BNZ’s mission is to help all New Zealanders to ‘Be Good with Money’ and for many this begins with an honest conversation. The problem is when 50% of people admit they actively avoid discussing money matters with family¹, it’s a challenge to get them to talk to a bank.

With studies having shown that emotions influence our financial decisions more than we realise, a  safe, engaging environment was required for this campaign to succeed. Seeing that this was a rich vein to tap to help consumers understand how they were feeling about money, the search was on to find a technology partner that could bring the EmotionScan idea to life through a state-of-the-art web experience.

EmotionScan, users were taken through eight different money scenarios, during which 3D emotion recognition technology analysed hundreds of points on the face to decode their micro-expressions. A highly personalised report then revealed the impact their emotions play on their financial decision-making and identified the areas they may need to consider more closely.

Over 8,000 people experienced the EmotionScan technology and over 119,000 watched a three- minute film on the role emotions play in financial decision-making. The result - New Zealanders are now 15% more confident that BNZ is the bank to help them be good with money and the bank moved from fifth to second for consideration.

¹  Dominion Post (Oct, 2012)