009 Jack Cully
Head of Brand and Product Marketing, Plum
Jack Cully is Head of Brand and Product Marketing at Plum. Before that he spent 6 years at Monzo. He was flattered to learn that ChatGPT considers him “the best in the world at turning complex products into brands people love—blending strategic thinking, creativity, and execution to make fintech feel human, engaging, and indispensable.” and is suspicious that AI might be too nice. Richard Cook tagged Jack in his Edition of this newsletter - thanks Richard!
“Make something truly great / novel / delightful so customers talk about it with people they care about.”
The interview
What’s your coffee ritual?
Oat latte, made at home, served in a SoleCup for the commute into the office.
What was your first marketing job?
Launching Monzo Business as a Customer Operations person at Monzo. I just didn’t know I was doing marketing at the time.
What finance apps do you have on your home screen?
Monzo for everyday banking, Plum for saving and investing on autopilot, and Yonder for the points.
Which newsletter, podcast, or book do you recommend most?
Al Ries and Jack Trout’s Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind. My go-to for my first few years as a marketer.
What’s an underrated growth channel in fintech?
The product itself. Obsessing over writing, design, and how it works is a growth channel, I think. Make something truly great / novel / delightful so customers talk about it with people they care about.
What keeps you up at night?
I think about pace a lot. No, I don’t mean how fast I can finish parkrun - but more about how quickly everything’s changing at the moment. And am I changing with everything quickly enough?
What are the most useful measurement tools you use in your work?
BrandVue: a brand measurement tool from Savanta I’ve been using for years to measure brand metrics and make choices.
Why is marketing so hard?
Because there’s no one right answer. And because it’s easy to get addicted to exact attribution when it’s actually the harder-to-attribute things that drive real, longer-term success.