Brief:

• Ally Financial is challenging Instagram users to play a virtual version of "truth or dare" that aims to remove the stress of discussions about money. The "Confessiongrams" campaign encourages people to take turns with a friend or significant other in choosing a virtual "card" that features a financial question to answer truthfully or to take a dare challenge, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
• The player chooses between answering the financial truth or posting a video of them doing the dare on their Instagram account. The user-generated answers that Ally Financial has gathered so far indicate that three out of four Americans ages 18-34 would support their significant other in making a career move that paid less but resulted in greater personal happiness.
• Ally partnered with influencers including Jimmie Johnson (@allyracing), Carmen Perez (@makerealcents) and Loryn Powell (@lorynpowell) to share their experiences playing Confessiongrams via Instagram Story, and to discuss the importance of talking about money and financial habits early with a significant other or with family.

Insight:

Ally Financial's gamified campaign seeks to remove the stigma of stressful financial conversations by urging Instagram users to break the ice with Confessiongrams that uncover their attitudes about money, or challenge them to a dare. As Instagram users share dares on their accounts, Ally Financial can leverage the image-sharing app's networking capabilities and use the user-generated content to extend the campaign's reach virally among a wider audience.

Confessiongrams follows past campaigns to engage mobile users with its brand through gamified content. Ally's online-only Ally Bank last year released an interactive mobile game during the Super Bowl to urge people to improve their saving habits. "The Ally Big Save" aimed to help people think about their personal savings goals using augmented reality, the technology that overlays digital images on a real background seen through a smartphone camera.

Ally Financial is among the brands that have run social media campaigns that aim to drum up some brand buzz online and boost brand recognition. L.L. Bean, Busch, JetBlue, Saucony and T.J. Maxx this year have relied on social platforms such as Twitter and Instagram to engage users with their brands and share posts with friends, family and followers. While Ally Financial's campaign rewards consumers with peace of mind, it uses the same tactics as these more traditional contests to spark conversation.