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Finastra

Driving action to make finance OPEN by {DEFAULT}

Awards

Winner - FinTech B2B Marketing North American Awards 2024

Most impactful DEI marketing campaign - Finastra

Winner - FinTech B2B Marketing Global Awards 2023

Most impactful DEI marketing campaign - Finastra

Gold – B2B Marketing Elevation Awards USA 2022

Best use of thought leadership

Silver – B2B Marketing Elevation Awards USA 2022

Best multichannel campaign

Winner – The Drum B2B Awards 2021

B2B

Highly Commended – The Drum B2B Awards 2022

B2B Integrated

Over the past 15 years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been introduced to financial services, with many decisions now being made by their algorithms; precise sets of instructions outlining how computers should complete certain tasks.

It’s a powerful tool, but the industry’s rapid adoption of AI has meant the required checks and balances haven’t been always included. This has resulted in algorithms being used that contain human biases found in society. 

Ultimately, this has led to ongoing discrimination against certain demographics when applying for finance. A big issue, for the good of humanity, needed to be addressed. 

To understand the severity of the problem, Finastra commissioned KPMG to produce a report which reveals the sheer size of consumer lending markets and the impact of algorithmic bias. 

That research, launched as part of this campaign, became the start of a movement entitled ‘OPEN by {Default}’. A commitment by Finastra to drive change and further their long-held belief that the future of finance should be OPEN. 

Finastra - Algorithmic Bias: Animation

Objectives of the campaign 

To succeed, this campaign needed to engage people globally across financial services to first acknowledge a problem exists, and then to facilitate technologists from across the globe to work together on a solution. 

This challenge broke down into three core objectives: 


1: Global awareness and impact

Drive significant reach and awareness globally so people would sit up and listen (as measured by the global distribution of our campaign). 

2: Digital reach and interaction 

Ensure mass participation, adoption and action (as measured by clicks, page and video views, content interactions/dwell times as well as hackathon registrations). 

3: Advocacy generation

Build an army of advocates to ensure the movement keeps pace. Advocates came to the fore with nearly 80% of the bias-breaking projects being led by women. 

The target audience 

Our target audience for the campaign was people of all backgrounds, ethnicities and locations in fintech and financial services. Additionally, technology graduates responsible for safeguarding future generations through the fair and equitable use of AI in financial services. 

 

Media, channels and techniques used

The brand, OPEN by {Default}, and our communication and channel strategy needed to promote a sense of togetherness and inclusion, while addressing a multitude of different audiences, in different ways. 

The channel and media strategy encompassed the following: 

Finastra’s development community

An algorithmicbiasfocussed hackathon, Hack to the Future 3 and all the supporting communications – was planned and run to support diversity in code development, with a wealth of prizes on offer for the most ingenious ideas. 

Paid & organic digital marketing

Silver created a wealth of assets (including carousels, videos, static posts, seeded usergenerated content) to enable Finastra to promote the subject matter via their own social channels and to their contact database, whilst using International Women’s Day as a platform for the launch.  

Most notably here, and for the first time, authentic user-generated content and a paid campaign via TikTok was run to reach and engage a diverse global audience of up-and-coming technologists.

Through-partner marketing

Finastra was able to onboard several alliance partners in support of this initiative and the hackathon specifically. We prepared a suite of content to enable them to spread the word, including video and static media to share their support for the initiative.

Media partnerships & public relations

Finastra’s PR agency was provided with a range of content to secure media placement. With multiple Tier 1 press interviews being secured alongside a wealth of international coverage.

“Simplifying complex topics and making them relevant in a human way is a challenge for every marketer. And a challenge that Finastra takes to heart. We found the creative breakthrough and partnership with Silver very refreshing and real, and we're proud to engage and inspire hundreds of female-led developers to tackle the problem of algorithmic bias head-on.”

Client

Finastra

Sector

Fintech

Services

Brand strategy & identity, Lead generation, Video, animation & audio, Content marketing, Web design & development