About » What's the story?

So what's with the virals, the stunts, coaching, fun stuff on this site? Read on to find out...

Well, we reckon that young people's understanding, behaviour and communication could do with some radical shake-up and improvement. So much so that we're prepared to take a playful risk with serious intentions and try something a bit, well…different. Kikass are on a mission to empower young people in getting sorted and switched-on around dealing with their cash.  We've historically found that entertainment, games, humour and virals are a brilliant hook for getting young people talking and thinking about tricky issues (see our past work on safe sex and drugs).

Listening to young people we realized that debt and money problems was one of  the biggest long-term problems they face. And it's a biggie, let's face it – taboo, confusing, perceived as difficult, boring and scary, all-too-tempting to procrastinate over dealing with (sometimes forever!) and further complicated by the seemingly impenetrable information from mainstream financial organisations like banks, peer/advertising pressure to spend, plus a cultural acceptance of debt. Young people discuss their sex lives with more ease, frankness and confidence than their finances. Yet so many are getting into catastrophic long-term financial trouble too, feel completely alone and despair about ever getting debt-free and in control of their cash, that this has got to change. And Kikass (fuelled by hard learning from our own mistakes and experiences with money) are passionate about making a huge difference to this, and ensuring that the information and support is available such that no bright young thing need ever be floored by financial stupidity, trapped by debt or frightened into corporate dullness ever, ever again.

         Young people don't have a choice about dealing with money – it's a fact of life and a life-long issue – so the sooner they get to grips with it and make friends with their money, we reckon, the better. Control of your money, basically, gives you control of your life and makes freedom, choice and self-expression possible. It's a myth that financial control is difficult, painful and only do-able for the rich. Our campaign aims to shine a light on the scary bogeyman in the wardrobe and show how small and beat-able it actually is, to big up the benefits of sorting out your cash and make the beauty of financial control and freedom way, way bigger than any fog of procrastination, doubt or confusion that currently holds young people back.

Why we're doing it the way we're doing it...

The point of the virals, stunts, straight-from-the-hip coaching and fun element is to:

• Inject fun, fearlessness and frivolity into the prickly issue of finance – it's perceived as such a brain-deadening and difficult subject that the campaign needs as outrageous a twist as possible: hence the stunts and virals 
• Unleash fresh new angles which engage young people who ignore or fear their finances in thinking and communicating about the issue, with added confidence
• Focus totally on solutions and empowering young people to help themselves rather than whining about the problem or declaring war on the banks, credit card companies or government and making them to blame for the problem. Our mission is about putting the solutions squarely in the hands of young people and to reassure them that this is do-able, possible and relevant to them
• Harness creativity – debt and money nightmares cramp so much youthful creativity and dreams that we're turning the situation on its head and using creativity to address the problem

The Facts Behind Our Mission

• 15% of 18-24 year olds think an ISA is an iPod accessory
• There are more credit cards in the UK than people
• 44% of 16-24 year olds say friends pressure them to keep spending money when they've run out
• Average graduate debt on leaving university: £13, 252
  62% of young people don't know any advice or support services they could turn to if they got into trouble with money
• Financial problems are the cause of 34.4% of students dropping out of university
• 56% of young people seeking help for their debts say their health has been adversely affected by their financial situation