The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2025–2026
Standard Bank turns spending habits into Spotify playlists that teach money through music
M+C Saatchi Abel's 'Track Your Racks' turns a spending quiz into a Spotify playlist that mirrors financial health and updates as habits change.
Standard Bank · M+C Saatchi Abel
What it had to solve
Young South Africans rarely check bank statements or warm to banking jargon, but they check their Spotify playlists every day. Standard Bank wanted to build financial confidence and inclusion among the youth without talking to them like a bank.
How it works
Young South Africans rarely check bank statements or warm to banking jargon, but they check their Spotify playlists every day. Standard Bank wanted to build financial confidence and inclusion among the youth without talking to them like a bank, so it asked its integrated agency M+C Saatchi Abel to find a different language.
The answer was 'Track Your Racks': a site where users answered science-backed questions developed with behavioural scientists. Each answer produced a spending profile that powered a personalised playlist created with Spotify, so songs flagged financial state — 'She Ain't Got No Money in the Bank' meant trouble, while 'Ballin'' meant thriving. Playlists refreshed automatically as real-world spending changed, and retargeted ads offered relevant banking tools and budgeting advice.
The idea reframed a chore as entertainment: young people who ignored bank statements engaged with a playlist that doubled as a financial check-up. The work earned a Bronze Loerie for channel creativity at Loeries 2025 and a merit in The One Show's Innovation — Use of Radio & Audio category.
Why it lands
- It started from the audience's actual behaviour — young people open Spotify daily and ignore banking — instead of demanding they adopt the bank's channel.
- Turning financial state into song choices made money legible: a track like 'Ballin'' communicated 'you are doing fine' without a single piece of industry jargon.
- Linking the playlist to real spending data kept it honest, because the soundtrack updated as the customer's habits changed.
- The retargeting loop closed the circle, turning every playlist check into a chance to surface the right budgeting product at the right moment.
What it did
The idea reframed a chore as entertainment: young people who ignored bank statements engaged with a playlist that doubled as a financial check-up. The work earned a Bronze Loerie for channel creativity at Loeries 2025 and a merit in The One Show's Innovation — Use of Radio & Audio category.
What you can take
Meet young audiences inside a habit they already love: if they will not come to your product, translate your product into the medium they open every day.
Since then
Track Your Racks kept gathering recognition after launch: The One Show awarded it a merit in Innovation — Use of Radio & Audio, and Standard Bank's marketing leadership pointed to the campaign as proof that music could deliver financial education at scale. The bank framed the work as part of its wider push for financial inclusion among young South Africans.
Sources
- Standard Bank Turns Spending habits into Soundtracks with 'Track Your Racks'
- Standard Bank: Track Your Racks
- #Loeries2025 Night 2 | All the winners
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card