Title	DEMOCRATIZED DOLLARS
Brand	VARO
Product/Service	VARO
Category	G03. Single-market Campaign
Entrant	SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation	SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation 2	SERVICEPLAN US New York, USA
Media Placement	MINDSTREAM MEDIA GROUP Dallas, USA
Production	SCHOLAR Los Angeles, USA
Production 2	FORMOSA Santa Monica, USA
Production 3	CORDOVAN MUSIC Los Angeles, USA
Post Production	SCHOLAR Los Angeles, USA
Additional Company	SAINT ELMO'S Munich, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Alex Schill	SERVICEPLAN GROUP	Global Chief Creative Officer
Jason Romeyko	SERVICEPLAN GROUP	Worldwide Executive Creative Officer
Maximlilian Schöngen	SERVICEPLAN GROUP	Global Creative Strategist
Michael Wilk	SERVICEPLAN GROUP	Global Head of Art
Kevin Prösel	Saint Elmo’s Experiential	Managing Director
Stefan Schütte	Serviceplan New York	CEO
Paul Foulkes	Serviceplan New York	Art Director/Creative Director
Matt Ashworth	Serviceplan New York	Writer/Creative Director
Dennis Fritz	SERVICEPLAN GERMANY	Head of Film
Kevin Lausen	SERVICEPLAN GERMANY	DOP
Hendrik Sommerfeld	Freelance	Motion Designer
Bassel Hallak	Freelance	Musician
Tatiana Trikoz	Freelance	Illustrator
Kent Barton	Freelance	Illustrator
Cam Floyd	Freelance	Illustrator

Why is this work relevant for Media?

Varo Bank is a challenger brand in the long-established financial segment. Our target group already had a natural interest in exchanging the face of the 20$ note - so why not go for the personal portrait without further ado? Our Democratised Dollars campaign was born. The art-directional approach of a banknote needed the fitting mediaformat. Landscape out-of-home formats and hand-painted murals brought our topic to life and placed our close to our target group. The fact that our campaign finally even helped to change the face of the $20 note is an outstanding brand success.

Background

Varo was founded for the millions of Americans left behind by traditional banks. A bank that empowers people by giving access to products & services they actually need, and that actually help them. In times of domestic unrest, democracy in upheaval, and an ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor, Varo's new brand campaign was about anchoring the company's purpose and ambition within society as a whole.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

“Democratized Dollars” by VARO showcases financial opportunity and inclusion for everybody. The launch phase of the "A bank for all of us" campaign reimagines money and puts modern American consumers at the very core of the ultimate symbol for money: money.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Varo, America's first fully digital bank, is opening up to precisely this target group with the offer: money should work for all of us. The financial market in the States is highly dominated by many long-established brands, making it quite difficult for challenger brands. To make our brand philosophy loud and visible, we had to be smart with our budget. We used the highly discussed topic of the $20 note and made this financial asset work exactly for us. An integrated brand launch across TV, radio and out of home set the tone of our campaign. Online, we activated our target group with an further engaging element: an AR filter put each participant's face to create their own personal $20 note, which was afterwards shared on social media.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The campaign highlights the diversity inherent in our communities and features a range of American faces - front and center - on a reimagined $20 bill. The campaign signals Varo's support for a renewed push to put Harriet Tubman on the face of the $20, too. Next to TV-, print-, transit- and out-of-home-media Varo released an Instagram filter enabling anyone to put their face on the currency plus spreading the campaign visual on social media. Additionally, the campaign got featured on several hand painted murals activating potential customers in their neighborhoods.

List the results (30% of vote)

The momentum of the "Democratized Dollars" case perfectly reflected the zeitgeist in the USA: a high level of support for the Varo campaign led to high access rates to the website and significantly increased first-time contract signings by 146%. A strong increase in followers of Varos social media channels was also recorded. Halle Hutchison, Chief Brand Officer at Varo puts the result into the right words: “Central to the 'A bank for all of us' campaign are visual and verbal provocations of long-held financial conventions. By questioning the status quo and asking questions that are hyper-relevant in our culture - right now - the campaign lifts the American consumer into a position of power.

Please tell us how the work was designed / adapted for a single country / region / market.

The contrast between rich and poor is growing in the United States of America. For many low-income earners, financial opportunities and participation are simply not there. Not yet. Varo, America's first fully digital bank, is opening up to precisely this target group with the offer: money should work for all of us. The financial market in the States is highly dominated by many long-established brands, making it quite difficult for challenger brands. To make our brand philosophy loud and visible, we had to be smart with our budget. We used the highly discussed topic of the $20 note and made this financial asset work exactly for us. We hit the zeitgeist with our campaign and created a big bang in the finance segment. We took a clear democratic stand and created identification potential in our target group. As a logical consequence, the number of new signed contracts increased rapidly.