“Do Your Own
Research” Campaign
CLIENT
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI)
Scams and frauds are on the rise, and Californians are falling victim at rates never seen before.
THE PROBLEM
Many Californians are vulnerable to complex, fraudulent, predatory or misleading financial information. Losing money to a fraud or scam can cost people their rent money, grocery money, retirement savings, and cause lasting emotional damage.
“Do Your Own Research” is the mantra plastered on financial websites and crypto blogs, but in reality, most sources never teach consumers how to do their own research.
This was the DFPI's first consumer financial protection campaign, and the message needed to be simplified.
A lot of Californians are mistrusting of information provided by government sources and prefer to find their info in places such as social media. But existing DFPI outreach lacked impact and shareability in a mobile-first, short-form media landscape.
HOW WE SOLVED IT
Inspired by the common financial mantra of “Do Your Own Research,” the campaign aimed to show consumers how to do that by making financial topics approachable and empowering. It empowered Californians to protect their hard-earned money.
We developed short-form social videos with clear, simplified messaging that stripped away jargon, defined terminology, and built confidence.
Optimized for mobile-first behavior with vertical formats, strong hooks, subtitles, and shareable lengths. Deployed across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, with supporting digital assets to extend reach.
🏅 The street interview campaign won Silver at the 2025 American Advertising Awards, Sacramento
⬇️ Scroll to the end to see the great stats on this campaign
Losing money to a fraud or scam can cost people their rent money, grocery money, retirement savings, and more. This was the DFPI’s first consumer financial protection campaign, and was designed to empower Californians with information on how to protect their hard-earned money.
