029 Lucas Bergmans
Global Marketing Director, Wise
Lucas Bergmans 🚀 is Global Marketing Director at Wise. His career has taken him from consumer goods (Heineken) to price comparison (MoneySuperMarket) to automotive (Cazoo) via financial services (Aviva) and back again. Last week he swam across The English Channel.
“Airwallex - they’ve doubled down on their McLaren Formula 1 Team sponsorship in a smart integrated way.”
The interview
What’s your coffee ritual?
Double espresso first thing. Made with a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker and Lavazza Rossa. One sugar.
What was your first marketing job?
L’Oréal grad scheme. Because I’m worth it.
Which newsletter, podcast, or book do you recommend most?
Benedict Evans - very good overview of what’s going on in tech.
Land of the Giants podcast series - deep dive journalism into each of the Big Tech firms.
What’s an underrated growth channel in fintech?
Radio/audio. Especially if it’s integrated with TV/AV with the right distinctive audio assets (voiceover, music track, jingle, end line).
What keeps you up at night?
Nothing. Although if I have an exciting idea at 4am, I’ll be half thinking about it for about an hour.
What are the most useful measurement tools you use in your work?
Geo lift studies. Lucky for us we can do this in lots of different countries around the world at once.
What’s one fintech brand (other than your own) that’s getting marketing right?
Airwallex - they’ve doubled down on their McLaren Formula 1 Team sponsorship in a smart integrated way.
Why is marketing so hard?
Two reasons:
1. It’s about changing humans’ attitude and behaviour, and humans are fundamentally complex and unpredictable
2. Internal non-marketing stakeholders think it’s simple and predictable and anyone can do it (very much not true)