SALT / American Student Assistance 2010
Role: Lead Strategist, Wolff Olins, New York
How can you get young people to take care about their student loans?
Empower America’s youth to take control over their money
Ambition
Student loan debt is a massive problem in America. The average people will leave university is nearly $30,000. This is unacceptable.
American Student Assistance needed a new brand that would motivate university students to take control over their loans and finances
Action
We created SALT, a new brand focused on the idea of “incenting financial saviness” to grab the attention of young people.
• Company Purpose + Manifesto
• Naming Strategy + New Name
• Communications Strategy + Training Workshops
• Marketing Campaign
Impact
So far, over 100,000+ students and alumni have registered on saltmoney.org to take control over their finances. SALT partners with 250 universities across the United States
“There’s information specifically for students just getting out of college that is really relevant to me.”
— Carolyn, Northeastern University
Key Learnings
Put yourself in the audience’s shoes
Understand their fundamental behaviours, needs and dreams. Create customer journey maps and personas to understand where your brand fits into their lives.
Be ruthless simple
The world is complicated and noisy. Make your proposition as simple as possible.
Create a proposition that appeals to all your audiences
ASA had two audiences – students and financial aid offices. We created a unifying proposition that would resonate with both.