Group spending app KttiPay has partnered with marketing firm Lumme to launch a new campaign addressing the issue of unpaid debts among Australians aged 18 to 35. This demographic is collectively owed $1.5 billion monthly due to splitting expenses.

The campaign involved the creation of an unbranded TikTok account, @Nic.Doff, whose mission was to 'save $5K by being cheap'. The account shared tips on avoiding paying back debts, resonating with the target audience's experiences. The @Nic.Doff account gained significant traction with its second video, which went viral, achieving over 1.1 million organic views, 55,000 likes, and 10,000 shares within six weeks.

KttiPay leveraged this viral success to launch a real-life $5,000 scavenger hunt in Sydney. The event encouraged participants to track down Nic's unpaid debts, with winners receiving $1,000 in their KttiPay account. This initiative resulted in 2,000 competition registrations within 72 hours and led to record-breaking app downloads during the five-day scavenger hunt.

KttiPay was founded in Sydney in 2022 by Iain Salteri, with the aim of simplifying group spending and eliminating awkward IOUs through secure digital wallets known as 'kttis'," said Salteri.

"Over half of young Aussies have been left hanging on a shared expense that wasn’t paid back. That’s exactly the problem we set out to solve with KttiPay - a shared group wallet where everyone chips in before the money gets spent. We wanted a fun campaign that would bring this distinct point of difference to life, drive social traction and ultimately deliver growth."

Lumme Marketing, which provides comprehensive marketing strategies and offers on-demand CMO-level expertise and execution from senior marketing managers and strategists, played a crucial role in the campaign's development.

Head of Marketing at Lumme, Jane Killingsworth, said: "Our campaign started with a simple but powerful insight: the deep frustration of being left out of pocket when covering expenses with mates. That frustration gave us the perfect hook to build a bold, storyline-led campaign - one that didn’t just spark conversation but drove real-world action. By tapping into a triggering truth, we turned a universal pain point into a standout moment in the crowded fintech space, winning hearts, minds, and some serious traction."

Director at Lumme, Renee Gangemi, said: "KttiPay trusted us to be bold to take a chance on an unbranded content approach to prove its point. People responded better than we could have imagined to the @Nic.Doff account, and it paid off."