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Once you’ve been around fintech marketing long enough, you begin to recognize the familiar beats: Smooth gradients. Bulleted lists of features. Stock photos of people holding phones with glowing apps.
It’s all a little uninspired. A little samey. A little too safe. A little too forgettable.
About a year ago, we published an article about this exact problem: the sea of sameness in fintech marketing. Since then, I’ve been hoping to circle back with the good news that fintech brands had finally seen the light. And while there have been some notable outliers with ‘thumb-stopping power’ in their marketing toolbox, the industry as a whole still seems stuck in that same spot.
So, this may be another fintech sea-of-sameness article, but I’ve got some recommendations, inspirations, and a couple examples of brands that are doing it right.
PayPal: Glitter melons and B2B swagger
PayPal has been around for a long while (they even acquired one of our early fintech clients, Braintree). So it was refreshing to see them step outside the box with their recent foray into B2B marketing.
Instead of a glossy explainer video about faster transactions and seamless integrations, PayPal gave us the Melon Mogul. A local farmer selling fictitious glitter melons, using PayPal’s tools to manage his business. It’s weird. It’s colorful. It’s funny.
And it works.
PayPal’s willingness to lean into surreal storytelling shows confidence. They’re saying, “We’re big enough and bold enough to make you laugh while we explain our value.” That’s a welcome shift from the wash of solemn fintech ads that look like they were produced in fear of offending someone.
Ramp: Expense reports, but make it entertaining
Expense management software. Just reading those three words makes you want to take a nap.
Ramp knows this. They also know that while they’re technically a B2B company, their real end users are the employees forced to suffer through expense reports. So instead of ignoring the pain point, Ramp embraced it. And they brought in New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley to help.
Now, you could argue Barkley has as much to do with expense reports as glitter melons have to do with PayPal. But that’s the point. His presence grabs attention, injects personality, and says to employees, “We see you. We know this part of your job is tedious. Here’s how we’re making it better.”
In other words, Ramp turned a sleepy category into something with cultural relevance. That’s no small feat.
The undeniable influence of the finfluencer
While Will Farrell singing Fleetwood Mac for online payments may be great at the brand awareness level, fintech brands can target more specific groups, amplify messaging, and generate engagement through finfluencers.
These fintech influencers are the creators on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram who break down budgeting hacks, investing basics, and personal finance tips in ways that feel approachable and authentic.
Unlike celebrities reading a script, finfluencers are trusted because they’re relatable. And they can hit specific pain points because they’ve lived the struggles of student debt, missed rent payments, or first-time investing. For fintech brands, aligning with these voices can build credibility and resonance with target audiences.
In an industry built on trust, relatability can beat out recognition.
But, finfluencers represent both an opportunity and a challenge. On one hand, partnering with them can lend credibility and reach audiences that traditional campaigns can’t touch (a recent FINRA Report shows that 60% of US investors under age 35 use social media as a source of investment information). On the other hand, it requires a leap of faith to align your brand with someone whose expertise might be more charismatic than certified.
Taking inspiration… from the insurance industry?
Back in the 1990s, GEICO looked at the insurance industry, one of the driest, most commoditized categories on the planet, and decided to zag where everyone else zigged.
Instead of leaning into earnest promises of protection or laundry lists of coverage benefits, they went all-in on humor. Enter the gecko. Enter the cavemen. Enter a parade of bizarre shorts that somehow managed to make insurance a star of public discourse.
Now imagine if fintech did the same.
We’re in an industry where most services and features can be cloned almost overnight. When it’s this easy to replicate, brand becomes the real moat.
It’s what draws people in, gives them a reason to care, and keeps them around when the next shiny object pops up. GEICO understood that insurance products were basically interchangeable; what wasn’t interchangeable was how the brand made people feel.
Fintech has that same opportunity.
If GEICO could simplify their messaging and turn “15 minutes could save you 15%” into a cultural catchphrase, why can’t a fintech brand turn “lower fees” or “faster payouts” into something just as sticky, funny, and iconic? The brands that are brave enough to entertain as much as inform will be the ones that finally escape the sea of sameness.
Why standing out still feels hard
So, if PayPal can play with glitter melons, Ramp can enlist a sports hero, and finfluencers can rack up millions of views with shaky iPhone videos… why does fintech marketing as a whole still feel like déjà vu?
Part of the problem is structural. Fintech is a crowded market, with startups scrambling for investor attention, compliance teams vetoing anything remotely risky, and leadership often defaulting to “safe” creative because that’s what their competitors are doing.
In an environment like that, blending in feels less like a failure and more like a survival tactic.
But playing it safe can be the riskiest move of all. If you look and sound like everyone else, you’re essentially asking your audience to pick a provider at random.
And that’s no recipe for growth.
The biggest issue I see is that fintechs are often hesitant to invest in brand because the payoff isn’t immediate. And ROI can be tough to measure compared to performance-driven channels.
But (and this can’t be overstated) brand is what creates trust, differentiation, and staying power in a crowded market. While short-term wins may come from lead gen or product pushes, it’s the strength of a company’s brand that ultimately drives recognition, loyalty, and long-term growth.
What fintech marketers can learn
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that every fintech brand needs to hire a celebrity spokesperson, develop a comedy routine, or align with the financial equivalent of Mr. Beast. What I am suggesting is that it’s time to stop blending in and start thinking about how to make real connections with your audiences.
And that requires creativity, empathy, and a willingness to be human.
Here are a few takeaways from the brands and trends mentioned above:
- Embrace your personality. Finance is serious, but your marketing doesn’t have to be. A little bit of the unexpected can go a long way toward making people remember you.
- Focus on the user’s pain points. Ramp didn’t just talk to CFOs. They spoke directly to the people filling out expense reports. Who’s your “expense report sufferer?”
- Consider influencer partnerships. Finfluencers might not carry traditional credentials, but they carry trust. If you can find authentic ways to collaborate, you could access audiences that tune out traditional campaigns.
- Be willing to zag. If everyone else is going sleek and minimalist, try bold and colorful. If everyone is showing smiling people with smartphones, hit your audiences from a different direction.
Let your inspiration be based less on what your product does and more on how your audience feels. That’s how you build a brand that stands out.
Ready to start zagging? Let’s talk.
