• by Tanya Gazdik , January 7, 2010

TransUnion Interactive is debuting ZenDough.com, an interactive tool to help consumers organize their key financial information and receive personalized analysis and advice. The company is launching an integrated campaign this week including digital efforts and sponsorships, TV, print, media relations and a street marketing effort.

Zendough.com was developed in response to the recent economic events that have forced even the savviest consumers to reassess their personal finance management routines. TransUnion Interactive is a subsidiary of credit reporting agency TransUnion. It provides consumer credit management services through its TrueCredit.com unit. TrueCredit has more than a million consumer subscribers and also serves corporate clients, including Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.

TransUnion Interactive worked with AOR Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago from the inception to launch, said Lucy Duni, director of education for zendough.com by TransUnion. C-K handled the media planning and buying to target consumers who take an active role in their finances. The target audience researches credit card interest rates, checks their bank accounts line item by line item each week and has a strategic plan for avoiding overdraft fees.

TV includes one 60-second spot, three 30-second spots and five 15-second spots as well as DR-TV units. The media buy includes CNBC, Fox News, CNN, HGTV and TLC. The first 30-second spot, "Dragon," exposes a hidden financial world where storybook creatures are responsible for shifting and changing the numbers that determine your credit score, and ultimately, your worth. All spots end with the tagline: "Master your financial realm. At ZenDough.com."

Digital efforts include home page takeovers and sponsorships, rich media units and adver-gaming. Print ads appear in the February/March issues of publications including Real Simple, BusinessWeek and Smart Money. The campaign includes a consumer awareness media relations campaign, as well as held a street marketing "zendough Takeover" yoga event Jan. 5 in New York's Grand Central Terminal and Chicago's Union Station during the morning rush-hour commute. The campaign runs throughout the year and is open ended.

"The campaign stokes the sense of mystery around what happens behind closed financial doors, those ivory tower decisions made about your life, while explaining them and solving for them at the same time," said Marshall Ross, EVP/chief creative officer, C-K, in a statement. "The financial world has changed the rules on all of us."