- Square has launched "See You in the Neighborhood," its first major Australian brand campaign, running July–August across TV, radio, digital, social and OOH.
- Naomi Watts, Daniel Ricciardo, and Mick Fanning each spotlight a local business in their home city (Sydney, Melbourne, and the Gold Coast), respectively.
- The campaign also features more than 100 real Square sellers across three cities, with media buying handled by AlchemyOne.
- This is built on Square's research showing Australians are shifting spending back toward neighborhood businesses rather than city centers.
Square has rolled out its biggest Australian push yet, and it’s leaning on hometown pride to do it. The payments company enlisted Naomi Watts to front “See You in the Neighborhood,” joining former racing driver Daniel Ricciardo and surfer Mick Fanning, who narrate videos about their respective neighborhoods in a campaign running from July to August.
Each star is paired with a local favourite: Watts appears alongside Bakery on Glenayr in Sydney, Ricciardo is paired with Leonard’s House of Love in Melbourne, and Fanning visits Pasture & Co on the Gold Coast, each chosen for genuine ties to their home turf. This project similar in ambition to how Will Ferrell recently fronted PayPal’s rebrand push.
The rollout launches nationwide, spanning TV, radio, digital, social, and out-of-home platforms, and is informed by research pointing to a shift in Australian consumer spending toward local neighborhoods over city centers. AlchemyOne, which has worked with Square since 2019, handled media buying across the campaign.
This is a big year for the trio outside the ad world too. Watts is gearing up to shoot the ballet drama “Margot & Rudi” this October, playing Margot Fonteyn opposite a young Rudolf Nureyev,
Ricciardo, since retiring from F1, has taken on a Ford Racing ambassador role and is dabbling in his own wine label. Fanning, meanwhile, is deep into building the Palm Valley Gold Coast wave pool resort, recently boosted by a $4 million government investment.
Takeaways
This is a savvy pivot for Square, trading generic small-business messaging for three faces Australians already trust, each tied to a real neighborhood rather than a soundstage. It also signals payments brands are borrowing celebrity endorsement playbooks once reserved for fashion or tech.
Does pairing celebrities with hyper-local businesses feel more authentic than typical star-studded ads? Could this model influence how other fintech brands approach local marketing?
