FORTE FEMME

TitleFORTE FEMME
BrandFORTE BANK
Product/ServiceBANKING SERVICES
Category A06. Consumer Services/Business to Business
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

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Little amount of media channels was implemented; however, smart usage of celebrities and influencers as well as the suitable cultural background allowed us achieve a much bigger reach than we planned before the start of the campaign. ForteBank, a local bank encouraging female businesses with special support programs, wanted to change the public opinion, inspire women to start and develop their own businesses and prominent female entrepreneurs throughout the country.

Background

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 / insights (30% of vote)

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

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

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 (20% of vote)

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.

List the results (30% of vote)

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. 19 000 000 organic impressions (in a country with a population of 18M) 134 Media publications ($790 000 earned media) 4 000 000 views on Youtube and social networks (facebook, vkontakte) Thousands of business people got involved and took a stand for gender equality Incredible boost in the Bank’s B2B department: 194% lift in monthly financial turnover, 172% lift in the number of new clients