ME is a bank that does things differently from the ‘big four’ Australian banks – and that includes creating engaging, innovative and newsworthy April Fool’s Day ideas.
With COVID and lockdowns putting a stop to most brand April Fool’s Day pranks in 2020 and 2021, there was nervousness about playing in this space. Ultimately, after two years of ‘panxiety’, we felt Australia could use an April Fool’s Day lol (or at least a wry smile).
So, we stepped up to the plate with an innovation in ‘hands-free’ banking that addressed the hygienic concerns of Australia with a product that let customers do their everyday spending with their shoes. But not just any old shoes; we collaborated with another of Australia’s most loved brands, Volley.
Introducing VolleyPay.
April Fool’s Day brand pranks have a very specific goal.
Traditionally ME markets a product that does not exist, so the objective is to build brand awareness.
We wanted Australia to fall in love (or stay in love) with ME. But we also wanted to market it like a real innovation to increase interest and shareability.
We were dealing with a BS-allergic target audience: 18-34-year-olds, glass-half-full Gen Z and Millennial Aussies (like ME’s existing everyday banking customers).
Firstly, we approached Volley, because without them it was just an unsexy ShoePay. And by partnering with them, the product instantly became more believable and it reinforced our brand value of supporting Australian businesses. Thankfully, they were on board.
We kicked off the campaign with a short video and ran organic and paid social across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and TikTok for one day only.
We also leveraged media and influencer partnerships with youth publisher Pedestrian.TV and Aussie content creators Swag On The Beat to create original, tongue-in-cheek social and blog content that was right for both our brand and target audience.
Lastly, we decked out our product page on ME’s website as the end of the funnel – and despite all those hints (and the date of April 1 itself) – people believed VolleyPay was very real.
Almost entirely ideated and self-produced by ME’s internal agency (The Inside Job) and social team, VolleyPay was the little shoe that could. It was a low-budget brand activation that exceeded every single objective, like reaching a total of 12.7 million across social and PR in one day.
