Habito Soothes Your Stress with the 'Mortgage Kama Sutra'

Habito, the pioneering mortgage broker and lender, has vowed to bring some spice to London’s bedroom antics this winter with its latest category-disrupting creative from Uncommon Creative Studio – with print campaign ‘Mortgage Kama Sutra’. From Down-Payment Doggy to The Prime Rate Python, The Kama Sutra offers a light-hearted, adult-only, take on the types of financial language and terms that buyers often struggle with, causing them stress and anxiety during the application process. 

 

Uncommon crafted this execution with Noma Bar, the acclaimed Israel-born graphic designer, illustrator and artist. Noma recently designed the iconic cover for Margret Atwood’s ‘The Testaments’ and previously ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’. Bar's work has been described as ‘deceptively simple’, featuring flat colours, minimal detail and negative space to create images that often carry double meanings that are not immediately apparent. His work has appeared in many media publications including: Time Out London, BBC, Random House, The Observer, The Economist and Wallpaper.

 

Nils Leonard, co-founder, Uncommon, said: “Habito are all about disrupting a tired and complacent category, we loved working with the excellent Noma Bar to safeguard the UK’s sex lives during the hell of mortgage hunting.”

 

Uncommon’s insight for the concept came from Habito’s own research which revealed the impact that getting a mortgage has on the British libido. One in ten (9%) couples surveyed, equating to nearly half a million Britons, admitted that getting a new mortgage stressed them out so much they weren’t intimate with their partner during the entire process. One in twenty (6%) confessed it caused them to sleep in separate rooms. 

 

Despite the artwork’s playful tone, the survey findings showed just how much the nation’s relationships suffer because of mortgage application anxiety. Nearly half (45%) of coupled-up homeowners said they argued while taking out their home loan, with one in five couples admitting to arguing at least once or twice a day. Concerns around the mortgage application process led to more than a quarter (27%) of home buyers being in a bad mood and 12% admitted to spending less time together as a couple during the process.

 

Interestingly, women were found to be twice as likely than men to worry about the mortgage application with more than one in five women feeling anxious compared to just one in ten of men.

 

Abba Newbery, CMO of Habito said: “Our adverts are always based on a truth - whether that be the inordinate cost, hours-spent or stress of getting a mortgage. This research shows that the mortgage industry still creates hellish levels of worry which has real impacts on how people live their lives. Getting a mortgage shouldn’t cause us to fall out with our partners. Habito fundamentally exists to make the process easier so home buyers can get on with enjoying themselves, wherever and however that might be! The Kama Sutra was a fun way to bring this issue to life via Noma’s wonderfully simple and smart designs.”

 

Noma Bar said: “Working on a project that pushes the boundaries for its category is always enjoyable. I think it's fresh to see a mortgage company that connects mortgage jargon with sexuality, I don't think I've seen anything like that before. Normally, my images tell a story without words, but in this project we used text along with the images, to give the overall look a comic strip feel.”

 

The ‘Mortgage Kama Sutra’ will feature as part of a double page spread in Time Out and Grazia this week and Evening Standard’s ES magazine on 22nd November.