Dive Brief:
- Visa is premiering two new ads as part of its ongoing social and digital series "Money is Changing," which focuses on helping millennial women take control of their finances, according to news shared with Marketing Dive. The platform was inspired by a survey that Visa conducted with Lieberman Research Worldwide that revealed that 89% of women think it's more expensive to be a woman and 74% of women talk to their friends about work issues, but only 27% discuss salaries.
- One spot, directed by Gia Coppola ("Palo Alto"), debuts ahead of the Oscars and spotlights women designers, directors and producers as they discuss how they've grappled and overcome the Hollywood pay gap. Another, titled "The Cost," depicts the mounting costs women can face when the don't speak up for themselves when it comes to their finances.
- The full campaign, created with agency Decoded Advertising, includes social posts on Visa's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram channels and content partnerships with Refinery29, Bustle and The Cut. Visa is also launching several new programs around the effort, including She's Next, a collaboration with the Female Founders Collective.
Dive Insight:
Visa is leveraging a closely watched event — the Oscars — to extend its messaging around empowering women to take greater control of their financial circumstances. By tapping Coppola to direct and profiling Hollywood talent, including Oscar-nominated costume designer Arianne Philips and producer-director Melissa Jones, the brand could add an element of relevancy and authenticity to its push to address the pay gap, which remains a pressing issue in the entertainment industry and elsewhere.
More marketers, including some from unusual categories, have launched socially conscious campaigns that examine how women's financial treatment is often unequal compared to men's. Burger King last year created a "Chick Fries" variant of its popular chicken fries menu items that came at a far higher price, representing the "pink tax" often put on products marketed to women
Along with Visa, other financial services brands are working harder to court the business of elusive millennial customers as well. Intuit, the parent company of TurboTax, QuickBooks and Mint, is working with Refinery29 to expand the publisher's "Money Diaries" platform. The content partnership includes a video series and podcast focusing on entrepreneurship and financial literacy among younger women.
Millennials consider themselves to be knowledgeable about financial matters, but just 24% demonstrate a basic understanding of managing money, according to research by the National Endowment for Financial Education and George Washington University reported in CNBC. Millennials are also saddled with more student loan debt than previous generations and have been reluctant to embrace credit cards. Sixty-three percent of younger millennials don't have any credit card compared to 35% of adults over 30 who do, per Bankrate data.
