Kiwibank pays to demystify money
Nigel Latta has made a name for tackling the big topics.
The psychologist’s shows have covered subjects like sugar, parenting, house affordability, suicide and immigration.
His new series tackles the one of the biggest subjects of all: why people are so weird about money.
The first of the six half-hour episodes of Mind Over Money will screen on TVNZ1 at 8pm on February 13, aiming to explain the psychology behind people’s relationship with money, and the often irrational things they do with it.
Often it’s a case of stone-age brains, which were never designed to deal with complex, abstract decisions about money, getting in the way of making rational decisions.
But while there’s a story to be told about people’s money behaviour, there’s also a money story to be told about the show itself.
Mind over Money is the first prime-time TVNZ show to have been fully funded by a commercial partner, said Television New Zealand’s Lyndsey Francis.
It was Kiwibank that approached TVNZ about doing a show to demystify money.
The bank asked if the show could be fronted by Nigel Latta. And it offered to pay.
Regan Savage, Kiwibank’s head of marketing, wouldn’t reveal the price tag.
‘‘I don’t really want to disclose what it cost, but it’s a big investment, and not unlike the investment we would have made five or six years ago in a 60-second brand advert.’’
Kiwibank’s investment was about building its brand, but not about pushing its products and services, he said.
Viewers will be left in no doubt that Kiwibank paid for the show, and its chief economist Zoe Wallis will appear in each of the six episodes.
Nonetheless, Savage said: ‘‘The show is pretty well devoid of overt references to Kiwibank and our products and services.
‘‘It’s about the psychology money, not the psychology banking with Kiwibank.’’
Kiwibank chief executive Paul Brock said the aim was ‘‘to get all New Zealanders thinking about their relationship with money, the impact that has on their lives [and] how we can all train ourselves to handle our money better.’’
The show was developed by Latta’s production company, Ruckus, and Kiwibank did not dictate the content.
‘‘We said if you want us to do this, you have to let us make it because this is what we do. You guys do banking. We do TV shows,’’ Latta said.
The aim of the show was not to of of give people financial advice, and nor was it designed to lecture people about their bad money habits.
‘‘We didn’t want to make something that would nag people, and make people feel bad about the things they do with money,’’ Latta said.
‘‘It’s more about understanding that if you let your brain go on autopilot, then it will steer you wrong.’’
‘‘The thing that makes us great is our brain,’’ Latta said.
‘‘The thing that makes life fun is our brain. And the thing that stuffs us up is our brain.’’
He said he had learnt a lot during the research and production of the series, including the value of financial advice.
He didn’t claim to be an expert with money, but saw his job as gathering the knowledge of experts, and presenting it to Kiwi audiences. OPINION: There’s nothing like a catch-up on sleep over the holiday break to make you realise how good it makes you feel – and look.
It seems the obsession with getting enough sleep is global: Wearable technology and gadgets that help us sleep better were key themes on show at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held recently in Las Vegas.
In New Zealand, government innovation agency Callaghan Innovation assisted 14 of the 20 Kiwi companies that attended CES – which is the world’s largest gadget fest, set across halfa-million square metres of exhibition space in Sin City.
The show always throws up lots of eye-catching developments including some that just seem odd, such as the jeans that can direct you to the nearest rubbish bin or the hairbrush with an app that monitors your brushing technique. The bikini that buzzes if you’ve been out in the sun too long makes a bit more sense – if you’re a bikini kind of person.
However, most are based on market demand – what consumers have identified as their greatest emerging needs.
After all, these companies aren’t going to market products unless someone wants them. So, on some level, CES tells us the firstworld problems we’re trying to solve.
And sleep, or lack of it, is a number one first-world problem. We are all increasingly time-poor, perpetually connected through blue-light-emitting devices that keep us awake and, consequently, stressed out and tired.
At CES, presenter and author of The Sleep Revolution Arianna Huffington called it a sleep deprivation crisis.
There was an underlying sense that in a society obsessed with the young and good-looking, the allure
The bikini that buzzes if you've been out in the sun too long makes a bit more sense.
of regeneration is the chance to snatch a glimpse of eternal youth.
Given that we don’t know a lot about what happens when we sleep, those unconscious hours still promise some magic, or at least hope.
And the new products offered hope in spades. NuCalm is a system that claims to provide the equivalent of two hours’ sleep in 20 minutes. And then there are smart pillows that detect and stop snoring by gently inflating, or that moderate body temperature to give the user perfect sleep.
For the more active among us, there is sleepwear that helps muscles recover faster during sleep following vigorous exercise.
Sleep issues aside, these new gadgets are solving some of our other first-world problems.
I personally welcome smart luggage that will tell me where it is when it doesn’t show up on the baggage carousel.
And running shoes that keep their own mileage, letting you know when they are reaching the end of their useful life, could prevent injuries (and, of course, sell more running shoes).
This is the Internet of Things getting down to brass tacks. Within 10 years the world will have trillions of sensors recording temperature, recognising faces, finding possessions and alerting us to things.
Some of New Zealand’s smartest companies are already moving to make their mark on this future. Christchurch startup Myovolt, for instance, makes wearable devices to assist with muscle recovery.
StretchSense, an Auckland company that won the Innovation World Cup for Sports & Fitness in 2015, is working to give its wearable sensors the ability to be activated by movement – a smart garment that only activates when needed.
Wearable technology will also be a big focus for Callaghan Innovation in 2017. Following on from 2015’s Challenge Prize, which helped push drone development for the film industry to the fore, we will be launching a similar event for wearable technology that helps improve human performance and wellbeing. Watch this space.
Cas Carter is Callaghan Innovation’s general manager of external relations.