Awareness: Yay to cashback

Elevating Cashrewards’ brand presence through high-impact OOH creative and a data-driven shopper engagement strategy.

Role

Visual Designer

Team

CMO, Head of Brand, Zenith Media, Marketing

Duration

3 months

Context

Cashrewards had a major retail moment approaching, and the objective was clear: increase brand visibility, strengthen top-of-funnel awareness, and drive engagement in high-traffic retail environments.  The campaign needed to stretch across an extremely broad set of formats — from giant floor decals and escalators to transit shelters, large-format OOH, and digital display takeovers — all while remaining consistent, flexible, and instantly recognisable.

Stage 1. Market research & Neuro insight

We began by developing three creative concepts to capture the campaign’s emotional intent, then tested them with a focus group using neuro-insight technology to measure real emotional responses. This allowed us to identify the most impactful direction based on genuine audience reactions rather than assumptions.

Alongside testing, we ran surveys and analysed audience behaviour from similar campaigns. A clear insight emerged: our biggest opportunity was with Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.

This shaped the placement strategy, prioritising:

Retail locations they frequently visit
High-traffic city train stations
Large, high-impact destination formats

Audience research revealed:

Core demo pressure: Our main demographic (P25–54) reported feeling more financially stressed than younger audiences, making value-driven messaging critical.
Social commerce leadership: Younger generations are driving eCommerce. Gen Z now leads in social commerce, with 29% purchasing via social platforms, overtaking purchases made through retailer apps (28%).
EOFY clutter: With the Olympics falling in July, EOFY advertising inventory was heavily congested. Many brands shifted spend earlier, creating a need for bold, high-contrast creative to cut through the noise.

Context

Stage 1. Market research & Neuro insight

Alongside testing, we ran surveys and analysed audience behaviour from similar campaigns. A clear insight emerged: our biggest opportunity was with Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.

This shaped the placement strategy, prioritising:

Retail locations they frequently visit
High-traffic city train stations
Large, high-impact destination formats

Audience research revealed:

Core demo pressure: Our main demographic (P25–54) reported feeling more financially stressed than younger audiences, making value-driven messaging critical.
Social commerce leadership: Younger generations are driving eCommerce. Gen Z now leads in social commerce, with 29% purchasing via social platforms, overtaking purchases made through retailer apps (28%).
EOFY clutter: With the Olympics falling in July, EOFY advertising inventory was heavily congested. Many brands shifted spend earlier, creating a need for bold, high-contrast creative to cut through the noise.

Stage 2. Ideating Our Approach and Goals

Using the insights, we shaped a creative direction built to cut through the Olympics-driven clutter.

To elevate visibility, I introduced micro-animations across shopper screens and HTML5 video formats — adding movement and energy to ensure the creative stood out in fast-paced environments. We reinforced trust by highlighting brands our audience already shopped with, helping the messaging feel immediate and relevant.
To maximise presence, we leveraged large-scale placements, such as Central Station, for a dramatic, can't-miss visual impact.

Campaign Goals

Increase brand visibility, targeting a 20% lift in reach
Use Transit & Small Format OOH to speak to consumers on the move
Acquire new members and drive app downloads

Stage 3. Skamps, sketches and insitu mockups

With a wide rollout planned, stakeholder alignment was essential. I created skamps, early sketches, and composition layouts showing how the creative would function across different environments.
brubbuThese compositions acted as the master design files for the full rollout. I also produced realistic in-situ mockups — bus shelters, station formats, escalators, digital screens — to help stakeholders visualise scale, placement, and real-world impact.

Stage 4. Delivery

Each publisher required assets in different dimensions, formats, and specifications, so the production phase demanded meticulous attention to detail.
For digital placements, we built and tested multiple HTML5 assets, ensuring animations rendered smoothly, responsive behaviour was correct, and links and tracking tags were properly implemented before launch.

Stage 4. Delivery

Campaign metrics

21% lift in exposure for “Somewhat Likely” audiences  This segment showed the strongest uplift, demonstrating the effectiveness of the creative and the opportunity for further growth.
Consideration across age groups  Brand consideration rose for older audiences and increased among the “somewhat likely” group across all ages.
Exposure impact  Insights showed that while one exposure had slight influence, 4–5 exposures were needed for strong consideration lift. Most impressions delivered only one exposure, highlighting a future optimisation opportunity.

HTML5 display metrics

4,129,673 impressions
5,663 article views
1:50 avg dwell time

Reflections

This was one of the largest and most complex campaigns I’ve worked on — a significant achievement for the team.

With additional time, we could have further personalised creative to individual placements for even deeper relevance.
The collaboration across teams was excellent, and the results will continue to build throughout the year.

Reflections

This was one of the largest and most complex campaigns I’ve worked on — a significant achievement for the team.

With additional time, we could have further personalised creative to individual placements for even deeper relevance.
The collaboration across teams was excellent, and the results will continue to build throughout the year.

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Nathan Rego

Nathan Rego

Nathan Rego