The #@&? Jar revolutionises saving
Our client, first direct, is known as the “unexpected bank”. They enjoy taking an edgy, different approach, so when they came to us to create an April Fool, we knew it would be fun.
When it comes to saving, it’s a sad fact that most of us run into temptations along the way that prevent us reaching our goal. It’s also true that many of us struggle to get through a day without dropping the occasional **** or ****.
So, with this insight, we worked with first direct to create an April Fools’ Day concept that would make saving a little easier – The #@&? Jar app. Much like a modern day swear jar, first direct’s app allows people to put money aside for a rainy day from their current to their savings account, every time they utter a ****, a **** or even a ****.
The “innovative voice recognition software” identifies the user’s voice, so they only put money aside for their swearing slip-ups. The app then simply listens out for the user to say one of the words from a list of over 200 profanities, helping them reach their savings goal in no time at all.
first direct teamed up with tech presenter and journalist Lucy Hedges to give the prank more credibility with an app review. She swore like a trooper and took viewers through the app features via a demo on her mobile phone, supported by We Are Social’s design team.
We reached out to a select number of tech bloggers in advance to get them in on the joke and posted the review to Facebook and Twitter. We built a story around the app with details of high scoring films, place names and TV shows, and had some fun with fans.
Thanks to #@&? Jar, Malcolm Tucker could have moved more money to his savings account than any fictional character in history. App rated 17+
— first direct (@firstdirect) April 1, 2015
First Direct have won #foolsday for me this year! @firstdirect — Rich (@richtimperley) April 1, 2015
Like many of first direct’s fans, we wish that this campaign could have been real – but sadly, The #@&? Jar won’t be in your app store anytime soon. We hope first direct’s fans enjoyed hearing about the app as much as we did ‘creating’ it but, for now, I’m afraid you’ll have to stick with your traditional glass jar.
@firstdirect I wish this was a real thing! 🙁
— dann. (@appleboyy) April 1, 2015