As they say in 1985’s Back
to the Future, “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
And we don’t need time machines either. 7Dffrnt Knds of Smke takes you on a journey of your future with their interactive Facebook application for Nedbank.
And we don’t need time machines either. 7Dffrnt Knds of Smke takes you on a journey of your future with their interactive Facebook application for Nedbank.
Nedbank wanted to show students on the brink of their
university careers the possibility of a life where they have been smart about
money, and can enjoy the rewards.
They already had a channel called “Sam”, a persona embodying a youth who is “Smart About Money”, with the message that within each and every young person, there is the potential to be this “Sam”. The next step was to deliver this message at Orientation Week at universities across the country.
They already had a channel called “Sam”, a persona embodying a youth who is “Smart About Money”, with the message that within each and every young person, there is the potential to be this “Sam”. The next step was to deliver this message at Orientation Week at universities across the country.
7Dffrnt Knds of Smke was approached by Nedbank to come up
with a solution for O Week with an interactive way to engage new students
visiting the campus. The goal was not only to stand head and shoulders above
the other banks at the banking mall, but to speak to students in their
language. It was well received at O Week and increased Nedbank’s Facebook fans
by 300 per cent.
Getting personal
7Dffrnt Knds of Smke devised an application which connected
to Facebook. The idea was that students using the app would be posed the
question, “Who is Sam?” and be taken on a journey to find out for themselves
who exactly Sam is.
“Our objective was to make students realise that they could
be smart about money, through a personal experience with Nedbank”, says Ryan
Gandalf van Jaarsveld, MD 7Dffrnt Knds of Smke.
The application used, with the user’s permission, photos
from their Facebook profile to put together a video that showed their future, a
montage of graduation, weddings, first cars, first houses and more. As each user watches the video, it becomes
increasingly clear who Sam is, ending off with the line, “Do you recognise
Sam?” and the user’s profile picture. Neil Clarence, Creative Director at
7Dffrnt Knds of Smke explains, “We’ve all seen hundreds of corporate videos or
commercials that deal with banking products. What none of our target market had
experienced was a video that they themselves starred in.”
For each user that watched the video, there was a unique
variation of it, turning it into something truly personal and saying to
students that they too can be Smart About Money with Nedbank. The real trick
was the creative behind the video. “The script writing was critical,” explains
Clarence, “It had to be generic enough to work with each photo pulled in by the
app, but at the same time personal enough that it engaged the viewer. It was an
intense writing job but I think we nailed it perfectly. The students’ responses
only prove this.”
Once the user had watched the video, the application would
post an update on their Facebook wall, sharing the link to the app and inviting
others to try it out for themselves. It spread from one user to the next, but
the real success came at the Orientation Week banking stalls, where Nedbank
attracted a constant stream of curious students.
Ditch the DeLorean and find out for yourself how bright your
future could be by visiting www.WhoIsSam.co.za
