Aussie owned agency JohnXHannes New York launches new Super Bowl spot for Expensify

Aussie owned agency JohnXHannes New York and Expensify, the world’s most widely used expense management platform, has this week announced their collaboration with rapper 2 Chainz and actor Adam Scott for Expensify’s first-ever commercial, a Super Bowl campaign that will air during the second quarter of “the big game,” and the world’s first music video you can expense.

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While Expensify is already established in the fin-tech world and B2B, they haven’t previously invested in marketing. JohnXHannes New York, Emmy-award winning creative collective, developed new brand positioning and design, a comprehensive consumer strategy and a fully integrated launch campaign entitled, “You Weren’t Born To Do Expenses,” to completely reposition the company.  Now, Expensify is kicking off their new marketing campaign with the world’s first music video you can expense, followed by their commercial in Super Bowl LIII and at the 61st Grammy Awards, with additional digital and film content rolling out along the way. 

With Expensify, the message is simple, you snap a photo of your receipt, and you’re done.  JohnXHannes NY capitalized on the way Expensify boldly solved a mundane task – doing expenses – to develop a comedic concept that would live at the intersection of entertainment and advertising, capturing consumer attention and building the brand beyond the business world.

Says Aussie expat Hannes Ciatti, ECD, JohnXHannes: “Expensify has solved one of the most painful and oldest problems – expenses. With simple, amazing tech, the app experienced incredible growth to date. We want everyone to experience Expensify, so they can get back to what they truly set out to do.  The world’s first music video you can expense with 2 Chainz is basically the greatest and most fun product demonstration ever.  We engaged the best music writers and musical talent and developed a legitimate rap track.”

Starring Grammy-award winning Rapper 2 Chainz and actor Adam Scott (“Big Little Lies”, “Parks and Recreation”), and directed by Andreas Nilsson of Biscuit Filmworks, the opulent commercial and accompanying comedic music video feature a comical illustration of how 2 Chainz, like the rest of us, wasn’t born to do expenses.

Says Aussie expat John McKelvey, ECD, JohnXHannes: “People aspire to be a pilot, a teacher, rapper, designer or firefighter, but, nobody was born to do expenses. Our goal is to create compelling content that entertains while conveying a focused message, all born from human truth. “You Weren’t Born To Do Expenses” rings true to everyone.  There’s just something undignified about it being hard to get your own money back. Thankfully, there’s Expensify, and it’s great to see the creative work inspire action.  Director Andreas Nilsson did such a great job of bringing it all to life.”

In the world’s first music video you can expense, “Expensify This,” fans just download the Expensify app and snap a photo of the receipts in the video.   Then expense them using the app for a chance to get actual cash or win the items themselves. Expensable items range from an ice sculptured sports car, an Audi R8 and a decked-out gold jet ski to a diamond-encrusted football and gold 2 Chainz bust.

2 Chainz and Scott both also appear in Expensify’s Super Bowl ad, airing during the second quarter, on February 3, 2019, during which a final prize will be revealed. Viewers will have a chance to take home the most elaborate prize of all by simply snapping a photo of the receipt in the TV commercial, and uploading it to the Expensify app.