TBWA\New Zealand’s campaign for The Sauce by ANZ conceals a key piece of information. The strategically redacted information, across out-of-home, digital and radio, demonstrates the competitive advantage that comes from exclusive access to business insights, by revealing compelling pieces of business intelligence while withholding the most important detail.

The campaign creates intrigue around the very thing that makes The Sauce valuable. Designed to attract new business customers and deepen relationships with existing ones, the campaign highlights the power of data-driven insights to help businesses make smarter decisions.

One billboard, for example, reveals that “Spend at [redacted] in Auckland increased 12% over the past year”, while another points to significant spending trends without revealing the critical category, location or customer segment. It’s a simple but powerful demonstration of The Sauce’s value: knowing an opportunity exists is one thing. Knowing exactly where it lies is another.

In radio, business owners describe how insights from The Sauce can help inform decisions and identify growth opportunities are shared before the key detail is strategically “bleeped” out.

Behind the campaign is The Sauce’s proposition that while many businesses have access to data, it’s usually focussed on their own performance. The Saucehelps bridge this gap by combining aggregated and anonymised spending trends, industry performance and economic insights, tailored to a business’s industry and location. The Sauce, developed by ANZ in collaboration with Dot Loves Data, pairs these insights with the expertise of ANZ business specialists and relationships managers, helping business customers understand their market better, identify opportunities and make more confident decisions.

Beyond traditional channels, the campaign is supported by a broader content and engagement programme, including print placements in Kia Ora magazine and content developed in collaboration with NZME, including a business leadership roundtable event, with content highlighting the practical value of turning information into action. As an additional element to the campaign ANZ partnered with Culley’s to target high value prospective customers with a Hot Sauce pack, giving regional managers a memorable way to drive meeting bookings and leave a lasting impression with prospective clients.

Matthew Pickering, general manager of marketing at ANZ, stated, “We’re proud to see this campaign in market because it demonstrates the value of acting on insights rather than simply just talking about data. The campaign idea cleverly captures that feeling of knowing something valuable is out of reach, which is exactly the problem The Sauce helps solve. By uncovering the insights behind the opportunity, businesses can make more informed and confident decisions thanks to the advantage The Sauce provides.”

Shane Bradnick, chief creative officer, TBWA\New Zealand, added, “The challenge was simple: how do you advertise the value of an insight? We realised the best way wasn’t to reveal the answer; it was to hide it. The work creates genuine curiosity by giving people just enough information to know they’re missing something important. You see a spending trend, a growth opportunity or a customer behaviour pattern, but the critical detail is withheld. It’s a simple device that mirrors exactly what The Sauce does for businesses: uncover the information others don’t have access to.”