Shazam uses storytelling to help South Africans see money differently

By Jessica Tennant

29 Jun 2017

Hannes Prinsloo

What Shazam’s visual recognition technology has enabled Nedbank to do is use South African money as an identifier to unlock deep, rich stories that help people manage the money in their hands much better, explains Hannes Prinsloo, Shazam's country representative for South Africa. "How it works is the user opens the Shazam app on their phones and taps the camera icon. From there, they can place any note, from R10 to R200, in front of their camera and Shazam will unlock a different experience of how an ordinary South African saw that denomination differently and became something amazing, be it a soccer star, business mogul or global opera singer."

I interviewed Prinsloo to find out more…

How does this tie into Nedbank’s 'See Money Differently' campaign?

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Ann Nurock  2 Mar 2017

The thought here was that South Africans generally have two things in their pockets: money and a mobile phone. When we put them together, South Africans can literally see the small denominations of the money in their hands in terms of the potential it has. We wanted to show that something as small as R10 can do amazing things if we use it the right way. The ‘See Money Differently’ essence is about educating people that if they manage their money well it can make a real difference in their lives, and this is an experiential way for people to see the potential that specific notes can have and think about it differently.

Why did you decide to partner with Nedbank on this?

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Ann Nurock  23 Jun 2017

Native VML, Nedbank’s lead digital creative agency, approached us with the idea of integrating messages into money. They saw the new visual recognition functionality and wanted to create a 'new digital medium’ within R72.2bn worth of notes floating around the country. The potential is incredible! There are about 8 million ‘Shazams’ in South Africa monthly by approximately 1.5 million active users, so for Shazam this would allow users to see that we are much more than a music recognition platform. In doing so, we are making a difference in people’s lives, especially in this tough economic time.

Why do you hope people will start seeing money differently, and how do you believe this sharing of stories will help in achieving this?

South Africans have long struggled with the money-saving mentality. Our country has just entered a technical recession, we are seeing an increase in defaults in debt repayments, taxes have increased, and we need more small businesses to bolster the economy for us all. Nedbank and Native VML have created relatable stories in many different formats, from a mini-movie to 3D audio podcasts and animations, to inspire South Africans – but also given practical advice on savings, starting a small business, debt management, conscious consumerism (aka voting with your rand) and property finance in human language, so people can actually understand. If anything, we hope that if South Africans can remember the experience of what they found ‘inside’ their money and have the confidence to manage it better in any one of the above-mentioned scenarios, then that will be a great win!

What would you say is marketing’s role in helping people/society ‘see money differently’ or manage money well and see the good that can come from doing so?

Marketing, especially digital marketing’s role, is helping them to experience money differently. It’s a huge advantage over other media that can say it, but through digital you can be part of the experience and be sucked into another world. That will be digital’s role. Not necessarily say ‘See Money Differently’, but allow people to feel it inside them and think about Nedbank’s new philosophy a lot deeper. It’s powerful.

What does ‘see money differently’ mean to Shazam?

To us it’s that we are a means or a window in which to physically see money in a new way that has never been done before. It means that Shazam is able to change lives and actually make an impact on people’s lives when they need it the most. It’s a positive force in South Africa that we can all learn from.

Why are you proud to be part of the campaign?

This campaign is about more than just brand or product and has financial education as a cornerstone. Shazam is proud to be helping grow financial literacy and inclusion in this groundbreaking execution.