Treehouses, Chocolate… and Undies?

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This is what happened when we came together with Yellow New Zealand to do something special for their business. This article first appeared on Campaign Brief 09 march 2021


Yellow New Zealand has a new CEO, new offices in Auckland CBD, and the first high profile marketing campaign in over ten years developed by creative start-up HeyYou.

The campaign, featuring local screen legend Robyn Malcolm, promotes a pop-up online business selling underwear. ‘Robyn’s Undies’ was created to showcase Yellow’s suite of low-cost digital marketing products and services; from $39 per month ecommerce websites to free digital expert sessions, and a business dashboard that brings together key digital data and insights.

Says Tracey Taylor, newly appointed CEO, Yellow: “We know digital marketing is daunting for small businesses, we hear that a lot. Small businesses need this stuff to be easier and more affordable, so we’ve reshaped our business in line with that. This campaign is all about showcasing those changes.”

The colourful ‘Robyn’s Undies’ range is available to buy now. The underwear are a collaboration between Malcolm, NZ artist Karl Maughan and Yellow. Sustainable, ethical, made in NZ, and all the profits all go to The Aunties charity.

On selecting HeyYou as its agency Taylor says: “We wanted a creative partner who, just like our customers, are focussed on getting their business dream off the ground. What we got from the team was so much more than a big idea, together we worked out how to change our offering as well as get that to market.”

HeyYou partner and head of strategy Jacquie Bennett says the campaign strategy was influenced by Yellow’s past success: “Yellow was famous for its campaigns back in the day and we wanted to bring that back. People in the industry will remember Yellow campaigns like ‘treehouse’ and ‘chocolate’, which were big integrated award winners at the time. Not only were they a tangible way to engage with the brand, they demonstrate that, with Yellow, you can bring your Kiwi business dream to life. This campaign is the same, it’s just anchored in using the new digital tools Kiwi businesses need to achieve that.”

The campaign is supported by a TVC, an integrated Discovery (Mediaworks) partnership and tactical OOH, as well as digital platforms.

Client: Yellow New Zealand
Creative Agency: HeyYou
Creative Direction: Andy Bennett & Fleur Skinner
Strategy: Jacquie Bennett
Production Company: Untold Projects
Director & Editor: Arvid Eriksson
Copywriting: Kate Phillips
Photography: Camille Sanson
Design: Leah Shao, Patrick Hicksley
Artwork: Tash Vranjes