Say hello to the world's first meowing business debit card!
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We helped ANNA Money launch their financial services company to the world in a playful way - showing the company’s individuality in an increasingly crowded sector.
When ANNA Asked us to help explore the future of finance, and launch their business accounting service, we knew the result was going to be something a little different. Say hello to the world's first meowing debit card!
ANNNA (Absolutely No Nonsense Admin) is a revolutionary business account and digital admin assistant, combining the best of human and artificial intelligence. Available to freelancers and small businesses, its designed to help customers spend more time doing the jobs they love, and less time worrying about finance.
A breath of fresh air in a stifled industry: At the heart of the brand, is the desire to do finance differently - solving real business problems with a smile. The brand, developed by Michael Wolff and NB Studio, puts play firmly at its centre.
The challenge for us, was to find the right way to launch the ANNA product. One that was true to the playful spirit of the brand, whilst also communicating the dedication to solving real financial issues for small business owners.
Looking back, to step forward: We started the project with a deep dive research phase. It was vital we understood where “finance” had come from before we could imagine where it might go. A mix of primary and secondary research saw us interview leading industry experts, get hands on with SMEs customers, and even quiz the staff at the Bank of England Museum.
The results were liberating. Although most of us think about the little plastic rectangle as the only way to interact with money, history had shown us that, around the world, people had always been innovating in this industry. It was this freedom that gave us all the encouragement to start a unique project that would begin to challenge the relationships we have with our money.
Credits:
Design and Creative: Studio PSK
Electrical Engineering: Andy Sheen
Film Production: Chip Films
Film Styling: Jade Motimer
Video Credits:
ANNA Money
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Saying goodbye to convention: From our research, we developed 100 ideas for new financial products, and illustrated 20 of these to be used on the ANNA social media platforms.
A few of our favourites were... 👈 The Wormhole Card: A debit card that lets you offset your payments to a future time that suits you better. 👇 The Rubber Duck Card: What if your "debit card" was simply an RFID token and card chip sticker? Then you just stick them onto any object you'd like! |
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👆 The Audio Card: A debit card that lets you ask it your balance before you use it. The volume can be turned up or down depending on your bank balance. The Decider Card: What if your debit card could help you decide on your impulse purchases? 👉 These received widespread public appeal, building to the campaign climax - developing the worlds first “meowing” debit card, answering the question, “what does making a payment sound like?”. |
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Working with the design and marketing team at ANNA we created four physical prototypes of our initial ideas, a working internet connected meowing lucky cat, and recorded a number of adverts for a social media campaign.
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The Results:
In the first week of the campaign, sign up to the ANNA service was 200% that anticipated. The social media campaign gained thousands of followers online and offline. The Payment Flute: One of the prototypes we made was a playable slide flute debit card. Using data-over-sound, different sounds equate to differnet payment amounts. 👉 |
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👆 The Partners Card - a business debit card designed to stop over spending between business partners. Split in two halves, purchases can only be made when they are brought together.
👈 A physical version of the wormhole card as described above. 👇 The ANNA Lucky Cat - a fully functinal internet connected lucky cat. The lucky cat connects to the ANNA account and is activated when a purchase is made or money received. |
