1 cent each for 100,000 Portuguese people

Background

Forreta in Portuguese means ‘cheapskate’ and Forretas.com promises a wide variety of consumer goods and experiences at incredibly cheap prices because it aggregates all the discounts of thousands of other discount websites.

The brand wanted to let Portugal know about the huge savings they could be making in these tough times with Forretas.com

Idea

Where do people go when they are thinking about money? To their own bank accounts.

An algorithm was created, which randomly generated 100,000 bank account numbers. Then one cent was automatically credited to each of those accounts with forretas.com named in the details as the payee.

ATM slips, SMS notifications from the bank and bank statements now became the media. In fact, every one of the people credited was contacted no fewer than three times, delivering the core Forretas.com message that ‘With a few euros, one can achieve much’.

Results

Because the website's promise was very clear, helping save money, the method of giving a symbolical 1 cent to 100.000 portuguese was the core to have an impact in the society, living an economic crisis.

Our Thoughts

This is one of those campaigns designed to take you by surprise. Where do you least expect to find an advertising message? In your bank statement. And here it is, a message about how to make your money go further with Forretas.com.

This is what Rory Sutherland calls ‘Darwinian Signalling’. A brand says more about itself in how it says something than in the message itself.

In this time of the slow unraveling of the Euro, it is the humour of the idea that catches attention. What else can you do in financial meltdown but laugh, grimly?