The financial services industry takes itself terribly seriously. Its experts spout pronouncements about share valuations, bond yields, and black-swan events. TV advertisements, particularly from asset managers, are often confoundingly abstract and obscure. Attempts at financial education invariably push the preachy, patronising message “We know what’s good for you”.

Financial education is crucial if South Africans are to thrive. (The government has yet to grasp this fundamental truth or it would have made a serious effort to incorporate it into the school curriculum.) So how do we educate people in a way that is fun and engaging but drives home important financial lessons without them feeling they’re being told how to spend their money?

I can’t think of a better way than through comedy.

“Gamification” – turning money lessons into computer games – has been tried and it appears to work well with children, who have an innate addiction to gaming. If you get them young, this is a worthwhile way to go.

But what about the myriad of young adults who are earning a salary and need guidance on how to manage their income? In South Africa, we have a situation where many of these earners are from poor backgrounds, whose parents made heavy sacrifices to give their children a good education and a decent start in life.

A few weeks ago I attended a stand-up comedy show hosted by Sanlam at their invitation – the F-Show, at the Theatre on the Square in Sandton. I went with the preconceived notion that it would be a “corporate” event, heavily attended by finance and marketing people, with Sanlam branding everywhere and not-so-subtle hints at product promotion.

But it wasn’t. There wasn’t a single Sanlam logo to be seen. The small theatre quickly filled up with genuine fee-paying patrons who had seen the show advertised and had come to be entertained. They had a terrific time and got more than enough laughs for their money, courtesy of comedians Mpho “Popps” Modikoane, Vafa Naraghi, and Khanyisa Bunu. Did they take away a few hard money lessons? Yes, I believe they did, but were not conscious of it at the time.

One way comedy works is by taking a taboo subject and throwing out ideas that everyone can relate to but no one talks about. People find it very funny when they discover that they share thoughts or experiences that they would, in polite society, never discuss or admit to. Sex tops the list, but possibly the next most taboo subject is money. (Why money is taboo I may deal with in a future column. But the fact that it is makes it a perfect source for laughs.)

An example: Popps relates how his mother toiled as a domestic worker for a meagre R2 000 a month, then points to a man in the front row, saying the man’s jacket probably cost a similar amount. The audience rolls about. Not only may many people have come from a similar background, but they too had splashed out on items of clothing with a higher price tag than the amount with which Popps’s mom had to feed her family.

The F-Show was a collaboration involving Sanlam’s marketing team, its creative agency Accenture Song, author and personal finance expert Sam Beckbessinger, and the comedians themselves. Snippets of it have appeared on social media, but the aim is to release a full-length TV version.

I chatted to Mariska Oosthuizen, Sanlam’s chief marketing officer, remarking how brilliantly I thought the concept had worked. She explained how the show had come about.

“Sanlam’s mission is to empower people to live with financial confidence, and financial literacy is a key part of that. In this campaign, we wanted to appeal to a younger, broader audience and breakthrough into new markets, and we homed in on the idea of taking a more light-hearted approach,” Oosthuizen said.

She said many financial services firms would have balked at such an idea. “Finance is a serious subject – we are serious about who we are and what we do. But at Sanlam we’re pretty brave in trying new concepts and ideas to drive financial literacy, and when we were presented with the concept we felt it was a wonderful idea. This was especially because we’re in a world where things are serious. Life is tough, and we know that as South Africans, when life gets tough we often laugh at ourselves.”

Oosthuizen said they chose the comedians very carefully on how well they could relate to their audience and left it to them to write the show with input from Beckbessinger around key themes and financial lessons. “It was such an amazing process, and we landed up with something that is very authentic and which people related to really, really well.”

Bravo to all involved – the “money people and the funny people”, as Oosthuizen refers to them. And keep a lookout for The F-Show (full-length version).

* Hesse is the former editor of Personal Finance.

PERSONAL FINANCE