Paymaya, the oldest e-wallet of the country, was falling far behind competition (G-Cash recently gaining 97% awareness). Not only is it faced with a growing e-wallet market (from 8% to 36%), it was also losing relevance and was seen as outdated by the young Gen Z market.

To be relevant once more, PayMaya had to relaunch – changing its name (into Maya), its whole look, and all its services. Despite all these changes, it was still faced with the challenge of capturing the young Gen Z market.

We released a new hit song that was actually a bank!

We partnered with the Kendrick Lamar of the country, Shanti Dope, to write a song named Maya. The song talked about this generation’s hustle culture and about the things Filipinos valued most – from hard earned money to their own friends and families. The song compared the Filipino hustle to the determined flight of a Maya bird, free to do whatever it chooses to achieve.

The hype was fueled further with radio and live performances. You can even download the song directly from interactive graffiti found across the metro.

Soon after, the bank behind the song was revealed. Fans were then invited on a treasure hunt, where you can earn cash from hidden codes found inside the music video. To redeem the cash, they had to download the Maya app and open a bank account.

To get a generation who is disinterested in banking to notice Maya, we needed to disguise it as something they’d notice. We turned Maya into a hit song, featuring a rapper that appealed to them the most. We also used the lyrics in the song to secretly talk about the value of saving and earning money.

"Maya," the hit song, was performed live by Shanti Dope across different radio guesting and live shows. It was available across every streaming service and downloadable from interactive graffiti we designed across the metro.

The bank behind the song was revealed with a surprise treasure hunt for cash codes hidden in the music video. Once you find a code, you can redeem it by opening an account on the Maya app. User points and Bitcoin were also given away in exchange for product trials. This encouraged more than a million new bank accounts to be opened.

For fans who couldn’t get over the hit song, they were invited to dance to it on TikTok and stitch their own lyrics as well.

MAYA THE SONG

8.6M times song played as of March 2023

4.6M music video views as of March 2023

Top 8 trending on YT music

446M hashtag views on TikTok

MAYA THE BANK

Awareness score rose from 85pts to 99pts

Consideration rose to 73 pts, higher than other digital banks

44.4% share of voice as the most talked-about fintech platform

Kantar imagery scores were higher among Gen Zs who saw the campaign

570K Participants in less than a week for Gamified App Usage

OVERALL BUSINESS RESULTS

Maya now the #1 digital banking app with 8.17M average monthly active users

and 25.2M cumulative downloads by December

Maya gained 1.5M new bank customers in 6 months

Over 1M new savings accounts opened