Financial services ads rank among the worst globally for being engaging, memorable, or emotionally resonant — and the data proves it. But this isn’t a crisis, it’s a creative opportunity. The brands that break away from bland win big, and Nationwide is showing the industry exactly how it’s done, writes Lynne Deason, Head of Creative Excellence at Kantar.

Let’s face it, financial services advertising has long been the poster child for playing it safe. In a category where trust and caution reign supreme, creativity often takes a back seat. This isn’t speculation, it’s fact. Globally financial services rank just second to bottom for being perceived to have great advertising. Data from LINK+ (Kantar’s creative optimisation and evaluation solution) across the globe, and specifically in the UK shows that on average digital ads for financial services land in the bottom 9% of ads for their ability to make people stop and look and the bottom 7% of ads for enjoyment! The bad news doesn’t stop there… financial services ads are confusing, struggle to be memorable, and don’t make the brands featured feel different from one another nor build emotional closeness to the brands. This isn’t just digital ads this is true across all contexts.

Does this feel bleak?

It’s not.

It’s an exciting opportunity to rip up the category rule book and develop campaigns and marketing that become a genuine source of competitive advantage. If you keep doing the same thing as everyone else, your brand will be bland and left behind. Brands that win disrupt and they do so consistently. Nationwide is a fantastic example of how not a be *anker, they flipped the script, and the results are fantastic!

Let’s be clear, this is not just a story about advertising. Across all brands paid media typically
only delivers 25% of all touchpoint impact on brand building. Other touchpoints, like product or service experiences and word of mouth, can contribute up to 75%. Nationwide’s story is about how crushing convention, defining your brand’s magnetic north and embracing meaningful difference as the compass for everything that you do, yes everything., drives transformational growth.  

The Bold Leap: From Mutual to Magnetic

Fintech brands have disrupted financial services. They pulled away customers from other brands, attracting them with new relevant tech led products and approaches that were relevant to life today. This left existing players lacking difference and losing momentum and brand power. 

Nationwide has always stood apart as a lovely mutual. Its rejuvenation has seen it leaned hard into those roots but reframed in a single-minded vision that powerfully differentiates it competitors and is relevant to the way people live their lives today.

Nationwide launched a three-pronged offensive that would shift the dial in a way rarely seen in financial services:

  • A bold rebrand, evolving your distinctive assets, that’s very risky.
  • A bold advertising campaign using humour that features actor Dominic West as a *anker for another brand and an influencer campaign for Nationfried. Humour in banking and the brand name missing from your content – ludicrous, right?
  • Bold actions and commitments – daring to make a “Branch Promise” where you commit to keeping every branch open until at least the start of 2028 when everyone else is closing theirs? Now that’s mad, MADFesters… isn’t it?

These bold steps weren’t risky. Nationwide broke conventions in a way that they knew would work and we’re hugely proud at Kantar to not only have given Richard Warren and his fantastic team the confidence to take these bold steps, but we’ve also inspired them to take actions that have elevated the holistic effectiveness of these magnetic moves. Nationwide isn’t just making noise; it’s shouting louder than the competition and is making itself a growing brand through disrupting in a way that’s consistent, always pulling it towards its magnetic north.

Disruption may feel risky, but it isn’t, its essential. Disrupt or be disrupted… but disruption for disruptions sake isn’t the path to follow… you need to crush convention in a way that makes your brand meaningfully different and do so on repeat.

Don’t Be a *anker - there’s inspirational for all in this transformation - join us. 

You don’t have work in financial services to be inspired by and learn from Nationwide. People tend to zone in on understanding success stories for cool brands in cool categories. The most actionable and inspiring springboards for learning are where it’s really tough to get it right, and it doesn’t get much tougher than financial services. Whatever category you’re in the principles apply.

So, if you’re tired of playing it safe, if you’re ready to make your brand unforgettable, and if you want to learn how to crush convention with confidence, then this is the session for you. Please join superstar Richard Warren and me on the Hexagon stage, Wednesday 2nd July at 11: 20.