From ‘non-believers’ to full converts

It’s not every day a FinTech brand and a radio station share a flat, but that is exactly what Dosh and The Edge did.

“It was the perfect demographic for us,” says Dosh co-founder James McEniery.

“The Edge team really convinced us that they could articulate the proposition.”

After a five-week lead-up and registration, 10 contestants moved into The Edge $50K Flatmate with Dosh house.

Their every move was captured on a 24/7 live stream for two weeks while listeners engaged to win from Dosh – New Zealand’s first digital wallet – instantly, live on air.

“The listener can go, ‘oh my Dosh has arrived’ and then you have this moment of celebration and this wow moment, which was really cool. We loved that,” says McEniery.

Through the process of elimination, there were three finalists and one winner.

The campaign spanned across all corners of the radio station and beyond, becoming the first to advertise on the 3×3 platform decal at Auckland’s Britomart train station.

McEniery says it was really exciting and unique.

“People were getting off the train, walking over the beautiful, massive decals on the floor, going up the escalator, seeing it on the beautiful digital screens.”

5000 flyers were distributed through the teaser and registration periods.

“You might not do anything, but then you got to the top of the escalator and you saw the billboard, you’re like, ‘What’s this?’ Then you see The Edge Road Runners doing their activation. It ticked all the boxes for us from a multi-channel touchpoint.”

Dosh aimed to build awareness and trust, being that the brand is only six months old.

“Kiwis weren’t sure of what a digital wallet was…. Partnering with a brand like The Edge brings a whole lot of credibility because The Edge isn’t just going to partner with anyone,” McEniery says.

“The ability for us to activate alongside The Edge branding really helped us build awareness, build trust.

“We could see users coming to our website every time there was an activation across The Edge, or one of the liners was used. At one point Dosh was used like 300 times a day. It was amazing.”

But McEniery also liked the ‘authentic and organic’ way The Edge hosts spoke about the brand in voice breaks.

“They would do a sound bite, ‘hey I bought a coffee, you owe me Dosh’, and they’ll do this interaction. It just really worked for us,” he says.

Upon entering theedge.co.nz, the competition was the first thing the online audience saw for six weeks.

There was even a custom-built mini-site within The Edge website.

Online visitors could navigate their way through tabs to enter the competition, view the live stream, learn about Dosh, view the house and meet the flatmates.

A Dosh wallet the size of a TV screen was also built – so viewers could see the app.

“So you’re hearing it, you’re seeing it, some people even using it, winning the money and then at the same time to win the cash, you had to download Dosh. It completed the circle for us,” McEniery says.

“It was a concept that allowed our potential users to come in and touch and sort of feel Dosh both on the radio, see it on the billboard and then see it on the live stream.”

More than 88 percent of the 551 entries on theedge.co.nz, opted to keep hearing from Dosh.

At the end of the campaign, Dosh saw a 200 percent increase in app downloads and ranked number one in the New Zealand App Store for the finance category.

“We activated at Waikato University O week about three weeks after The Edge campaign, and I think every second student that came up to us had heard of it on The Edge or downloaded it from The Edge campaign. So that was real-life feedback, people saying, ‘yeah, I know Dosh. I’ve got the app’.

“It’s one thing to download an app, but it’s also another thing to actually use it, right? So converting downloads into usage was really, really important for us.”

McEniery admits they were ‘nonbelievers’ of radio, prior to working with MediaWorks.

“We’re like, ‘radio…can you really convert? Can you get the 18 to 30-year-old demographic to actually listen, understand, learn, download and then use’? And they nailed it and the team did a wonderful job.

“We learned a lot about the power of radio, especially when you’re specifically targeted.  When you’ve got your sweet spot and you go after it, and you’re using the talent and the creative in a way that talks to that audience, you can achieve wonderful results.”

Article by Emma Stanford, TodayFM: 21 Sept 2022

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