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A marketplace lender has begun a new marketing campaign to highlight how unexpected situations can place extra financial stress on anybody.
The campaign has already begun to run ahead of the holiday season, where demand for consumer credit typically jumps with increased spending on festivities and gifts.
SocietyOne’s campaign tells the story of ‘regular guy’, Dave, who is financially in control until a series of unexpected events blows his budget out of the water. The lender then saves the day by rewarding Dave’s good credit rating with a low-rate personal loan, saving him from resorting to a credit card.
Nikki Avery, SocietyOne’s brand and communications manager said, “Life is filled with the unexpected, and with $37billion of revolving credit card debt in Australia at interest rates of up to 20% or more, it’s important for Australian consumers to understand there are alternatives.
“When ‘it’ happens, such as a surprise new addition to the family or the need to go on an unexpected overseas trip, a personal loan is often a better solution.”
The concept, developed by KPMG UDKU, focuses on how sometimes a series of unforeseen expenses can pop up all at once, throwing our budget out of whack regardless of how financially sensible we may be.
The campaign follows SocietyOne’s first ever advertising campaign entitled ‘We’re not a bank’, which was launched during the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Mark Jones, CEO of SocietyOne, said, “SocietyOne is growing up and has established itself as a genuine alternative to credit cards. As Australia’s first and leading marketplace lender, we’ve now loaned around $500million to more than 20,000 customers since inception six years ago.
“This new campaign is a part of our strategy to drive our next phase of serious growth, and will leverage the greater demand for credit presented by the holiday season, while offering Australians a way to ease the stress in this sometimes quite financially trying period.
“Last year, Australians racked up $29b in Christmas credit card debt. ‘It’ really does happen to the best of us. However, a personal loan could be a far better solution than a high interest credit card.
“We wanted the ads to demonstrate this in a way that is reflective of who we are as a brand, which is why we also made the ads light-hearted and a little cheeky.”
Sixty-one percent of SocietyOne’s personal loans have been used for debt consolidation since its inception, suggesting Australians are increasingly taking charge of their finances.
The campaign kicked off with a 30 second TV commercial on Sunday 16 September on Channel 7 and placements on news.com.au from 17 September.
