012 Rachel Kerrone
Brand & Marketing Director, Starling
Rachel Kerrone is Brand & Marketing Director at Starling. She’s also had global roles at RBS and J.P. Morgan. She’s a Campaign UK Power 100 marketer and a Marketing Week Top 100 marketer, making this newsletter the least impressive publication she’s appeared in by a mile. She has built Starling from scratch over the last 7+ years into an award-winning bank with millions of customers.
“Not much - sleep is my secret weapon!”
The interview
What’s your coffee ritual?
I start the day with a cup of tea, then switch to coffee mid-morning - usually a skinny flat white, always extra hot!
What was your first marketing job?
It was at the Bradford & Bingley plc group many moons ago. The highlight? Lunch every Friday at one of London’s best Italian spots - Ciao Bella on Lamb’s Conduit Street.
What finance apps do you have on your home screen?
Quite a few! Starling for my everyday banking, plus Monzo, Revolut, and Chase to keep an eye on the competition. PensionBee UK helps me keep my pensions in one place, and I use American Express for the Avios points.
Which newsletter, podcast, or book do you recommend most?
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. It’s about the average time we have on this planet - and how to make it count. A brilliant rethink on time management. I also rate Jon Evans’ Uncensored CMO podcast. He has fantastic guests, and you can learn a lot about how other brands approach marketing.
What’s an underrated growth channel in fintech?
Brand partnerships - when done right - can give you huge visibility and unlock new audiences at scale. The key is finding partners that align with your mission and values.
What keeps you up at night?
Not much - sleep is my secret weapon! But I’m an early riser and do my best thinking before the rest of the house wakes up.
What are the most useful measurement tools you use in your work?
Looker is brilliant for building real-time dashboards with insights into customer behaviour and product usage. I also use Savanta and Bain & Company to track brand performance and NPS.
What’s one fintech brand (other than your own) that’s getting marketing right?
Female Invest. They’re a female-led startup empowering women globally to start their investing journey and close the investment gender gap. Their marketing is excellent - and likely delivered on a fraction of most fintechs’ budgets.
Why is marketing so hard?
Because it never stands still. Marketers today are expected to do far more than just ‘marketing’ - and that remit is always evolving. That’s what makes it challenging, but also endlessly interesting.
Whose answers to the above questions would you most like to read?
Monzo are doing some brilliant work, so I’d love to read AJ Coyne’s answers. And as you can probably tell, I’m a big Female Invest fan - I’d love to hear from their founders: Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg, Emma Due Bitz, and Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen.