Title	FAKE SELF-HELP BOOKS AGAINST AGE POVERTY
Brand	DEUTSCHER SPARKASSEN - UND GIROVERBAND E.V.
Product/Service	RETIREMENT PROVISION
Category	A06. Consumer Services/Business to Business
Entrant	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Idea Creation	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
PR	JUNG VON MATT Hamburg, GERMANY
Production	HESSE STUDIOS Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company	DEUTSCHER SPARKASSEN UND GIROVERBAND Berlin, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Till Eckel	Jung von Matt AG	Executive Creative Director
Frances Rohde	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director
Johannes Hicks	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director
Ole Nagatis	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Concept Creative
Sarah Dornieden	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Art Director / Digital
Laura Imkamp	Jung von Matt AG	Videographer
Sven Rebholz	Jung von Matt AG	Managing Director
Lukas Popp	Jung von Matt AG	Junior Copywriter
Benjamin Baum	Jung von Matt AG	Copywriter
Sarah Dornieden	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Art Director
Greta Attinger	Jung von Matt AG	Junior Art Director
Christopher Schneider	Jung von Matt AG	Art Director
Aline Mathieu	Jung von Matt AG	Junior Copywriter
Benjamin Mohr	Jung von Matt AG	Senior Art Director
Julian Schnaars	Jung von Matt AG	Art Director
Maximilian Lange-Brandenburg	Jung von Matt AG	Copywriter
Antonia Trippner	Jung von Matt AG	Graphic Designer
Matthias van de Sand	Jung von Matt AG	Head of TV
Sergii Eisenstadt	Jung von Matt AG	Junior Producer
Sascha Lutzius	Jung von Matt AG	Client Service Director
Yasemin Küçük	Jung von Matt AG	Project Manager
Silke Lehm	Deutscher Sparkassen - und Giroverband e.V.	Lead Marketing-Communication
Nadin Hirsch	Deutscher Sparkassen - und Giroverband e.V.	Campaign Manager
Meike Drefahl	Deutscher Sparkassen - und Giroverband e.V.	Creative Director
Arabella Bartsch	Freelancer	Director
Tobias Koppe	Freelancer	Director Of Photography
Laura Imkamp	Jung von Matt AG	Videographer
Rocco di Mento	Freelancer	Editor
Stephen Quell	Jung von Matt AG	Creative Director

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Everybody is talking about the pay gap. The issue has been widely discussed in public. But there is a related topic almost unknown but even worse: the pension gap. To change that we partnered up with one of Germany’s most famous feminist influencers, as well as some of the most popular feminist blogs. It didn’t take long and other influencers and mainstream media were writing about our campaign.

Background

Germany has a real problem of great social relevance: the pension gap between men and women. In fact, women currently receive only half as much pension as men. Unfortunately, despite this frightening facts, far too few women worry about their retirement. That's why Sparkasse wanted to give them a wake up call and get women talk and think about this issue, while strengthening the role of Sparkasse as THE bank for the people.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Pensions are not an issue that young people and especially women like to think about, let alone talk about. It is too complex. It is not fun. It is not emotional. It is only important for the "future self". Unless you show them the absurd challenges they would have to face, if they didn't start taking their finances into their own hands. Because if they don't face reality today, they would probably have to find a sugar daddy or start dealing their own meds when they're old. Obviously very bad advices. We used extreme but still realistic insights like this and published fake self-help books to get one message clear: Better good advice than bad self help.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

German pension policy has failed. Currently, three out of four women are threatened by poverty in old age - a big problem of enormous social relevance. The main culprit? The pension gap. But the biggest problem: Most of the women don't even know about the gap and the terrifying situation in general. That's why we wanted to give young women a wake up call, while telling them that they are not alone. How? We showed them what bad opportunities they would have left, if they do not start to think about their pension. Therefore, we created fake self help books so provocative that media had to write about it.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

To reach a young target group (women aged between 24 – 35) and to open a public conversation about the topic itself, the campaign took place on social media (Instagram and Facebook). In order to generate the most momentum, we launched the campaign on the first day of the Frankfurt book fair. Since at this time of the year all of Germany is talking about books. To attract even more attention, we partnered up with Nike van Dinther, one of the most famous feminist influencers of Germany, who addresses gender related topics and has a female politically active audience. Besides that, we worked together with some popular feminist blogs. It didn't take long and other feminist influencers and mainstream media picked up our fake self help book company and were writing about us - without getting paid.

List the results (30% of vote)

Within a single week, the books generated nearly 10 million media impressions and reached over 6 million women. It was widely shared and commented on social media. Women (and men!!!) across all generations not only gave their thumbs up but also really loved the idea. The online community got crazy about the books and asked, where they could actually buy them. They even became creative themselves, making up their own book titles. Besides Nike, other German influencers and activists jumped on board and even shared our message without being hired by us. The campaign was covered in dozens of major publications all over Germany. With the help of an absurd book company Germany was finally talking about the pension gap and we've reached our goal to empower women to face reality and take the matter in their own hands.