ANZ unveils campaign to encourage women to save
ANZ has launched an initiative to encourage women to save, following findings that 56 per cent of women do not save money on a regular basis.
The ‘Febusave’ campaign is being aimed at both ANZ and non-ANZ consumers. People are being invited to register at a website and set a savings goal for February and commit to cutting back on ‘unnecessary’ spending for the month by only spending money on essential items such as general household bills, rent and mortgage repayments.
Women are also being invited to visit the FebuSave website for savings tips from financial experts and track the progress of celebrity ‘FebuSavers’ such as MasterChef host Sarah Wilson.
Carolyn Bendall, ANZ head of customer marketing, said: “At the end of the month FebuSave participants will report back online on whether they achieved their savings goal and as an added incentive three ‘FebuSavers’ will receive a $5,000 ANZ savings account of their choice.”
The Women and Money Confidence research, commissioned by ANZ, also found more than half of the women surveyed said that they would last less than three months on their current savings if they lost their job.
“About 45 per cent of women said they have saved less than they hoped in the past 12 months and more than half still don’t have a plan in place to achieve their financial goals,” Bendall said.
“While we have seen an increase in the number of women talking about money compared to last year, most likely as a result of heightened awareness of the global economic downturn, it’s clear this has not necessarily translated into action.”
The initiative is being promoted through PR activity, online advertising and social media.
Linkedin
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.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
That microsite could use video: otherwise it’s very flat and engaging IMHO.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
@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.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
@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.
User ID not verified.
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?
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
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
User ID not verified.
That web site looks just like feminine hygiene products.
User ID not verified.
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?
User ID not verified.
Gees … I’d be targetting women. Especially Gail Kelly who probably has some loose change down the back of the lounge!
User ID not verified.
test Comment
User ID not verified.
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…
User ID not verified.
Yeah right! Everybody knows women can’t save money! All it takes is 3 words: “David Jones Clearance” & it’s goodbye ca$h 🙂
User ID not verified.
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/
User ID not verified.
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.
User ID not verified.
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
User ID not verified.
@Anonymous 11 Jan 10 3:02 pm
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling
Some friendly advice.
User ID not verified.
Giving away three $5,000 savings accounts as incentives? Gee, way not to motivate.
User ID not verified.
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
User ID not verified.