What’s one fintech brand (other than your own) that’s getting marketing right?

Financial services marketing has come a long way, and there’s interesting work coming from lots of places. I can’t pick just one, but I’m enjoying what Monzo, Revolut, and Wise are doing.

I really like what Zilch are doing, and it’s working - they are rapidly scaling. Their CEO also co-founded the UCFT (Unicorn Council for UK Fintech) to create a platform for UK fintech founders and CEOs to work closely with the government to support high-growth tech companies.

Apron. They know who they are and who they’re for, they’re focused, and the brand identity is strong enough that if anyone in their space copied it you’d know immediately. There’s a lot of good marketing happening in fintech at the moment, but I’ll go with them.

Nubank in Brazil. Such a strong growth engine with really low cost acquisition and a great understanding of their customers. They make a complex banking system simple and cheaper for customers.

Piggyvest probably.

I will never not be impressed by Monzo’s approach to sponsorship and brand activations – they get how to integrate a brand without just slapping a logo down. Authentic, fan first, and experience-led.

Pie - The Self Assessment App is killing organic socials with Charlotte Baroukh’s page. They’ve grown it to over 100k followers with just great quality, informative content. The key to their success is positioning the page like a content creator rather than a business.

There are so many! A couple I’ve really noticed recently are Monzo, Financielle, Ecommpay, and Sprive.

Revolut, and yes, they’re the obvious answer, but they’ve really earned it. What impresses me most isn’t the scale, it’s the context-awareness. They’re genuinely good at surfacing the right product at the right moment. If your income changes, they notice, and they respond in a way that feels relevant rather than intrusive. The Primavera partnership is a good example of them showing up in my life front stage and centred (literally) without it feeling forced. I’m genuinely excited to see what they do with their full banking licence.

Wio Bank in the UAE. In under three years, it has become one of the region’s standout digital banking success stories and has been recognised as one of the world’s best digital banks. Marketing-wise, it knows exactly who it’s talking to, with clear positioning, relevant messaging, and a product roll-out that shows a real understanding of what customers actually need.

I’m an absolute Stripe fanboy. Love what they’ve done with the brand and how they’ve reshaped what to expect from a fintech brand, or a Tier 1 brand in general. Their ‘byproducts’ such as Stripe Press and Cheeky Pint are proof that you can expand your brand into everything if you have the right approach and passion.

Wise. Radically transparent about fees when banks were hiding them. Clear positioning beats clever campaigns every time. Kudos to Thomas Adamski.

I’ll always have a spot for American Express because it’s where I started out, but their attention to customer experience is standout. Everyone’s cottoned on to how important it is now for revenue generation.

As a content marketer, I always look at a company’s content to evaluate their marketing. Unit, a US-based embedded finance provider creates some of the best B2B fintech content I’ve seen. It’s just very well written and well explained, which is very hard to do in a highly regulated, complex sector like embedded finance.

I think Klarna still does a great job, looks like they know their customer really well.

PensionBee’s podcast I think is one of the best ‘owned’ media fintech examples out there. It’s consistent, they’ve invested in it well, and they’ve done it for a long time. Far too often companies only do their owned content series for a year or so and then consider it a failure. It’s not long enough to make an impact.

Revolut is smashing it. Laser-focused on a key persona and aggressive brand building for it.

Cash App in the US has successfully positioned itself as a lifestyle brand, which is still rare for a fintech.

ClearScore. The Moose and Charlie campaign is brilliant. Who doesn’t love a talking dog? The growth suggests it’s working.

That’s a tricky one! I’m connected to a number of amazing CMOs and marketing leaders in this space and we all do the best we can with what we have! But I guess Starling. I’ve watched them take business banking mainstream with smart campaigns and a fresh rebrand.

We’re big fans of Yonder in the marketing team. And the guys at Adclear are doing a very good job in what could be a very boring space!

I think what’s common about many fintechs out there that I love is that the new kids on the block are showing up really clear on who they are going after, and wholly focussed on solving a very specific problem for a very specific audience. To me that is great marketing, AND they seem to commit to something and keep at it over and over again - consistency wins! What I also love about these (too many to mention) B2B fintechs, they also seem to have put aside the traditional constraints of ‘financial services marketing’ and are showing up in a much more distinct and appealing way, oftentimes this was reserved for B2C brands, having spent a lot of time at events like Money 2020 globally, the standard of branding and marketing in this space has improved dramatically and it’s great to see.

Klarna, at a push. They’ve managed to aspirationalise debt, which I suppose is quite impressive.

Bilt in the US. Their series Roomies is magnificent and captures the zeitgeist of brand content right now.

Fintechs are learning to excel at brand. I think Kuda’s a great example of that. As is PensionBee UK, Yonder and many others. But I have a soft spot for Monzo. Always will have. They know how to pull all the right levers - brand and performance. All they’re lacking is dojo.

Hard to beat the OG - Monzo. First time we really saw proper branding in fintech with that coral card and the tone of voice. They made banking feel human. Still keeping their edge I think.

Funny you should ask, cause we just released this Rival 50 thing ;). No, but seriously - it’s amazing how well fintech did in our research on the challenger brands with the most momentum right now. Very over-represented as a category, which is a tribute to the folks likely reading this post who are doing some amazing work in the category! I will say though…most of the brands are B2C and I believe there’s a huge opportunity for B2B fintech to take and apply some of the learnings from the research (or just the playbook of challenger brands in general).

Ecommpay - a bold, consistent, and memorable brand, with inclusivity baked in as a real and tangible commitment.

Brex is doing some amazing stuff!

Unfortunately great campaigns and brands get changed too often but historically, obvious killers that led the way were Monzo, Revolut, and Starling.

NALA, a fintech focused on cross-border payments into Africa and emerging markets. Benjamin Fernandes and his team are blending purpose-driven storytelling with product credibility and connecting emotionally with the African diaspora. Their “Send Love Home” campaign is eye-watering.

Monzo. They absolutely smashed it with their recently launched Book of Money, written and produced by an all-female team. Clear, human, and genuinely fun.

Not really a fintech but I love Richard Curtis’ Make My Money Matter.

Monzo. Their social media is smart, human, and never boring. They’ve nailed the brand voice in a sea of corporate sameness.

Hard to go past Cash App for how they have nailed embedding themselves into culture. Something we admire at Up. I’ve also been intrigued in the past, from afar, by Habito in the UK. They’ve done some really different stuff at times like the Mortgage Kama Sutra 5-6 years ago.

N26 - they’re doing a good job connecting with younger consumers.

Moniepoint Group - especially how they’ve built trust, visibility, and their heavy penetration within the merchant / business segment.

Obvious answer but Monzo. Love how they’ve used TV.

Airwallex - they’ve doubled down on their McLaren Formula 1 Team sponsorship in a smart integrated way.

Laura Watkins does an outstanding content job at 11:FS, and I always keep an eye on fintech-adjacent Cognism’s marketing - they deeply understand their buyers.

iwoca under Joost Versteeg is an absolute marketing machine.

Remitly. Their OOH campaigns are so personal and pointed they feel like they know your mum’s maiden name.

Hard to look past the giants, but I’ll call out HES FinTech (Lithuanian). Sharp value proposition, visionary leadership, global intent, and clearly punching above their weight.

Not a fintech, but am really enjoying the work coming out of the femtech Clue. I like to learn from other verticals and apply what’s going well there to what I do at PensionBee.

Cash App as they deftly use who and what is defining culture across sports, fashion, music, etc. to seed their products and generate brand preference.

OakNorth. They have nailed their positioning.

I think Wise is getting their marketing right across the board. The brand is strong and cohesive across all their channels, and their value proposition is solid. 10/10.

Monzo - tone of voice is great. Also, Financielle - their social is spot on for their audience and super community-focused.

From a subjective point of view - Starling for acquisition and Credit Karma for customer engagement.

I really enjoy Square’s content. The payments space has such rich stories to tell but few brands get it right. Square’s approach is a great mix of thought leadership, insight, well-crafted case studies, and broadcast-standard production with The Way Up show.

PensionBee UK (shout out Jasper Martens) - clear messaging, cheeky tone, and somehow made pensions cool(ish).

Monzo - clear voice, cult following, nailed the trust factor.

Cash App will always be the gold standard. Still one of the only consumer fintechs that have genuinely earned a place in culture. “The Balcony” campaign with Kendrick Lamar and Ray Dalio will always be one of my favourites.

PensionBee UK. I love how they’ve used both above and below the line marketing. In a world where brands are focussing on purely digital they’ve combined the two perfectly.

I like what Yonder is doing. Feels fresh.

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.

Robinhood still seem to be delivering over and over again. They’re constantly shipping new products. They just launched prediction markets, their deposit and referral incentives are always creative and seem mutually beneficial.

Tembo’s social media content and ads are strong. Although their market is totally different from ours, they’ve built a relatable brand that works for their audience.

Yonder. I loved WTF is APR.

I’ve seen Tide’s business accounts everywhere recently. And I love what bunq are doing - they’ve had a really strong last couple of years.

Wise. They found a real problem, told the truth about it, and repeated that truth until the market listened. I am a happy user who has saved hundreds (maybe even thousands) thanks to them.

We’re all on a journey but Monzo are the darling of the fintech industry - marketing extends beyond advertising. Every customer interaction needs to deliver consistently on your brand promise.

Monzo’s social media team (especially Greg at Monzo) deserves a mention but I also quite like how Yonder is the David to Amex’s Goliath. I loved Starling’s sponsorship of the England women’s football team.

11:FS – beyond the awesome content they produce such as the Fintech Insider podcast, they also host some great events (the 11:FS Awards, and live podcast recordings with their After Dark shows). Over the years, they’ve built up a huge following and the podcast will reach 1,000 episodes later this year. I’ve been fortunate to be on it 30 times.

I really like Plum and their recent Improv your Finances campaign. Anything that uses humour as a central hook is a winner in my book.

I think the Money / Monzo work is great, especially as it feels like an homage to Hell or Habito!

Autopilot is hilarious. Their entire strategy is built around trolling Nancy Pelosi’s investment record. Brilliant.