This project is in answer to a societal issue that has grown over the years in South Africa. Our saving habits have become so poor that we are known as the worst savers in the world. The stats paint an even more problematic picture. 90% of South Africans cannot afford to retire, the average South African spends 80% of their salary in five days, with 67% of their monthly income allocated to paying off debt.

As Nedbank, the money experts who do good, we felt South Africans needed a reality check. We used the approaching National Savings Month as an opportunity to encourage more South Africans to save.

We needed South Africans to focus particularly on saving for the long term. We did this by showing them the consequences of not doing so in an unexpected manner.

South Africans are known as the worst savers in the world. And for the bulk of the young professionals who make up our target market, retirement is seen as something far off in the distant future that they can always save for some day. It was time for a reality check. We took over a trendy restaurant in Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile, and replaced their waiters with paid actors who were way past retirement age. Patrons struggled to hide their surprise and frustration. It was only when the bill came, revealing 90% of South Africans can’t afford to retire, that the penny dropped. They were witnessing their distant future right in front of them. We captured everything on hidden cameras for an online film that sparked lively conversation about retirement, resulting in the kind of introspection about saving that leads to action.

With the approach of National Savings Month in July, our objective was to encourage a culture of long-term saving across South Africa. We targeted young professionals, whose bustling lives seemingly encourage a YOLO lifestyle. For them retirement is something far off in the distant future and not relevant to their here and now. Our solution was a social experiment that placed this far off future right in front of them.

We took over a trendy restaurant and replaced the existing waiters with much older actors. At the end of each meal the bill was presented with our stark hard hitting message at the bottom, stating that 90% of South Africans can’t afford to retire. For an audience that normally wouldn’t pay attention to a message about saving from a big bank, this approach managed to fly below the radar to hit home.

For our activation we took over a restaurant for a day. The restaurant we chose is one of the trendiest in Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile, and is known for its young and fashionable waiters and patrons. We replaced the waiters with paid actors way past retirement age. The patrons were taken aback. Trying to overlook minor errors in service, some eventually grew irritated while others showed concern over the waiters’ ages. Once they had finished their meals and requested the bill it was brought to them. It had a hard hitting message printed on it: 90% of South Africans can’t afford to retire. Shocked by the message, our patrons’ whole demeanour changed. We captured the activation on hidden cameras for an online film that sparked lively debate about retirement across the country, resulting in the kind of introspection about saving that leads to action.

We captured the activation on hidden cameras for an online film that sparked lively conversation about retirement across the country, resulting in the kind of introspection about saving that leads to action. As a result, the campaign experienced 286.2k organic views, there was a 414% increase in web traffic to save and invest pages, and 91.6% positive sentiment towards the campaign within the first week, further entrenching Nedbank as the money experts who do good.