The Context
Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People is an award-winning charity with international networks and a worldwide reputation for excellence in children’s and youth programming. It is the largest film and television festival designed for and by young people in the UK and Ireland.
Bank of Ireland Group PLC is a commercial bank operation in Ireland and one of the traditional Big Four Irish banks. At Bank of Ireland, they are committed to serving their customers brilliantly.
Bank of Ireland wanted to build their profile as the National Champion for Financial Wellbeing in the UK & ROI; they wished to increase financial literacy among the youth segment, a core age group of Bank of Ireland UK’s Financial Wellbeing programme.
They conducted research amongst 12-20 year olds, which found that young people want to speak with the banks, but communication needed to be engaging and peer to peer. In light of these research findings, they were keen to implement a new forward-thinking communication method and break away from ‘death by Powerpoint’.
The Solution
A&BNI connected Bank of Ireland with Cinemagic and supported both partners, via Investment Programme match funding, to schedule an innovative financial wellbeing programme for young people.
Working to their mutual strengths, the partners decided to create a short piece of film aimed at young people from 12 upwards, to highlight the importance of financial wellbeing.
The resulting three-minute film features interviews with six young filmmakers from Northern Ireland, all alumni of Cinemagic, who now work on popular projects such as ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Normal People’ and ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. In the short film, the film industry professionals give practical tips on how they manage their money and what they’ve learned along the way.
The impact of the work has been extremely positive, with the launch of the film securing widespread publicity in Ulster Business, Business Eye, Daily Mirror Biz, Belfast Telegraph Business and Irish News.
Despite the impact of Covid-19, the partners pushed ahead with completing the film and launching it as a teaser BOI Financial Wellbeing campaign in the first quarter of 2021.
“We are always looking at new ways to innovate and communicate the importance of financial literacy, so we developed this powerful partnership with Cinemagic that inspires, engages and informs. The initial introduction and Investment Programme match funding from Arts & Business NI has been invaluable in helping cement this new partnership.
We did a piece of research among 12-18-year-olds to see how they would like to see information communicated and the consensus was through film and video. Our resulting short film was made by young people so we are confident it is something other young people across Northern Ireland will enjoy. The six filmmakers have such impressive CVs but also useful, authentic money management tips. At Bank of Ireland UK, we are committed to helping our community thrive and that includes young people who may be new to banking, as well as managing bills and their own finances. The film gives practical advice to show them it’s important to manage their finances, no matter what career they choose in the future.”
Gail Toal, Financial Wellbeing Manager Bank of Ireland UK
“We were delighted to work with Bank of Ireland UK on this innovative project. The young people who are profiled in the film are success stories of Cinemagic and the crew gained a lot over the production, as well as the opportunity to create new digital content to engage young audiences.
I would like to thank Bank of Ireland UK for working with us on this opportunity. It’s fantastic to see business working in collaboration with the arts to meet their objectives and in doing so inspire the future workforce and nurture young creative talent.”
Claire Shaw, Press & Marketing Officer, Cinemagic International Film & Television Festival
