Mr Humfreez

Background

50% of Kiwi homes are cold and damp, causing 1600 premature deaths each year. This is four times New Zealand’s road toll. As the nation’s largest home lender, ANZ Bank’s Healthy Homes Initiative offered interest-free loans for insulation and heating. The task was to captivate and educate the target audience.

Idea

Mr. Humfreez was a clever little sheep that showed people at a glance if their homes were too damp or too cold for their family’s health. He wasn’t a piece of plastic but a biodegradable device who did not need a power source for his nose to turn blue when the temperature dropped below 18° or his horns to uncurl when humidity rose above 65%.

From 52,000 entries, 100 Mr Humfreez sheep were mailed to winners of an online promotion and 200 to ANZ customers.

In 2021 he will be made available to all Home Loan customers as a home-warming present.

Results

Mr Humfreez earned coverage in major TV, Radio and Print publications, generating 5X more search enquiries than any other previous ANZ campaign.

Now over 1.5X more Kiwis associate ANZ with Healthy Homes than any other bank.

In addition, Mr Humfreez entered Kiwi classrooms as an educational tool.

Our Thoughts

One of our favourite campaigns of the year at Directory, even though it predates the pandemic. It is a terrific example of brand advertising with a lovable character at the heart of the campaign – everything Orlando Wood advocates in Directory 54 - but without massive TV behind it.

Mr. Humfreez isn’t just charming, he’s also demonstrably green and on top of all that has the laudable purpose of saving lives by safeguarding the nation’s health.

He ticks every box you can think of.