ANZ unveils campaign to encourage women to save

Women don’t save because they spend their all money making themselves look hot in the hope of getting a bloke, so they can leave all the saving and financial planning up to him.

I hope that didn’t upset anyone.

Will women take offence to being singled out by such a campaign?

Typically, women aren’t interested in finance/banking (though this is not a rule) to the same point many males are. This is not to say they need a ‘special’ saving campaign to drive them to action – what kind of response would be generated if a ‘Febusave’ was launched for men? I’m sure they’d feel somewhat insulted.

I realise there are statistics involved here, and this strategy is a result of most likely alarming figures, but surely there are a significant number of men equally incapable of saving money effectively?

Pink credit card options aside, banking services are not gender-exclusive.

I’m undecided.

That microsite could use video: otherwise it’s very flat and engaging IMHO.

I think it’s all about targeted marketing. You can’t hope to engage both sexes at the same time, on the same site as effectively as you can if you split them out.

Seems ANZ have just identified Women as a better growth area – as Save Me pointed out, it may be that Women (as a general rule) are less actively involved in online finance, so this seems like a decent push to change that.

Agree RE targeted marketing and not being able to engage men and women simultaneously (more often than not), but then why have we not seen this via bank’s communications until now? (Can think of several reasons but refuse to be nasty).

A few banks ‘support’ women and endeavour to speak with them in that regard (e.g. Westpac’s Women in Business initiative), yet this is the first targeted campaign I can think of…so well done for having the balls to launch it.

Hopefully it prompts other banks to remember that they have female customers…customers which by 2015 will be out-earning their male counterparts as a population.

@HG I’m a man and I would not be insulted in the slightest if this campaign were aimed at me. In fact I am a bit insulted to be left out as I need all the help I can get with saving. i might have to invent some alias to register on the site. I think it is a good idea and I like the idea of starting small and growing from there.

Great! We’re getting into it now!

I also know loads of males who are shocking savers.

It seems we’re all waking up to the fact that men and women need to be reached by different methods/marketing communications…but it’s a problem in this type of situation where there is only so much budget to achieve results, however they’re measured.

That, or we become better at developing creative that resonates with both sexes and doesn’t offend or exclude one or the other.

Targeted marketing is fine, particularly in an era when women’s earnings are going to drastically lag men’s – in the absence of any proper maternity pay scheme, child care scheme or child support.

Among an older female demographic in particular there is a need for education, since many baby boomer women were sadly brought up to expect marriage to bring financial security, in an era when divorce was much more taboo. The result is that many got left high and dry as social mores shifted.

It’s probably too late for most of these women in terms of long-term savings, but younger generations need to avoid making similar mistakes. Even if you get married, even if you plan to share financial responsibilities, even if you can get child support after a split, you are still going to be POOR if you can’t rely on your own earnings and savings.

@anon1

I think most younger women these days are independant enough to know not to rely on marriage to keep them financially secure, but I agree with your comments on the older generations.

Unfortunately for ANZ, I also think older women are the least likely market to respond to this campaign.

Sarah Wilson is also an ambassador for FebFast, which also happens in February: http://www.theage.com.au/lifes.....-m008.html

Maybe one of her tips to save money in February is to not drink?

Generally speaking:

So does that mean ANZ:

• Will stop pushing credit cards?
• Stop offering increases on limits?
• Stop getting people further into debt?
• Can they also improve their service at the branches?
• Can they put business bankers on that actually give a damn?

I didn’t think so.

Irrespective of what the bank pushes in it’s advertising they fail to deliver at the cold face.

I reckon it would have to be the worst bank in Australia.

On one hand we in advertising are their to encourage spending, yet on the other we are their to encourage saving. It looks like a win:win for the advertising industry.

Good topic of focus but ….

agree with the call regarding men … aren’t we over gender stereotyping by now? Where are the stats around men and their savings habits to justify the slant?

Timing? Let’s not forget that women and men have just survived one of the toughest financial period’s in some time … so saving whilst trying to manage to pay the bills is a big challenge.

A good initiative as people all need to get better at saving. Particularly given the issue of pay inequality is still an issue in Australia. Added to this we read that generally women have less savings and superannuation than men, which is a concern. There are probably then two issues here; ensuring women and men are equally paid for the same work and secondly making sure that they manage their finances sensibly.

A simple yet effective tip for all workers is to have their employer pay their salary into two separate bank accounts, with 10% going directly into an interest bearing savings account. It’s a good form of forced savings and you tend to not miss it that much. If your employer is not obliging, simply set up an automatic transfer to occur each month. You will be quite surprised at the end of a year to see how your money has grown. http://kellykaplon.com/code%20.....management

That web site looks just like feminine hygiene products.

Two things:

1. I think we need to stop worrying about the ‘slant’ which suggests women aren’t great savers. There is no comparison here to men, so it is really just ANZ using a specific angle to shape their message. Any talk of sexism will lead only to an over-sensitive debate much like the KFC racism hype-up.

2. As mentioned by Anonymous above, taking savings advice from a Bank is pretty sketchy. How long before they are hawking their credit cards to their Febusavers to start ripping into that hard saved balance?

test Comment

You’ve got to give points to any bank who dares to do any potentially contentious PR campaign in the wake of Westpac bananagate. Putting aside a general mistrust of banks, and a general mistrust of anything targeted towards ‘women’, this is not a terrible campaign.

… although, the cynical voice in my head suggests that they want women to save in February so that they can reward themselves with a credit-card induced shopping spree in March…

Yeah right! Everybody knows women can’t save money! All it takes is 3 words: “David Jones Clearance” & it’s goodbye ca$h 🙂

Nice point Anon1.

Gender-targeting? With good reason, given women still earn – on average – 84 cents for every dollar her male counterpart earns. Whether a woman marries, takes time off work to have children, or does neither, she’s still behind the eight ball when it comes to potential earning (and saving!) capacity.

Yes, it seems like a rough deal, but the reality is (for the moment) that it’s up to women to do something about it so it makes sense to create an awareness of the issue.

Maureen Jordan on Switzer wrote about this a while back – suggesting regardless of their personal situation women need to ‘GST’ their lives to ensure financial independence – and her comments gave me the wake up call to start saving.

Here’s the article:

http://switzer.com.au/the-expe.....a-complex/

Love your comment Anonymous 3! I am a single mother with two kids (and no support from ex-husband). Child care and associated expenses is a huge issue! Having said that, I have managed to buy a house and save money.

HG, I just checked the site and I reckon men can pledge too. There’s nothing on there that says men can’t participate. I think it’s just mainly targeted at women, because that’s the group that they think has more trouble with saving

@Anonymous 11 Jan 10 3:02 pm

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

Some friendly advice.

Giving away three $5,000 savings accounts as incentives? Gee, way not to motivate.

Get a good job, pay off your mortgage, keep your cash in the bank, and hope you’re in the 3% of Australians who can retire without government assistance. Do what the banks tell you…

IMO – get on ebay, buy a copy of Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki or A Jan Somers Book.
Theres also a great resource online called somersoft.

Point being Aussies need to educate themselves financially significantly more