Making Student Loans Marketing that Passes the Gen Z Vibe Check

Known for offering student loans, the private consumer banking company Sallie Mae has recently taken steps to appeal more to gen z, and help them navigate the stresses of higher education.

Students are bombarded with financial content daily - often with complex and unhelpful information - so how can a lender get gen z’s attention without being confusing, or worse, cringe? Sallie Mae’s response is not to make a single ad, but to partner with its lead agency GYK Antler and turn boring finance talk into engaging, entertaining content.

Speaking to LBB, Sallie Mae’s SVP, chief brand officer Brian Babineau acknowledges that the wider student loan industry is not at the top of the list when it comes to consumer love - often being associated with anxious emotions, rather than the positive, optimistic sentiments associated with higher education. “From a brand and trust-building standpoint,” he says, “we had to work on nurturing relationships with consumers in a way that provides value and goes beyond a financial transaction.”

To get the attention of the “notoriously fickle” gen z, Sallie Mae gathered a diverse group of students and parents to provide monthly insights about their experiences with higher education. Through this, Brian adds, they discovered that students lose confidence throughout many parts of the higher education planning process. “So we set out to find ways to provide our audience with the support, information and tools they’d need to succeed and feel confident on their higher education journey.”

Cristin Barth, creative director at the brand’s lead agency GYK Antler agrees that Sallie Mae’s challenge was “a behemoth”, saying, “they are the most well-known company in one of the most misunderstood categories. This means that a lot of consumer criticism directed toward the industry, or negative experiences with other student loan providers, still gets directed their way.” 

“Herein lies both our opportunity and challenge,” she says, “how do we shift perception of Sallie Mae, better support and earn the trust of the next generation of students, and do it all in a way that’s authentic to the brand (and not totally cringe to Gen Z)?”

The path the creative team ultimately chose was very entertainment-driven, involving several multimedia components, from a lo-fi album to the ‘Campus Underground’ podcast to a six-episode YouTube series that helps students ‘hack’ paying for college.

Cristin explains that content aimed at Gen Z needs to be helpful and high-quality, and feel “worthy of their time”. “Gen z is looking for the truth. They crave honesty, information, clarity, and entertainment,” she says. “Our .edYOU virtual college con is a great example of that. We simply asked ourselves, would students rather walk around a career fair in some boring multi-purpose room with a bunch of old people handing them paper materials, or would they rather tune in from their couch to hear real advice and experiences from student influencers, intertwined with special celebrity guest appearances and exclusive content?”

Similarly, she says that the ‘HACKED’ YouTube series is “a gift that keeps on giving” as they build on this new gamified way of navigating higher education. “We are excited to explore more non-linear storytelling and ways to build out more of a multiplayer brand for our students,” she adds.

Brian also highlights the success of ‘HACKED’, noting that it amassed over 16 million views and generated continual positive feedback from people who’ve found it valuable. “But,” he says, “as someone who really nerds out over music, one of my personal favourites was the ‘Sound Mind’ lo-fi album we launched this year on Spotify and YouTube that’s hit over 350,000 streams. We partnered with some amazing artists to produce 16 brand new tracks that were grounded in science to help students relax, study and focus so they could crush their final exams.”

He continues, “I’ll also go back to our work on ‘Unexpected Scholarships’ – this was one of the first ways we experimented with using art and animation to communicate with students, not just on socials but also through interestingly and strategically placed OOH.” Instead of using dry finance talk, this campaign involved “beautiful and useful” content that helped students learn about scholarships that match up with their unique interests.

Playing to gen z’s individual passions has been a core philosophy across all the activations, influencing how and where Sallie Mae’s content has been showing up. Understanding that gen z uses social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube as search engines, rather than Google, and that nearly 95% of gen z play video games, led to the creation of more gamified and digestible content. 

This laser-focused approach on the gen z audience informed the authenticity and relevance of the projects - a necessity if Sallie Mae is to shift its perception as an established brand in a category that’s not traditionally known for its engaging, culture-conscious marketing. 

The ‘Sound Mind’ lo-fi album, for example, was available on Spotify and as a one-hour-long visualiser on YouTube, which had an impressive view-through rate of over 80%. “This proves that if you do your research to know your audience’s needs, create compelling content in the correct formats and tap the most relevant platforms, your target won’t just tune in, they’ll stick around and seek out more,” says Cristin.

She continues, “Gen Z doesn’t respond well when a brand says they’re cool… but they might if you just are cool. So we executed through brand acts, not advertising. We focused on the channels and content that would be most meaningful and valuable to our audience and we engaged and entertained their senses through art, music, animation and relatable resources they couldn’t get anywhere else.”

Throughout the process, however, one threat loomed large at all times - cringe. Gen z is notorious for having a particular sensitivity of - and aversion to - cringey content. So, says Cristin, “It was vitally important for our team and clients to be hyper-aware of and avoid cringe at all costs.” 

She continues, “Gen z generally has trust issues. Their distrust in the government, corporations and institutions runs deep from a constant battle of sifting through misinformation and avoiding scams and financial traps. They don’t want to make the same mistakes millennials did but they don’t exactly have all the answers either. And it’s this paradigm that would help us better understand how to help gen z in the right way.”

Reflecting on Sallie Mae’s collaborations with GYK Antler thus far, Brian says the company’s aspirations, insights, respect and trust have been met with big ideas and thoughtful creative solutions to better support the students they serve. “Together we’ve been able to launch some exciting and impactful initiatives, but we still consider much of what we’ve done to be our beta test. We’re still learning, and we’ll continue to partner to build on what we’ve done so far.” 

Now, as the teams look ahead to 2024, the focus is shifting to new audiences and creating new value for students. “We’re excited to continue to develop our ‘Sound Mind’ lo-fi album and .edYOU virtual college con platforms – stay tuned for more to come from them in the spring. And we’re also looking to offer further tools and resources to students through new partnerships that will be announced in the upcoming months.” 

While much of the tone will remain the same, Cristin adds that GYK will focus on evolving trends, attitudes, content formats and more - hoping to stay ahead of the current. “We believe in constantly looking at the impact and results of our work and optimising our approach not only against what’s happening now but also what we know is on the horizon.”

“After all, gen alpha will be applying for college in as little as three years…”