South Africans don't save. Household debt averages 75% of disposable income. Additionally, growth of online banking and easy access to credit has completely disconnected us from our money. Creating a false sense of how much we actually have and therefore we spend more and save less.

So to reconnect consumers with their money and encourage them to reconsider the way they spend and save – down to the last R1 coin, financial institution, Sanlam, created The One Rand Man. A unique social experiment where one man lived entirely on R1 coins during National Savings Month.

Weekly webisodes covered his story in real-time and experts weighed in on his trials and tribulations. Dedicated social media channels garnered loyal online communities who followed his journey throughout the month. The avalanche of editorial coverage shared his learnings every step of the way.

From day one, proactive media relations efforts drove massive exposure across all key editorial channels. Journalists and bloggers created national (and international) awareness around the social experiment and, very importantly, educated South Africans on critical savings lessons through in-depth features based around each weekly webisode. The experiment created a fresh angle to an old story and captured everyone's imagination, generating 21 times more earned media than the total campaign budget.

By the end of the month, consumers started expressing the need to refocus and take control of their own financial spending habits. The concept of hard earned money, spent and invested sensibly, was suddenly a hot topic across the country.

In June 2014 we cast the One Rand Man and prepared all collateral. We then shot and released a teaser video to key media and influencers to seed the idea. Then launched it across Sanlam's social channels to spark public interest.

The intense month long campaign ran during July - National Savings Month. The production team followed the One Rand Man for the month and weekly webisodes were filmed and released. Experts weighed in on his trials and tribulations after each episode. Social media posted his day to day spending and learnings, allowing consumers to follow, talk about and share his journey at any time. Proactive media relations secured massive editorial exposure for the entire month and enabled the campaign to dominate headlines across print, broadcast and online channels. Interviews and feature pieces created national awareness and drove education around important savings lessons - through the One Rand Man's story.

74 million+ media impressions

R41 million in earned media (PR value 3:1)

900,000 + video views

Ranked #1 YouTube South Africa Views in July