ANZ and TBWA\NZ shake up Valentine’s Day with Scammers Bloom to highlight romance scams

AUCKLAND, Today: This Valentine’s Day, ANZ Bank and TBWA\New Zealand introduced Scammers Bloom, a rose designed to spark awareness about romance scams.

These long-stemmed roses looked lovely but carried a fishy smell upon closer inspection.

Turning a romantic staple into a conversation starter, the campaign shone a light on the surge in online romance scams and their impacts. Scammers Bloom was available at Love Stinks, a one-day pop-up in Auckland. Visitors expecting traditional roses were met with the odd scent, a nod to the deception in scams.

Along with the roses, clever Valentine’s cards like You’re a perfect catch engaged people, sparking discussions and offering scam prevention tips.

“Romance Scams are not talked about enough, and rely on people being lured in through romantic gestures, only to find out too late that the relationship is not what it seemed and is in fact a scam.

“ANZ wanted to pull scams out from the shadows, educate people on what to look out for and how easy they can be to fall for, to help New Zealanders take a stand,” said Shane Bradnick, Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\New Zealand.

“The ‘Scammers Bloom’ was gifted to visitors at a boutique pop-up flower shop called ‘Love Stinks’ leading to queues around the block, national headlines and social pick-up which helped the message go further.” – Shane Bradnick

“The Scammers Bloom was a disruptive way of doing this on the most romantic day of the year. By taking the perfect romantic gesture, a bunch of roses, and making them smell fishy – or ‘phishy’ – we dramatised this significant social issue.

“The Scammers Bloom was gifted to visitors at a boutique pop-up flower shop called Love Stinks leading to queues around the block, national headlines and social pick-up which helped the message go further,” added Bradnick.

“Sometimes when something looks a bit too good to be true, it is, like AI convincing people they are dating Brad Pitt.”

The campaign resonated widely, sparking social media buzz and media coverage, boosting visits to ANZ’s scam prevention pages.

“Romance scams are a growing problem, and many victims don’t recognise the warning signs until it’s too late.

“By turning a symbol of love into something unexpected, we got people thinking, and helped educate people to hopefully prevent future scams,” said Matthew Pickering, General Manager of Marketing at ANZ New Zealand.

As online fraud evolves, ANZ and TBWA\New Zealand keep finding new ways to inform and safeguard consumers.