The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2020–2021
VUB Bank treats overspending as an addiction — 'Savings Therapy' wins Grand Effie Europe
A 'Rather save' button beside every Add to Cart made saving the new impulse — Slovaks saved 3x more, VUB won Grand Effie Europe.
VÚB Banka (VUB Bank)
What it had to solve
In 2018, the average Slovak's debt rose above their savings for the first time. VÚB, the country's second-largest bank with nearly half the population as clients, wanted to help people save while promoting its savings products.
How it works
In 2018 the average debt of Slovaks rose above their savings for the first time. VÚB — the country's second-largest bank, with almost half the population as clients — saw the moment as a chance to help society and promote its savings products at the same time.
TRIAD Advertising's 'Savings Therapy' treated unhealthy financial habits as an illness and offered a funny reverse therapy in which everybody could get addicted to saving. To fight impulsive online shopping, the team created the VÚB money-saving button, which added a 'Rather save' option next to every 'Add to cart' across e-shops.
The therapy frame ran across channels — films, stunts and the button itself — and got the whole nation saving within two months. People saved three times more than the previous year, the campaign outperformed targets by 150%, and VÚB ended up with three times more deposits to work with.
The work won the Grand Effie Europe 2020, gold in the Positive Change Europe: Social Good – Brands category, and was shortlisted for the global WARC Awards for Effectiveness in 2021.
Why it lands
- The campaign diagnosed the real enemy — impulsive online spending — instead of competing banks or rates.
- The intervention sat where the behavior happened: the 'Rather save' button worked in every e-shop at the moment of purchase.
- The therapy metaphor made a boring category feel fun, turning self-control into something people wanted to catch.
- Business results and social good aligned, which is exactly what the Grand Effie jury said it rewarded.
What it did
Slovaks saved three times more than in the previous year, the campaign hit 150% of its targets, and VÚB gained three times more deposits to work with. It won the Grand Effie Europe 2020, gold in Positive Change Europe: Social Good – Brands, and a WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2021 shortlist.
What you can take
Fight the impulse that hurts your customer instead of selling against it: put the product inside a behavior-change mechanic, and the campaign itself becomes the service.
Since then
Savings Therapy became the most decorated Slovak effectiveness case of its era: Grand Effie Europe 2020, gold in Positive Change Europe, a shortlist for the global WARC Awards for Effectiveness 2021, and wide coverage in European trade press as proof that behavioral mechanics can carry a banking campaign. The 'Rather save' button remains the campaign's signature idea in industry retellings.
Sources
- Effie Awards Europe 2020 winners announced; McCann Worldgroup Named Agency of the Year
- VUB Bank: Savings Therapy
- Slovenský Triad Advertising získal Grand Effie na soutěži Effie Awards Europe
- VÚB Bank: Savings Therapy
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