It might have been quietly launched last year, but Wednesday night marked the first time CommBank had truly lifted the lid on its ambitious media retail project, CommBank Connect.
Held at its iconic Vault in Martin Place, Sydney, the exclusive showcase gave media and agency partners a deeper look into the scale, strategy and soul of what the bank believes is one of Australia’s most powerful and trusted advertising ecosystems.
The event coincided with a major corporate milestone: the same day CommBank became the first ASX-listed company to be valued at more than $300 billion.
If timing is everything, this was no accident.
Not just another retail media network
The bank was adamant to stress this is not just another screen with banner ads, or a marketplace for programmatic buys.
According to the bank’s Chief Marketing Officer Jo Boundy, CommBank Connect is built on a unique combination of trust, transactional scale, and intelligent personalisation.
“We have 12.3 million people who log into our app every single day. So it’s big,” Boundy told guests.
“People connect in the app regularly, with an average of 43 connections per month. We also have over 600 branches and 1800 ATMs across the country. And because of CommBank Connect, we’ve invested more in those branches and that physical experience. We now have 2,000 digital screens that you can use as a CommBank Connect partner.”
That combination, massive daily reach, a physical footprint with 2,000 digital touchpoints, and deep data analytics through CommBank IQ, is what the bank says sets its offering apart.
And it’s already delivered: a campaign with Destination Canada saw travel consideration among CommBank Connect customers jump by 62%.
Data, trust and utility
At the heart of CommBank Connect is data. Not just the scale of it, but the responsibility around it.
“Customer data is a gift, not a commodity,” said CommBank IQ CEO Makenna Ralston. “That gift comes with enormous responsibility. When customers give you first-party data in such a trusted way, they expect you to use it to improve their lives.”
That means advertisers need to meet a higher bar. Ralston said it’s not a question of whether to personalise, but whether a brand has earned the right to use data to deliver better services, better content, and smarter offers.
Boundy echoed that philosophy. “We want to ensure we’re serving up more relevant content to our customers. And we want to promote offers and discounts from brands they love. That’s where the data helps, serving the right offers from the right brands to each individual.”
The CommBank ecosystem as premium ad real estate
According to News Corp Australia’s Managing Director, Commercial Content, Mike Connaghan, CommBank’s platform is uniquely placed to deliver real advertising value, but only if it’s done right.
“It didn’t start with a media network,” he told guests. “Who really needs another media network? Another screen to place an ad on? What CBA is doing is starting with content, content that helps people through their day, helps them save money, helps them live a better life. The content that surrounds any ad is really, really important.”
Connaghan pointed to the sheer scale of the platform. “The website and app can be among the most visited and used in the country. The data that sits behind that is obviously really powerful. But what matters is that the ecosystem makes sense. You can’t just throw up screens and say, ‘buy ads here.'”
As Boundy put it: “This is about connecting customers to brands they already love, at the right time, in the right way. It’s all about improving their experience.”
With Are Media, Woolworths, Coles and other retail giants sharpening their own media offerings, CommBank Connect is carving out a distinctly high-trust lane in the race to monetise first-party relationships.