Terminally ill feature in UBank ad to spread message on borrowing less

NAB-owned digital bank UBank has launched an ad campaign featuring terminally ill Australians who talk about rethinking priorities on assets and not take on too much debt.

The ad says it is a ‘unique perspective on the Australian dream’.

UBank chief executive Lee Hatton says the advertisement, produced with support from Palliative Care Australia by the ad agency, The Monkeys has been designed to encourage viewers to question their choices when it comes to taking on too much debt, according to an article in The Australian Financial Review.

"We think it's important that Australians start thinking about borrowing less and living more. It's not morbid, there's actually a really positive message in there," Hatton said.

The ad begins with a dark line by Julie, one of the terminally ill group. “When you are given a death sentence, you really evaluate what it's all about,” she says. 

Five more terminally ill Australians speak about the pitfalls of taking on too much debt and working away all your life to repay that. 

‘It’s not about bricks and mortar, it’s about what you put into those bricks and mortar,’ says one of them in the ad, which closes with the punchline ‘Borrow less, live more.”

In the film the group speak of coming to terms with their illnesses and then reflecting on how their priorities had changed, with a focus on big ticket items such as cars and houses.

UBank will be pushing the campaign through traditional channels and social media. The video can be found at ubank.com.au/home-truths.

Mike Hill, the film’s director, has worked on a number of projects that focused on people nearing the end of their lives. 

"It's an exploration of the Australian dream and it's really refreshing to hear people calling that out and saying 'Hey maybe that really big mortgage, that big house with all the bells and whistles isn't that important to your quality of life'," Hill said.

UBank previously ran a campaign that tried to reframe the concept of home ownership to include apartments after conducting research that showed large numbers of young people had given up on "the great Australian dream".

The digital-only bank does not lend on loan-to-valuation ratios of more than 80 percent.

It has 350,000 customers.

To view the campaign, click here.