ANZ hired artists from the LGBT community to bedazzle ten of its ATMs around Sydney in support of the city’s big annual Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras celebration.
ANZ says the spectacularly colorful “GAYTMs” were created to demonstrate the bank’s support for diversity.
ANZ says ach unique GAYTM was inspired by gay and lesbian culture. The dazzling ATMs were festooned by hand with rhinestones, sequins, studs, leather, denim and animal prints. From unicorns and drag queens to rainbows and tattoos, each GAYTM is a riot of color and textures.
The ATMs are believed to be the first anywhere in the world to specifically target the LGBT community.
The screens on ANZ’s GAYTMs were also given a makeover, carrying messages and such as “Hello gorgeous,” “Cash out and proud,” and “Happy Mardi Gras!” When customers have completed their business, the GAYTMs dispense rainbow colored receipts.
“ANZ’s GAYTMs are a fun and colorful way of bringing our ATMs out to celebrate diversity and show our support for one of Australia’s largest festivals,” said Carolyn Bendall, Head of Australia Marketing ANZ.
ANZ will donate its ATM operator fees charged to non-ANZ cardholders using the GAYTMs to the non-profit organization Twenty10 for the duration of the campaign. Twenty10 advocates for diversity and acceptance on behalf of the LGBT community.
Key Insight: This is what smart, savvy brand builders do. They maximize ever opportunity. Financial institutions often ignore or overlook many of their customer touchpoints — particularly ATMs. ANZ has transformed the otherwise mundane activity of withdrawing money into a branded experience that has helped the bank generate huge amounts of name awareness.
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“If you want to be a big, successful company in Australia there’s no way you can be successful if you push 10% of the population aside,” Mark Hand, Chair of ANZ’s Diversity Council and the brains behind the operation, told news.com.au. “That just doesn’t make any sense to me. We have to make sure that we do things that appeal to every section of society.”
Some Sydney residents are thinking about moving their business over to ANZ after seeing the bejeweled ATMs.
On Twitter, church-going 19-year old Bec McLeish said she was “thinking about changing banks to ANZ just because of the GAYTMs.”
Sydney resident Danielle Johnson, age 33, echoed that sentiment: “I am considering switching banks to ANZ after its GAYTM campaign. Love it!!”
But the GAYTM campaign isn’t purely a marketing ploy intended to influence consumer perceptions. ANZ is trying to brand its internal culture as well.
“We want the best people to work at our organization and given how many people identify as LGBT, we want to make sure that everyone feels welcome here at ANZ regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Hand explains.
The Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras is a non-for profit member based organization responsible for putting together the annual Parade and Festival, as well as a number of other events throughout the year. This is the eighth consecutive year that ANZ has participated as a sponsor of the gay Mardi Gras event.
The GAYTM campaign was created by ad agency Whybin\TBWA in Melbourne.