Easy Money

The ‘Easy Money’ campaign is the latest version of the ‘What's My Number?’ Consumer Switching Fund programme promoting the benefits of comparing and changing electricity retailers.

The Electric Authority, which is the independent crown entity responsible for the efficient operation of the New Zealand electricity market, launched the campaign to make consumers aware that they could save hundreds of dollars a year by shopping for the best deal.  

The TVC’s for "Easy Money" by DraftFCB showed how easy it is for consumers to find out how much they can save by switching to the right power company. The overarching message of the TVC’s is it's so easy to switch company, it could only be harder is if there was a hungry bear or a tiger next to you.

The print and online portion of the campaign focused on interpreting the real animals from TVC’s into a quirky, humorous illustration style, which would bring life and charm to the rest of the campaign.

Kelly Gillard & Leisa Wall from DraftFCB asked Stevie to design the characters. Leisa, as the creative, wanted them to look humorous and sophisticated, yet warm and friendly.

"This project was a lot of fun to work on but it came with a couple of personal challenges,” Stevie says. “Firstly the size of the art. It was the first time I had to illustrate for a billboard.

Secondly, even though I love drawing animals, I needed to work out a style with a 'picture book' feel to it while being sophisticated enough to appeal to an adult audience, which was the main demographic," Stevie says.

"It was great to work on this project and to see the characters on buses and billboards. It feels like they're everywhere ready to ambush you with this easy money deal.”