THE ASK


For the 2019 graduation season, the student loan refinancing product marketers asked our team to develop a campaign revolving around user-generated content (UGC). The goal was to create a sweepstakes and solicit video entries from contestants vying for a $50,000 grand prize and a free trip to SoFi’s annual “Summer of Funds” event in New York City.

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THE EXECUTION


Under the campaign banner Ditch the #DebtLife, we asked users to submit minute-long videos telling SoFi about the sacrifices they made while paying down student debt—and how it felt to leave that lifestyle behind.

We deliberately left the parameters of the contest open-ended, and encouraged entrants to be as creative as possible. Our team selected ten finalists from among the submissions, and the grand prize winner was determined by popular vote.

THE RESULTS


The campaign exceeded its target number of entries by more than 25% and generated several hours’ worth of quality UGC. Our team was subsequently able to recut this content to produce dozens of ad assets for future campaigns, and built a product landing page supported largely by the repurposed UGC.

Credits:

  • SoFi internal agency
  • ECD: Jonathan Woytek
  • ACD: Jason Stanfield
  • Art Director: Naama Sternlicht
  • UX Designer: Gracia Sadtler-Taylor
    • Editing/motion graphics: Beast Editorial
  • Copywriter: Shane Tepper