theceomagazine.com | 107“ The Big Four banks focus
99 per cent of their attention
in this market on mortgages,
and they don’t really give
consumers the choice and
the focus they need.”
pub, where all-important decisions seem
to be made. Baldwin was code-named
‘Frank’ during filming to keep the
campaign under wraps and to ensure
the reveal remained spontaneous. “There
were probably only a dozen people who
actually knew who ‘Frank’ was,” Sean says.
Even during filming, the betterers and
Baldwin never crossed paths – the
betterers and the pub background were
filmed in Sydney, while Baldwin filmed
his bit in New York. It was an incredibly
innovative first, with Sean adding that
the guy responsible for putting the ad
together said “he’d never combined
two plates [pieces of film] from different
continents before.”
The risk is paying huge dividends.
After just three months of the campaign,
16 per cent of the Australian population
has an awareness of Latitude as a brand –
a figure that, Sean says, continues to climb.
Further, customer applications have
increased by 40 per cent since the
advertising campaign was launched. Sean
believes it has had “a real impact” in terms
of business volume as well as for brand
awareness. “You have to give a lot of
credit to our marketing team and our
marketing agency. They were the ones
who came up with the idea. They were
the ones who researched it,” says Sean.
“We were just brave enough to take the
chance. The important thing is that what
Alec has helped us do is get the
breakthrough in terms of the brand
recognition that we wanted.”
Sean hopes that through the advertising
campaign, the message can sink in with
consumers that there are other, and
perhaps better, alternatives to the Big Four
banks for their specific financing needs.
“Let’s be honest: the Big Four banks focus
99 per cent of their attention in this
market on mortgages, and they don’t really
give consumers the choice and the focus
they need when making such important
decisions outside of mortgages,” he
explains. Latitude’s product offering is
purely focused on consumer finance,
something Sean thinks makes it “unique in
this market.” The biggest part of the
business is in sales finance, helping
consumers with the purchase of items
such as whitegoods, furniture and bedding.
“We do that because we recognise the
benefits for our business in helping
customers acquire the things they want
to acquire,” Sean says. Other products
under Latitude’s wing include credit cards
(it took over GE’s 28 Degrees card, aimed
at overseas travellers), personal loans and
automotive finance. Unsurprisingly, that
all adds up to a large amount of business.
“Overall, we have about 2.6 million
customers, making us the largest non-
regulated consumer finance business across
Australia and New Zealand by quite
a significant length. We have just under
A$7 billion of lending out to consumers,”
says Sean.
Regardless of the product being offered
to consumers, according to Sean, the main
goal is essentially the same. He says
Latitude is just “obsessed with providing
better outcomes for our customers, for
our employees and for our shareholders”.
Baldwin puts it more simply: “You
can do better with Latitude!” he asserts
through the TV screen.