Bear Meets Eagle On Fire Revives Bankwest With New Platform, 'Just Enough Bank'

Bear Meets Eagle on Fire has launched a new brand platform for Bankwest, ‘Just Enough Bank’, marking the indie's first work for the bank since winning the account in October, as revealed by LBB. 

The integrated campaign is aimed at busy Australians in their 30s and 40s instead of the younger audiences usually targeted by startup and digital banks, and centres on the idea that banking should be more proportionate in people’s lives.

Bear Meets Eagle On Fire’s founder and chief creative officer, Micah Walker, told LBB the creative shift was “a business and strategic choice around determining the right audience."

“Most new digital banks are built towards speaking to a younger audience, and Bankwest believes being an intuitive, easy solution to people who are at peak life-busy, was a unique opportunity for them,” he said.

Each of the three launch films – directed by Steve Ayson from 3&7 – follows a central character and focuses on what they get up to with the spare time they have earned back because they don't have a complicated relationship with their bank.

The films were planned down to the fine details, with Micah laughing, “One morning, Tom Selleck [actor known for his role in Magnum PI] called Mark, one of our creative directors, personally, to discuss the poster on the wall [featuring Selleck in the 'Romance' spot].”

Narrating their journeys is an AI voiceover that Micah says was “one of those happy accidents that happens as you're making stuff.”

“We initially recorded an AI voice, just to get us through the offlines, but we realised the semi-detached AI voice added something really unique to the observations, which just made it funnier," he said.

"We tried lots of other VO options and reads and just kept coming back to this voice as the most memorable.

“So it's really nothing conceptually to do with using AI technology and more that it just happened to give us that unexpected ingredient.”

Visually striking out-of-home work accompanies the films, breaking down the time that customers spend on banking versus their hobbies.

BMEOF was tasked with creating a new vision for the brand, which was previously known for its animated 'Bank Less' platform via WPP bespoke agency Union.

Speaking about the new platform, Bankwest general manager customer, marketing and communications, Jodene Murphy, said, "We've conducted hundreds of hours of testing with customers and non-customers across Australia and we know there's a significant segment of the market looking for a simpler, less complicated relationship with their bank.

“We’ve loved working with Micah and the team at Bear Meets Eagle On Fire to bring 'Just Enough Bank' to life. They understood the unique challenge and opportunity to help us take the iconic brand of Bankwest with a 130-year history and bring this new chapter to life on a national stage.”

The first iteration of the campaign will run across cinema, broadcast, online video, OOH, digital and social. It kicked off yesterday, Sunday March 23, and the work will roll out nationally over the coming weeks.