MoneySmart Week falls short of expectations

Jason Bryce
Australians are more resistant to lifting their levels of financial literacy than proponents of the government-backed MoneySmart Week expected, a review has concluded.

The project, a not-for-profit venture between the Federal Government's Financial Literacy Australia and ASIC, is aimed at promoting the importance of financial literacy. Its annual high point is in the first half of September.

This year, the turnout in cities and towns across Australia for the 300-odd events attracted just 15,000 people in the flesh, while paid advertising on social media helped deliver 24,285 visitors to Moneysmart.gov.au over three weeks between 25 August and 14 September. A YouTube video has so far attracted 438 views.

The low numbers across the country have prompted calls for more funds to be made available to run paid social media advertising and paid editorial next year.

That's one conclusion reached in the review of the 2014 MoneySmart Week, typified by this year's Money Expo in Geelong, where cash prizes, show bags, the presence of Geelong AFL star Cameron Ling, media celebrity Tracy Spicer and Canstar's high profile money expert Justine Davies, were still not enough to attract crowds.

MoneySmart Week 2014 had a budget of "about A$300,000" according to Rebecca Glenn, campaign director of MoneySmart Week. Funding was provided by 25 sponsors, including ANZ, NAB, eftpos, Commonwealth Bank, ME Bank and ING Direct.

This year, across all venues during the whole week, there were less than fifty media mentions nationwide, despite being promoted by nine celebrity ambassadors, including former governor general Quentin Bryce, chair of the Financial Literacy Board Paul Clitheroe and media personalities from News Ltd, Fairfax, Channel Nine and Channel Seven.

The week clearly needs higher levels of funding in order to run more visible promotion.

"Creating awareness and converting it to action - being a catalyst - is the big challenge," said Glenn.

"One way to cut through is to create a sense that 'everyone else is doing it so why aren't you?' This obviously works best with a mass media campaign, a clear call to action and a specific time frame.

"However, without budget for an above-the-line campaign, we rely on PR, social media and the support of our partners, along with a clear call to action and a specific time frame."

"Options for making a bigger PR 'splash' in future are being considered," said Glenn
"We are also in discussions about a media partner for the MoneySmart Week Awards."