Flatpack Fiasco

Background

Building a good credit rating in the UK was important because it was key to getting things like a mortgage, a car loan or even a mobile phone contract.

But a lot of people just didn’t know how to build their credit rating.

Barclaycard wanted to help them with an online Credit Builder Tool but the problem was how to get people to go and find it.

Idea

Credit Building Tools are not intrinsically very interesting. Rather than dive into the numbers, the idea was to look for something that shared all the complexity of building a credit rating but had the engaging simplicity needed to get the message across.

That’s where the Flatpack Fiasco was born, because trying to build flatpack furniture without instructions is just as challenging as trying to build your credit rating without help.

Unsuspecting members of the public were given instruction-less furniture to assemble. And then their hapless efforts were filmed and shared in all their misplaced, screw-not-fitting-in-slot, bickering glory.

Results

The Flatpack Fiasco film clocked up over 10 million views within five weeks, beating targets by 39%.

Visits to Barclaycard’s Credit Builder Tool increased by 2,060% with 92% completion rates when people engaged with it.

Our Thoughts

I was sorry to see this didn’t win anything at The Caples Awards, which is a show that tries to recognize work that works – which this patently did. It must have been a horrible brief to receive. Try and get twenty-somethings to spend ten minutes online discovering why no-one will lend them any money. Ever.

I’ve just popped online to see what other lenders are saying about credit ratings and was immediately overwhelmed by jargon. This film is a simple metaphor. It makes the point clearly but amusingly. C’mon, watching people floundering around with self-assembly furniture is funny. That’s why it works. Because we have all been there and can identify with the hapless couples, the message sticks.

Well, I would have given it a Bronze.