order to get the best deal. 

TVNZ’s head of sales Jeremy O’Brien said in a release: “They were quick to see the benefits in something new and different, and we have every confidence their faith will be rewarded.  Over time we expect to introduce a level of innovation in this partnership that reflects the very different nature of the programme.” 

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