The Monkeys Aotearoa, Part of Accenture Song, has won a Gold Clio in Use of Music for ASB Bank, a Bronze Clio for Innovation and a shortlist for Partnerships & Collaboration for Bagels, a single with Kiwi musician, BENEE, that’s scientifically designed to help reduce anxious feelings.
The work was created in collaboration with mental health charity, Youthline, and leading neuroscientists.
With anxiety in young people on the rise, impacting almost one in five young New Zealanders, the idea was sparked to create a free tool that could help young people ease anxious feelings. Since its launch in May 2023, Bagels has been streamed, viewed or listened to more than eight million times across multiple platforms. Written and produced specifically to support mental wellbeing, Bagels uses musical elements identified by Auckland University of Technology (AUT) neuroscientists to relax the nervous system, modify brain activity and ease feelings of anxiousness.
Neurological testing on rangatahi found listening to Bagels lowered levels of ‘state anxiety’, which is the type of short-term anxiety experienced in stressful situations. The track also calmed brain activity in the frontal and parietal lobes – the areas often associated with regulating emotions and the fight or flight stress response. As a big believer in using music to cope with mental health challenges, Kiwi superstar, BENEE, worked with producer Josh Fountain and the AUT scientists to learn how and why music impacts anxiety to create Bagels.
The Monkeys and New Zealand animation house, Assembly, then produced a music video for the track, also grounded in science, to create a visual representation of the song. An integrated creative campaign promoted the song across social media and influencer content on TikTok and Instagram, along with digital, out of home, radio, and PR to capture the attention of young Kiwis.
To be awarded by our international peers, with one of the world’s most recognisable advertising accolades, for me, validates the dedication of the team that worked on creating Bagels,” stated Helen Fitzsimons, chief marketing officer, ASB.
“Everyone involved in creating Bagels by BENEE believed deeply in the project and a Gold Clio represents the smarts, creativity and hard work of the people behind it.”
This is a sentiment shared by The Monkeys chief creative officer, Damon Stapleton. “We set out to create a tool that would help the young people of New Zealand, but during the process we learnt so much about how the human mind works, and what we need to help calm our inner monologue in a modern world.
“We’re grateful to the amazing contributors who helped make a creative idea come to life, grounded in science and psychology. To win a Gold Clio only reinforces the importance of this work and we look forward to our ongoing partnership with ASB and Youthline in 2024.”
Stream Bagels by BENEE on Spotify.
Credits
Client: ASB
Chief Marketing Officer: Helen Fitzsimons
Brand Experience Lead: Bianca Osborne
Marketing Manager, Community Partnerships: Hannah McHugh
Executive Manager, Commercial Partnerships: Mark Graham
Senior Social Media Manager: Jasmine Taggart
Senior External Communications Manager: Hannah Searle
Social Media Specialist: Christienne Jauregui
External Communications Specialist: Bisera Martinovska
Associate Marketing Manager: Samantha Wootten
Partner: Youthline
Chief Executive Officer: Shae Ronald
Clinical and Services Manager: Joanna Madsen
Partnerships Specialist: Tiffany Eastgate
Creative Agency: The Monkeys Aotearoa, part of Accenture Song
Chief Creative Officer: Damon Stapleton
Chief Business Officer: Storm Day
Head of Strategy: Tom Sykes
Senior Strategist: Craig McLeod
Head of Integrated Production: Rosie Grayson
Group Business Director: Ruth Coulson
Senior Business Manager: Olive Broughton
Creative Directors: James Conner
Creative Director: Christie Cooper & Liz Richards
Senior Copywriter: Nick Dellabarca
Art Director: Jack Close
Copywriter: Zak Hawkins
Design Lead: Lucinda Fortescue-Hansen
Senior Finished Artist: Lisa Stowers
PR Consultant: Kimberly Kastelan
Music production partners:
BENEE: Songwriter & Artist
Josh Fountain: Songwriter & Producer
Tiare Kelly: BVs
Doug Clarke: Vocal engineer
Aaron Short: Mix engineer
Chris Chetland: Mastering engineer
Campbell Smith: Manager, CRS Management
Auckland University of Technology Academic partners:
Dr Daniel Shepherd, Associate Professor AUT; Dr Mangor Pedersen, Associate Professor AUT; Dr Amy Kercher, Lecturer and Clinical Psychologist AUT; Geet Vashista, Post Graduate Student AUT
Production Company: Assembly
Director: Matt Von Trott
Lead Art Direction and Animation: Josh Fourt-Wells
Art Direction and Animation: Frankie Principe
3D Animator: Elliot Stronge
Motion Designer: Will Bardebes
Executive Producer: Jane Oak
DOP: Darryl Ward
Photographer & retouching: Frances Carter @ Loupe Agency
Agent: Emily Moon, Loupe Agency
Design Agency: One Design
Videographer: Finn Cochrane
Grade: Pete Ritchie
Online: Creature Films
Sound Mixing: Liquid Studios
Media partners: Dentsu NZ, Acquire NZ, Search Republic
