Money Is an Awkward Subject in New adam&eveDDB Campaign for Lloyds Bank

A new campaign for Lloyds Bank, created by adam&eveDDB, encourages families to have the important conversations about money that they may be avoiding.

‘The M-word’ campaign was created in response to research from Lloyds Bank that showed money is a bigger taboo in British families than politics, sex or religion. But with the different generations more dependent on each other than ever before to get on in life, the need to tackle important conversations about money has never been greater.

The campaign runs on TV, OOH, press, radio and social, with the line: ‘The M-Word. It’s good to talk about money’. All the campaign executions bring to life the difficulty that most families have discussing financial matters in a way that feels authentic and real. It breaks across all media on 8th March.

Lloyd’s research also showed the extent to which money worries are impacting on our lives, with one in three people saying that they have experienced money-related stress and anxiety within the last month. By contrast, 63% of people who had spoken about their money worries said they felt better after talking about it.

Mat Goff, Joint CEO of adam&eveDDB, said: “Last year we launched a campaign encouraging people to ‘Get the Inside Out’, in a bid to get people talking about their mental health. Building on this, ‘The M-word’ sets out to tackle one of the biggest causes behind these mental health issues – money. We want people to start talking about the important money issues rather than bottling them up.”

As the bank that is by the side of every generation, Lloyds Bank is in the perfect position to understand the challenges facing members of every generation, and to encourage and support conversations between them.

As well as bringing the issue to life, the campaign will start to encourage the right kinds of discussions, and Lloyds Bank branch colleagues will play an active role in helping customers prepare for important conversations with their families.

Richard Warren, director of marketing and communications at Lloyds Bank, said: “Whether you’re getting married or talking to your parents about their retirement plans, it’s good to talk about money. Being open about our finances can help avoid problems in the future. By focusing our efforts on the M-Word we hope that this campaign will help start the conversation in families and make people more comfortable talking about money matters.”

To ensure that people are approaching the conversations in the right way to make positive progress, Lloyds Bank are partnering with Relate, the UK’s leading relationship charity, to launch a series of ‘The M-word’ courses to help people talk about money at key life stages. This partnership with Relate will be handled by Unity.