ASB | MONEY GOES DIGITAL | 2007
The Day Banknotes Themselves Became an Ad / ASB Bank "MONEY GOES DIGITAL"
In 2007, ASB, a bank in New Zealand, ran an ad in a place no one had ever seen one before: on banknotes themselves. The idea of sticking stickers onto real, circulating currency won the Grand Prix in the Media category at Cannes Lions.
The idea
OMD Auckland came up with the plan: sticking stickers onto banknotes that were actually in circulation. It put ASB Bank's message that "money is going digital" onto physical cash itself, a kind of paradox. The jury president commented, "Seeing an ad on a banknote was honestly something none of us had ever seen before."
What happened
The campaign won the Grand Prix in the Media category at Cannes Lions 2007, along with two Bronze Lions. The jury president praised it as "an incredible media innovation, beautifully integrated across a wide range of media."
Afterthought
What strikes me is the sheer power of the idea: turning money itself into an advertising medium. No matter how much information floods our lives, people can't avoid picking up a banknote. It inevitably catches your eye. It inevitably passes through your hands. I think it's that simple structure that made it worthy of the Grand Prix. There isn't much more information to go on, but even looking at it now, the sharpness of this one idea hasn't faded a bit.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2007
Featured in
- What Was Already There Became the MediumFrom chalk to banknotes: 11 media nobody had to buy
