NAB’s new home loan ad is a standout. There’s nothing like it out there. It’s fascinating to watch. And what’s in it for the potential customer is right there at its hub.

The idea of presenting home ownership as a surreal journey is both insight and clever. Paring the execution down to the barest essentials (in every way – it’s filmed in the emptiness of a desert) is striking. It also enables the focus to identify with the protagonist on his journey. And then, a bank ad that doesn’t try to instil fear – well, that’s a welcome change.

The new campaign called Journey, with its metaphor, its stark simplicity and its portrayal of home ownership as a series of leaps, establishes NAB as the bank that understands the full home ownership journey, including the big moments of truth a customer makes.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne creative director, Rohan Lancaster, commented that the shoot was a journey in itself and director Steve Ayson of the Sweet Shop and his crew rose to the challenges nature threw at them.

“Despite it raining for the first time in eleven years on the dry, dusty desert (that we really needed to be dry and dusty) where the shoot took place, the team was still able to capture the excitement and tension that people feel before they make the biggest purchase of their life,” he revealed.

The full campaign includes TV, digital, social, OOH, press and in-branch executions. There is also an internal NAB campaign, aimed at the bank’s 44,000 employees.

Credits:

Creative Agency: Clemenger BBDO

Eexecutive creative director: Ant Keogh

Creative Directors: Rohan Lancaster, Luke Thompson & Darren Pitt

Art director: Russel Fox

Copywriter: Richard Shaw

Strategic planner: Sam Mackisack

Managing partner: Lee Simpson

Group account directors: Ben Knighton & Harriet Sinclair

Account director: Celeste Baer

Account manager: Harrison Webster

Senior account manager: Bianca Shah

Agency producer – Print: Craig Bulman

Executive producer: Sonia von Bibra

Digital producers: Allan Ngo & Gita Chetty

Production Company:  The Sweet Shop

Director: Steve Ayson

DoP/cinematographer: Robert Humphreys

Executive Producer: Edward Pontifex

Producer: Cindy Kavanagh

Managing partner: Wilf Sweetland

Editor: Simon Price, ARC

Designer: Lucinda Thompson

Music track & artist tidings: Ryan Downey

Music Production Company: Level Two Music

Photographer:Stephen Langdon

Post Production: AltVFX, Jesse Bradstreet, Method Studios

Sound Designer/Engineer: Paul LeCouter

Sound House: Flagstaff

Visual Effects: AltVFX

NAB:

Chief Marketing Officer: Andrew Knott

GM, Brand & Product Marketing: Michael Nearhos

Head of Marketing, Home Loans: Laura Wilson

Head of Brand: Faycal Ben Abdellaziz

Manager, Home Loan Marketing: Vanessa Bede

Manager, Home Loan Digital Marketing: Matthew Wickham

Consultant, Home Loan Marketing: Lachlan Davidson

Consultant, Home Loan Marketing: Amelia Havlik

Consultant, Digital Marketing: Nadine Mannering