To demonstrate to Cantabrians their commitment to the region and it’s rebuild after the devastating 2011 earthquakes, BNZ sponsor The Crusaders. But beyond naming rights and traditional sponsorship measures, the challenge has been to connect banking with Crusaders fans in an interesting and relevant way.

Canterbury is a key home loan market in New Zealand, but with BNZ being a smaller challenger in the region, every available opportunity was needed to drive Home Loan leads across the region.

But how do you appropriately leverage a rugby sponsorship to generate bank leads? After all, why would a rugby fan want to think about banking, let alone mortgages, during Saturday’s big match?

With the knowledge that Crusaders fans are some of the most loyal and passionate in New Zealand, and that the Crusaders win on home turf more than any other team, BNZ created a promotion that celebrated winning on home turf.

To engage the fans, and reward them for their support, they offered fans a chance to claim a piece of the hallowed home turf at AMI Stadium for themselves – and to win cash for their home turf.

A simple digital experience allowed fans to claim their piece of home turf – while the “winning on home turf” story spread through targeted fan channels and at-game activations, culminating in an end of season finale.

Tapping into the fans’ passion with an authentic partnership led to a volume of Home Loan leads, and an ROI, that surpassed targets.