ANZ campaign asks Laotians to "expect more"

In Laos, ANZ Bank is a joint venture between ANZ, IFC, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, and Vientiane Commercial Bank, which was established in Laos in 1993. ANZV was launched in September.The campaign, developed by Mekong Orchid, consists of radio, print, outdoor and direct marketing, targeting customers of the established Vientiane Commercial Bank, businesses and the affluent.

David Mitchell, general manager of River Orchid, noted that TV is not an effective mass medium in Laos, so no TV commercials were made. ANZV’s creative brief was, according to Mitchell, “to create a campaign that would generate talk value via teaser executions.” The strategy was to keep the ads simple since “the category tends to throw too much information into communications,” said Mitchell.

The campaign focused on four ‘expect more’ pillars - accessibility, international experience, innovative products and keeping banking processes, such as ATMs, simple.

A similar strategy was used for the roll-out of ANZ Bank in Cambodia last year. ATMs were installed across the country, quickly establishing the bank as the market leader because of its accessibility.

ANZ’s aggressive expansion strategy in emerging markets has seen the banking giant firmly establish itself as the leading Australian banking institution in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.