Food and agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank has launched a new advertising campaign highlighting the work it is doing to help grow and strengthen rural communities across New Zealand.
The campaign features a new television commercial which introduces the Rabo Community Fund and showcases four of the major initiatives it supports: Garden to Table, Growing Future Farmers, Meat the Need and Surfing for Farmers.
The new commercial aired for the first time during last night’s edition of 1News at Six on TV One and will continue to run on the TVNZ network over coming months. The campaign will also feature a mix of billboard, print and radio advertising.
Rabobank New Zealand CEO Todd Charteris said one of the aims of the new campaign was to raise awareness of the Rabo Community Fund which was set up to contribute to the vibrancy and resilience of rural New Zealand.
“The fund is based on the international Rabo Foundation, the global agricultural banking cooperative’s social fund, which has operated for more than 45 years investing in farmers’ self-sufficiency in a range of countries around the world,” he said.
Rabobank New Zealand's new advertising campaign spotlighting their support for rural communities
“The Community Fund was set up here in New Zealand in late 2021 and is funded by an annual contribution from Rabobank New Zealand. Since then, the fund has contributed more than $2 million into over 100 community initiatives across New Zealand.
“Decisions on where to allocate funding are made by the bank’s four regional Client Councils – groups of Rabobank’s farming client representatives who work with the bank to address key industry and community challenges in farming and agribusiness. The Councils have identified six key themes: long-term industry capacity and agricultural education, environmental sustainability, the rural/urban connection, rural wellbeing, adaptation/disruption and natural disaster resilience.”
Mr Charteris said funding is directed into community initiatives connected to each of these themes.
“On top of the four initiatives highlighted in the new campaign, we also support a whole host of other initiatives across the country. In some cases, this funding is being channelled toward existing organisations undertaking activities which align with our selected themes while, in other cases, we’ve teamed up with other industry organisations to develop completely new initiatives,” he said.
“These newly developed initiatives include our Financial Skills Workshops for farmers, the Grow agri-focused board game, and the Farm2Future programme which was set up to educate secondary school students about agri career opportunities.”
With the backing of the Rabo Community Fund, Mr Charteris said, many of these activities had now built some real momentum.
“We’re keen to support other organisations doing good things across rural New Zealand. And we’re confident the new campaign will help build awareness of the Rabo Community Fund and prompt more individuals and organisations with good ideas to reach out to us and apply for funding support,” he said.
Rabobank Head of Marketing Brett Morris attended the filming for the new television commercial earlier this month and said the advert follows a farmer in his tractor which passes by several organisations supported by the Rabo Community Fund.
“The tractor first passes by a Meat the Need drop-off point where a volunteer is unloading packs of mince and containers of milk for redistribution to families in need, it then drives past a small country school taking part in their weekly session with Garden to Table which teaches them how to grow, harvest and prepare food.
“The tractor then heads on past several teenagers putting in a fence post as part of their training on the Growing Future Farmers programme, before pulling up at surf beach for the weekly Surfing for Farmers session – an initiative that was set up in 2019 to help improve rural health and wellness.”
Mr Morris said he was thrilled with how the advert had come together.
“We think it does a great job of highlighting some of the diverse initiatives the Rabo Community Fund is supporting and how these initiatives are benefitting people of all ages across rural communities,” he said.
“I’m confident it will resonate with both rural and urban viewers and help boost the profile of the Fund, as well as highlighting the amazing work being done by the four featured organisations.”
You can view the new television commercial on the Rabobank website here.