2019 Glass: The Award for Change

FORTE FEMME

TitleFORTE FEMME
BrandFORTE BANK
Product/ServiceBANKING SERVICES
Category A01. Glass
Entrant VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Idea Creation VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Media Placement KOMBINAT Almaty, KAZAKHSTAN
PR VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
PR 2 KOMBINAT Almaty, KAZAKHSTAN
Production VOSKHOD Ekaterinburg, RUSSIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Anton Rozhin Voskhod Copywriter
Georgy Kornilov Voskhod Copywriter
Artem Epanchintsev Voskhod Copywriter
Alfia Khafizova Voskhod Copywriter
Vladislav Derevyannikh Voskhod Design Director
Elizaveta Larionova Voskhod Producer
Andrey Gubaydullin Voskhod Creative Director
Veronika Malikova Voskhod Strategist
Dmitry Maslakov Voskhod Digital Creative Director
Anna Maslyakova Voskhod Digital Art Director
Vasily Tsykin Voskhod Technical Director
Liliya Zagidullina Voskhod Web Designer
Yelena Dmitriyeva Kombinat Producer
Taissiya Samoilova Kombinat Producer Assistant
Tomiris Kassenova Kombinat Producer Assistant
Nikita Yermolayev Kombinat Creative Director
Rassul Abidov Kombinat Copywriter
Diana Korchevskaya Kombinat Art Director
Aleksey Klimov Voskhod Graphic Designer
Maxim Geychenko Voskhod Graphic Designer
Kirill Ratman Voskhod Graphic Designer

Background

In Kazakhstan a woman entrepreneur feels uncomfortable in the man’s world. She is in a constant state of fighting with the world and the system. Many people are sure that a female business there is always based on a man’s money, while women are not capable of any mental processes on their own. This is a huge paradox. The government tries to encourage female businesses with special support programs for women entrepreneurs. The society, on the opposite, does not allow women to do business. It is much harder to change the way how the society thinks. And the Bank, instead of just promoting its services, decided to change the public opinion and support women's business

Describe the cultural / social / political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context

Kazakhstan is a region where women are traditionally expected to play the archetypal role of stay-at-home mothers. Discussing women’s rights is deemed inappropriate in Kazakhstani society, as is a woman’s desire to study or work. It is considered unacceptable to invite a woman to a business negotiation or shake a woman’s hand at the end of it. Yet, according to the statistics, women account for 39% of Kazakhstan’s GDP, they operate 41% of small and medium-sized businesses and 50% of the country’s sole proprietors are female. At the same time, women endeavor to start their own businesses but are afraid to develop them. They are also generally reluctant to take loans from banks, even though they are the most responsible credit users. The campaign’s objective is to change the society’s opinion about female entrepreneurship and to inspire businesswomen to develop their businesses and use the bank’s services.

Describe the creative idea

The idea is to make the huge female businesses’ contribution to the country’s development visible. To support female entrepreneurs and promote credit provisioning services among businesswomen. Business is money. We decided to add the “female” side to all the money circulating in female business to prove that there are many businesswomen in Kazakhstan and that their contribution to the economy is immense.

Describe the strategy

The campaign is focused on female entrepreneurs who are starting their business or planning to develop it. Women with proactive attitude to life 18 y.o and older.

Describe the execution

A week before International Women’s Day, a huge number of bloggers, journalists and ordinary people noticed that money started to have a nice smell. And then the bank revealed Forte Femme perfume and, together with thousands of businesswomen, daubed all money circulating in their businesses with it. Female entrepreneurs received a gift from the bank – perfume sets with the essence, scented cash register tape and “Woman entrepreneur” stickers. On TV and Radio, famous female entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan unveiled what the scent stands for: respect, overcoming, success, confidence, achievements and victories of businesswomen. One could deposit the scented banknotes at a profitable rate. The last 5 bottles of the perfume were sold at the auction. The money was channeled to female entrepreneurship support funds.

Describe the results / impact

Forte Femme has become social media phenomenon in Kazakhstan. The whole country has started to literally feel the women’s contribution to its’ future and development. Many businesspersons have spontaneously joined the promotion thus raising the topic of women’s role in Kazakhstan for public discussion. The last 5 bottles of the perfume were sold at the auction. The money was channeled to female entrepreneurship support funds. There were hundreds of new users on the Bank’s website launched for female entrepreneurs. Lots of women were interested in the bank’s services.