15 Aug 2016SpottedWhy a financial service provider wants to show its spiritual sideSPOTTED: The insights behind the ads
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“There’s a Japanese legend that promises a wish from the gods to anyone who folds 1,000 origami cranes,” explains the latest ad from deposit marketplace Raisin. “Some stories even suggest that eternal good luck will be granted to the individual.” It may not be a typical opener for an ad from a financial service provider, but it uses the spiritual undertones of the Japanese art to help people envisage what they can truly get from saving.

Author
Hannah Callaghan

‘Origami Art Of Savings’ – created by Retroviral, Johannesburg – shows a pop-up Origami installation in London, which saw South African origami artist Ross Symons fold 1,000 origami figures, including many from actual bank notes that symbolised items people would save for; houses, cars, and planes to represent holidays. “We’re all saving for something,” he says. “A home, travel, education, all of the above, or none of the above.”

Saving up can be good for the soul

When encouraging people to save, the obvious thing to do is address those tangible end goals; buying a house, taking a holiday, or saving up for a car. But Raisin exemplifies the less tangible benefits of these savings; a spiritually enriched existence, enabled by our financial decisions. Because while these tangible benefits are important, emotional adverts outperform informative campaigns by 19%. Even financial institutions themselves – which are notoriously inhuman – are becoming more emotionally engaged; banks in the UK are introducing empathy training courses, so staff can offer better services to customers.

Religion may be playing a less prominent role in our society than ever, but spirituality is on the rise; 37% of Americans now regard themselves as spiritual, but not religious. Because while science, logic and reason are increasingly factored into our decision-making, the human condition hungers for deeper meaning in existence – something spirituality can provide. By injecting a meaningful message into an inhuman industry, Raisin not only shows that it understands the correlation between financial and emotional health – 72% of American adults are stressed over money – but that it understands managing money itself is always rooted in emotional needs.

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Hannah Callaghan is an account executive at Canvas8. As an Advertising Management graduate, she’s an expert in all things celebrity and pop culture.