Domuts, Donuts For Dogs: CGU Insurance Rescues Australia’s Ambition

Last year, 424,144 ABNs were cancelled, many of them business ideas that never got off the ground. Lost ABNs are symptomatic of a bigger societal issue: ambition has become a dirty word. Unlike other insurers, CGU believes your most important asset is your ambition.

So to tackle this problem, CGU Insurance has launched ‘ABN Rescue’, a national integrated campaign to help ignite the ambitions of small business owners in Australia. The centrepiece of our campaign is the rescue of a lapsed small business called Domuts: donuts for dogs.

Created by a working mum, Thea, and her young son, Marcus, the Domuts business was all-but-dead six months ago. So CGU Insurance stepped in to work closely with Thea to help her realise her ambition, providing advice and assistance to get Domuts off the ground.

This included developing a business plan, trademarks, finance and accounting, marketing, manufacturing and distribution and a food technologist to develop the product. Insurance to protect her ambition was also provided by CGU.

Today, it’s been relaunched, culminating with a TVC on Australia’s biggest stage, the AFL Grand Final. In fact, CGU is so committed to ambition that it gifted its Grand Final spot to Domuts.

Directed by Jeff Low at Rabbit Content, the film tells the story of Domuts, showing dogs from everywhere making the pilgrimage to Dogtopia, where Domuts blossom. It even has a special message for dogs, embedded in a frequency only they can hear.

Other elements of the ABN Rescue campaign include content films, influencer PR and social, along with a dedicated website that houses a custom tool that lets people explore business trends in their area.

As part of the wider out-of-home component of the campaign, special-built ‘Ambition Wanted’ installations have also transformed empty shopfronts around Sydney into visions of ‘what-could-be’. Projections of potential businesses transformed these forgotten spaces, inspiring locals and bringing life back to dwindling retail strips.