Nordea “Parental Leave Mortgage” at Cannes Lions
Helping dads spend time with their newborn babies …
Source: Cannes Lions
This is perhaps one of my favorite Cannes Lions winners, where it won a Silver Cannes Lion in Culture and Context. The brand is Nordea which is a bank is the Nordic region of the world (Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden).
The marketers in Finland in particular found an alarming fact about fathers in their country that they wanted to do something about: only 12% take parental leave when they have a baby because they can’t afford to take the time off while the mothers care for the baby. So while the bank couldn’t change government legislation, they could find a way to make their banking products work to their customers’ advantage to help dads take time off to bond with their babies too. How cool is that?!?
So simple … pause their mortgage payments to give them financial relief for a few months. “Parental Leave Mortgage.” Bravo!
Take a look at Nordea’s award submission, and feel the inspiration come shining through:
When you can solve a problem simply for your customer, you will win a customer for life. Right at the start of life in this case. That’s what Nordea has done here, likely at little cost to them. And from what I can tell at efficient marketing cost as well simply through earned media and earned attention.
A brilliant idea that truly helps people in time of need, helping them to build their family. Of course an idea like this is going to spread through a community … and win awards too.
What’s your experience? JIM
P.S. - Note that the brand name Nordea comes from the combination of two words: Nordic (the region where the company operates) and Idea (their mission to come up with new ideas in their industry) … I’d say they are living up to their brand name!