Can the metaverse improve your clients’ retirement outcomes?
As consumers and financial advisers come to terms with the growing popularity of artificial intelligence (AI), one of South Africa’s insurance and investment giants is exploring the potential of another digital technology. Early in the New Year, Sanlam invited representatives from the local financial services media to a financial education campaign launch that was hosted almost entirely in the metaverse. PS, to clarify, Oxford Languages describes a metaverse as “a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users”. A simultaneous MS Teams broadcast was offered for those who could not wrap their minds around the ‘avatar in the metaverse’ construct.
Life in just 24-hours
The LIFE of Confidence campaign seeks to make the journey from first employment to retirement more relatable, especially for younger consumers. The campaign is structured around a digital avatar that experiences its entire life in 24-hours. Sanlam says that the idea was inspired by the realisation that many consumers fail to plan for retirement because they simply cannot imagine it. “One of the main reasons we miss crucial moments to make sound financial planning decisions, for instance not starting to save early enough to take advantage of interest compounding, may lie in [a behaviour] known as present bias or future discounting,” explained Mariska Oosthuizen, Chief Marketing Officer: Sanlam Group. In other words: we choose instant reward over the benefits that come with restraint, time and planning.
Before we share some of the financial planning lessons learned during the one-hour-long virtual experience, this writer deems it appropriate to describe some of what he experienced. To begin, there was the usual ‘this is a new tech experience’ hiccup which came courtesy the old-world issue of too many users flooding into a virtual lobby, also called a ‘hangout’. The writer’s run-of-the-mill default avatar fizzled and froze within seconds of materialising, forcing him to hit the small ‘x’ on his Chrome browser tab and repeat the process. Second try lucky: now to figure out how to navigate the avatar through the computer-generated 3D environment. Would you believe, the skills learned playing games on an old ZX Spectrum console in the mid-1980s came in handy. One just had to press W to move forwards, X backwards, A left and D to right; all of this while using the mouse to move your ‘eyes’ in the preferred direction.
Keystrokes, mouse clicks and ‘similar’ avatars
Armed with four keystrokes and a mouse, one could move through a metaverse that included a gallery and a massive auditorium complete with a stage. You could see dozens of avatars similar to your own, each belonging to another invitee to Sanlam’s metaverse launch. PS: These avatars were infinitely customisable upon sign-on, so they were similar only insofar as being computer renderings of another attendee’s personal preferences. You could move through the gallery and interact with the various ‘works of art’ that Sanlam had created, in this case graphical representations of a life in just 24-hours. At the scheduled start time, all avatars made their way to the auditorium where they were treated to introductory remarks from Sanlam Group CEO, Paul Hanratty.
Sanlam deserves praise for exploring fresh avenues to reach and resonate with a wider subset of financial consumers; but they run the risk of the pro financial planning and saving for retirement messages getting lost in a sea of tech ‘firsts’. The good news for attendees who were distracted by the ‘avatar in a metaverse’ experience is that the campaign was supported by Sanlam-commissioned research conducted among more than 5 000 South Africans. “Our research confirmed that we are not making the right money moves at key life stages, resulting in massive gaps in financial planning,” said Oosthuizen. “More than half of respondents would advise their younger selves to think of money as an asset to grow rather than a luxury to spend; but despite theoretically knowing what to do to thrive financially, many are understandably focused on pressing short-term financial priorities”.
From metaverse to traditional website
The LIFE of Confidence campaign is supported by a conventional website that plots a digital avatar’s life in the space of 24 hours. Consumers can use computers or other connected devices to navigate to the website where they can interact with an avatar that offers age-appropriate financial product suggestions. The idea is that consumers will apply the avatar’s life-stage-appropriate financial lessons in their own lives. Visitors to the website are confronted by a 24-hour timeline on which they can indicate their age and are then greeted by an age-appropriate message, before being offered a range of tools appropriate for their age.
So, for example, if you select 25-years-old, the message reads: “7:30am. You are 25-years old. Good morning! Time is flying and so are you. The future is looking bright. Now, let us protect it by planning for the highs, and the lows”. If you click on “tools for your 20s” you are presented with a more traditional product set that most of the country’s insurance and investment firms offer. In this case, the 25-year-old can choose to learn more about health, income protection and retirement. Of course, there is also a ‘funky’ age-appropriate video that website visitors can watch, with most being less than 30 seconds in duration.
For a 45-year-old, you are brought to a screen that leads with: “1:30pm. You are 45-years old. Good afternoon! Life is a balancing act. Your financial wellness is self-care, too. We’ll help you with a plan to take care of your loved one’s needs, without sacrificing your own”. In the tools for this age group, Sanlam offers financial planning, investing and retirement. Since most of our readers are involved in one or other aspect of financial or risk advice, we though to delve further into the financial planning tag. The writer concedes this was not quite what he had expected, because the website visitor is simply dumped on a standard ‘financial planning process’ on Sanlam’s main website… It seems he got over-excited about an innovation that was more marketing than financial planning focused. The media release accompanying the event seems to confirm this.
More of the marketing speak…
According to Sanlam, the project spanned several months, incorporating various software and hardware platforms, while also boasting a number of firsts for South Africa, including the country’s first media launch in the metaverse; the first time some of the tech has been used in a South African campaign; and the first use of a metahuman influencer in a campaign. Matt Ross, Group Executive Creative Director at King James, says the concept leans into the zeitgeist of the new digital world that is on society’s doorstep: “The lack of limitations in the metaverse is a strong creative enabler; it allowed us to present a financial education message in dramatic and fantastical ways that would not be possible in the real world”.
Not to leave financial advisers empty handed, this writer spent a few minutes reviewing the 31-page Sanlam report, titled ‘Finances through the life stages’. It revealed, for example, that most 18- to 39-year-olds rely on the web for financial advice whereas the majority of 40- to 64-year-olds get advice from a financial adviser. And only 10.2% of over-65s do not use an adviser. Across 5 000 respondents, an alarming 67% did not have a financial adviser, while only 41% of those who had an adviser saw him or her once or more per year. The conclusion: there is a massive universe of young, un-advised consumers that are just waiting for your financial advice practice reach out to them. So, get into the metaverse, or anywhere really, and advise them!
Writer’s thoughts:
There were two key lessons from the Sanlam LIFE of Confidence launch. The first is not to lose your financial advice message in the ‘bells and whistles’ of marketing and tech. The second is that there is a huge market of underserviced youngsters that would really benefit from financial advice. Do you think it is necessary to use the metaverse or similar tech innovations to meet and onboard younger clients? Or are these not the clients you typically go in search of? Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email us your thoughts [email protected].
