While all banks in Romania run financial education programs for Youth, they only scratch the surface of basic financial literacy. As a bank that wants to enable people to reach their potential in life, we wanted to address what is holding Youth back. So we set out to explore the connection between Youth’s financial behaviors and their mental health. Rather than telling them WHAT they should do with their money, we engaged in a vulnerable conversation about emotional struggles and the WHY behind their overspending.

Challenge: Pierce through to the young target and prove that we are not just another bank, by taking a radically different approach to financial education and engaging in a bold conversation about mental health.

Objective:

Make youth realize the connection between mental and financial health and become the first bank to tell them to stop overspending and start healing: themselves and their relationship with money.

STRATEGY: Put a mirror in front of Youth to make them realize just how much self-hate costs them.

IDEA:

THE SELF-HATE CALCULATOR: The first algorithm-based tool that translates low self-esteem coping mechanisms into money.

We created an algorithm based on data from a nationwide study to provide a personalised estimate of the money Youth spends in one year on emotional shopping linked to low self-esteem. All they needed to do was answer a series of questions about how often they try to make themselves feel better through activities like binge eating, compulsive shopping, smoking, isolating home and ordering takeout or going out to bars/clubs to forget. The calculator generated their personal, yearly self-hate sum.

We offered 1-to-1free help: a 24/7 hotline with therapists and financial experts, personal financial coaching sessions, exclusive expert content and therapy from a medical network.

We promoted the Self-Hate Calculator through video, social media, influencers, press.

We conducted a national quantitative study to find out how much money youth spend on damaging coping mechanisms to deal with low self esteem. The study revealed that 64% young people struggle with moments of self-hate and that this group spends more money, more often than the “emotionally healthy” control group on things like buying unhealthy food, clothes, beauty products, gadgets and tobacco or going out to bars and clubs. Not only that, but low self-esteem costs youth around 1320 euro/year – that’s about three times their average monthly income.

After processing the data from the study and checking for differences based on income level, city size or occupation, we fed it into the algorithm of the Self-Hate Calculator, using the median sums for each expense as the base for our estimates. Based on users’ individual answers on frequency and behaviour, we generated their personal yearly estimate (their self-hate sum).

Message: When you hate yourself, you waste yourself. And your money.

Stop overspending, And start healing.

The campaign ran for 8 weeks, in digital. We crafted a comprehensive journey to guide the audience, building a compelling experience of our narrative through a different approach at every touchpoint.

• We used video and social media content to put the topic on the agenda and dramatize the cycle of emotional distress and impulsive spending.

• To further spark conversation, we used relevant influencers who posted photos displaying their results from the Self-Hate calculator like a label and engaged in vulnerable conversations with their communities, showing that even they struggle with self-hate costing them real money.

• Through the The Self-Hate Calculator (placed on the bank's site), we gave youth a personal data point about their behaviour, make them reconsider their relationship with money and take the necessary steps for change.

Unfollow Self:Hate campaign was a first coming from a bank: a financial health program that puts mental health first and tells you to stop spending and start healing.

• We raised awareness and about 28 million EURO wasted on self-hate from all those who used the SELF-HATE CALCULATOR tool. (400k visits on the campaign website page)

• 50% of the Self-Hate Calculator users went on to browse the Solutions section in the website and book a session with a financial coach or therapist or called our 24/7 help-line

• Influencers aided our organic reach, generating 360K TikTok views and 72,5K organic interactions on their assets (not included in the 133K below)

• Unfollow Self:Hate became our most engaging campaign on social media to date, generating 133.000 interactions (likes, reactions, comments and shares) on our social media assets

• 15.4 million views on the main campaign video, with 2 million of these views being organic

On brand site, we registered outstanding results:

• We increased Brand Consideration for 18-24 target by 11pp, from 6th place to 3rd place

• We increased “Best advisers for clients” attribute by 10 pp and “Enables me to do more of what is important to me” by 12pp

ING was the first bank to literally put their money on hate, so that young people could start healing their relationship with themselves, and their money.