Silver Effie for MyFamily: the human touch that paid off

Executive summary

Winning a Silver Effie Award in 2025, this case demonstrates how we tackled the ultimate marketing challenge: growing a brand in a commodity market where every competitor offers the identical service. By introducing 'Emily', a relatable brand character, we shifted MyFamily's role from a simple payment service to a trusted 'partner in financial parenting'. This human-centric approach transformed a transactional service into an emotional and preferred choice.

Results

The company's growth plan surpassed its targets.

• Business goal: reversed customer decline and achieved +7.7% growth in new contracts, surpassing the +5% target.
• Behavioral goal: increased unique website visitors by +7.54%, exceeding the +5% KPI.
• Perception goal: raised brand awareness among future parents from 28% to 38%, beating the 35% target.

Our approach

The big idea

In a market where every product is identical, we gave MyFamily a human face. We turned a transactional payment service into a trusted financial guide for expecting parents, starting from the earliest months of pregnancy.

The strategy

The Flemish child benefit market is a marketer’s ultimate challenge. Five providers offer the exact same service at the exact same, legally fixed price. With differentiation on product, price, place and promotion impossible, the only way to win is through communication. Our research revealed a key insight: while pregnancy is a happy time, it’s also a period of growing financial anxiety for expecting parents. While competitors focused on the moment parents could apply (at five months), we saw an opportunity to build a genuine relationship much earlier.

Our approach was to shift MyFamily’s role from a simple payer to an essential partner in ‘financial parenting’. We moved away from transactional messaging and focused on addressing the real concerns of our audience. To do this, we created "Emily of MyFamily," a warm and relatable brand character. Emily is the expert friend who crunches the numbers on everything from baby costs to savings tips, reassuring parents that they are not alone in their financial worries and empowering them to have important money conversations.

The process

Due to regulations forbidding offline media, our strategy required a mandatory online-only presence. We brought this to life with branding and a full-funnel content approach, with Emily as the consistent, guiding presence throughout the journey. 

Top Funnel: starting the conversation.

• To build awareness, we launched the “Gesprek van het Jaar” campaign. In a series of videos, Emily presented real pregnant couples with thought-provoking questions about the financial impact of having a baby. This normalised money talks and positioned MyFamily as a facilitator. To make it interactive, we offered downloadable discussion cards, encouraging couples at home to have the same important conversations.

Mid Funnel: building trust with valuable content.

• Once we had their attention, we nurtured the audience with a steady stream of practical and supportive content. This wasn't about selling; it was about offering genuine value and cementing MyFamily’s position as the go-to expert in financial parenthood.

Lower Funnel: converting with confidence.

• By the time parents reached the crucial five-month mark to apply for their starting amount, Emily was a familiar and trusted face. This made choosing MyFamily a natural and confident decision.