How We Helped a Personal Finance Author Connect With Everyday Struggles
1. Background
A personal finance author needed to introduce a new book to everyday people; those who struggle with budgeting, planning, or unexpected expenses. The challenge was making financial education feel approachable, not preachy. Most personal finance content feels instructional or disconnected from real life. This book needed to feel like a companion, not a classroom.
The challenge: Create video content that reaches people where they are, emotionally and culturally, without triggering the shame or resistance that often comes with money conversations.
2. The Problem
Money struggles are private and emotional. They happen in quiet spaces, at a kitchen table, during a late-night phone call, in a worried conversation with a partner. Most financial content ignores this reality. It treats money as a math problem, not a human one.
The author understood this, but didn’t have the creative language to translate it into content. They needed a partner who could frame the book as a solution to real emotional moments, not just financial ones.
3. What We Did
We didn’t start with the book’s features. We started with the feeling of being stuck.
Culture & Audience Insight We identified the emotional terrain where money anxiety lives. It’s not in spreadsheets; it’s in the moment when your budget doesn’t stretch, when an unexpected expense throws everything off, when you’re sitting in front of your laptop at midnight trying to figure it out.
Brand Narrative + Creative Direction We built three short scenes around these moments:
- A man whose monthly budget always stretches beyond his income
- A young woman dealing with unexpected family expenses
- Another man whose financial anxiety plays out in a humorous exchange with his laptop
In each video, the book appears as a turning point, not as a lecture, but as a tool that makes the situation lighter and clearer.
Production We kept the tone human, not instructional. The scenarios were specific enough to feel real, but universal enough to be recognizable. We avoided heavy messaging. The goal was clarity and connection.
4. The Strategy
The cultural angle: Money struggles are emotional before they’re financial. Most content treats them as technical problems. We treated them as human moments.
The insight that shaped the creative: People don’t avoid financial education because they’re lazy. They avoid it because it reminds them of failure. We needed to make the book feel like relief, not judgment.
The positioning shift: Instead of “here’s how to fix your finances,” the message became “here’s a companion for the moments when money feels overwhelming.”
5. Execution
What we built:
- Three short video scenes anchored in everyday financial tension
- Casting and direction that prioritized authenticity over polish
- A narrative tone that balanced seriousness with lightness
Where it ran:
- Social media (organic and paid)
- Author’s website and email campaigns
6. Results
The videos gave the author a grounded, human entry point for the book. The content made the message easier for audiences to approach and understand.
Why this matters: The author didn’t just get promotional videos, they got a tone of voice. The videos set the standard for how the book would be talked about across all platforms. The content didn’t feel like marketing. It felt like a conversation.
7. Why Culture Made the Difference
Most financial content talks at people. We created content that sat with them. We understood that money anxiety lives in specific, quiet moments, and we gave those moments a voice. The videos worked because they didn’t try to teach. They just reflected what people already feel. That’s what happens when you start with cultural truth, not product features.