Mid-life is usually the time when many families face peak financial pressure. While chipping away at a big mortgage, parents may face the rising cost of raising children, schooling, perhaps car payments and more. It's easy to feel stuck in one place with little help of moving ahead in the right direction.
Tasked with launching home equity loan provider Midkey as a new Australian financial services player, independent agency Game Creative has come up with a national campaign. 'The Quest' follows a band of directionally-challenged knights on their mission to find the 'Midkey', the solution to homeowner financial pressures for asset-rich but cash poor families. Along the way they come across a middle-aged homeowner with few prospects, who learns about the new product and muses about taking a holiday to the neighbouring village.
Conjuring up Monty Python and the Holy Grail vibes, the film adds humour, humanity and hope to those feeling directionless and stuck in a rut.
“The majority of financial advertising is less than engaging," says Dan Beaumont, founder and chief creative strategist at Game Creative. "We agreed with the Midkey team very early in the process that a conventional approach wasn’t going to get the job done. So we worked hard to find a more interesting way to introduce the brand. 'The Quest', wraps a critical product message in an epic, amusing story that entertains while it informs. Mid-life doesn’t need to be so gloomy."
Born from the brand's name itself, the campaign "perfectly sums up our promise: to be the key that unlocks financial freedom when life gets complicated," says Richard Young, co-founder & CEO of Midkey. "It’s an epic idea for an epic challenge, and a clever way to introduce a new, innovative loan product to Australians.”
Ad Nut's version of a savings plans is to horde nuts and drop them into a tree hollow, then eat away this 'home equity' throughout the winter, so please remember, this is not financial advice nor an endorsement of home-equity loans which come with their own interest charges down the road and may or may not be right for you.
But as a film to introduce a new brand, Ad Nut enjoyed the cinematic execution and the lighthearted storytelling kept this rodent engaged and now aware of this new brand and its offerings. The national campaign has launched from October 2025 and will run in video and radio formats.
CREDITS
Client: Midkey
Founders / Co-CEO: Richard Young & Scott Collison
Marketing Consultant: Anthony Dumont
Head of Marketing & Communications - Kate Davies
Brand Manager - Philip Banno
Agency: GAME Creative
Founder/ CCS: Dan Beaumont
Creative Leader / Writer: Jacko @ JackoJacko&Jacko
Art Director/ Designer: Ramon Rodriguez
Producer: Lucy Pilkington
Film Production Co: Plaza Content
Director: Paul Middleditch
Executive Producer: Peter Masterton
Editor: Jake Horne
Image Production Co: Louis&Co
Photographer: Ian Butterworth
Producer: Luke Della Santa
Radio Production: Massive Music
Media: Nunn
 Ad Nut is a surprisingly literate woodland creature that for unknown reasons has an unhealthy obsession with advertising. Ad Nut gathers ads from all over Asia and the world for your viewing pleasure, because Ad Nut loves you. You can also check out Ad Nut's Advertising Hall of Fame, or read about Ad Nut's strange obsession with 'murderous beasts'. |
