Spend management company bucks the fintech trend with new vacation themed ads
Spendesk, the 7-in-1 spend management solution for small and medium-sized businesses, is bucking fintech marketing trends with the launch of a new creative campaign that focuses on the feeling Spendesk delivers over the features it provides. In Spendesk’s first-ever multi-market brand campaign, the European startup is putting people and play front and centre to reinforce not only its service differentiation but its people-first company identity.
“Our customers have always been the centre of our brand identity. Our platform has evolved, our business has expanded but our core mission to set the standards on trust, transparency and freedom at work is our forever core,” says Spendesk’s VP of Marketing, Stephanie Bowker.
Billboards, taxi wraps and metro ads all across London, Paris, Berlin and Hamburg feature colourful images of people dressed for work, not hunched over a computer but lounging by the pool. While Spendesk’s app and card is visible in the photos, the focus is on the user and their relaxed state of mind with the tagline, “Super satisfying spend management” floating above.
“Most fintech branding is all about the service, so you see a lot of images of credit cards and app screens while the users themselves are relegated to a hand, at most,” comments Bowker. “From our interviews and focus groups, Spendesk users universally kept coming back to the satisfaction of using something simple and intuitive. The most comparable metaphor we found was to re-live a holiday. While we can’t promise to provide that exact vacation feeling, we aim to get as close as possible by anticipating every need of our customers.”
Inspiration for the theme was found in a survey by Spendesk and YouGov where finance workers and managers in Europe were interviewed on their work likes and dislikes. Employee burnout was found to be a serious issue, with inefficient processes often reported as the trigger.
“This campaign shows how work can feel when you have the tools you need,” adds Bowker. “It’s not about being more productive, it’s about feeling fulfilled and empowered to do your best work. Automation not only frees up people from painful admin but gives them back time to pursue work that is meaningful to them.”
Created in collaboration with global brand agency DesignStudio and Tug, an international performance marketing agency, the campaign will run the entire summer and features out-of-home advertising, media sponsorships and digital ads.
“After spending time with the Spendesk team — immersing ourselves in their world, their product and their unique point of view — the idea was clear,” says Lorenzo Di Cola, Designer at DesignStudio. “We wanted to create the most satisfying campaign, giving a sneak peek of how finance teams feel when using Spendesk, and showing something that our audience could dream of. It was an absolute pleasure to work on this campaign, looking for the unexpected and going beyond the typical B2B brief.”
“Spendesk’s brief is such an exciting one for us given that they are so invested in making sure the creative is different to any other fintech brand you see nowadays,” says Hannah Thompson, Group Media Director at Tug. “Our focus is on intra-city travel hubs with a combination of high-frequency and high-impact placements to catch our target audience on their commute and as they move around the city meeting clients.”
About Spendesk
Spendesk is designed to save time and money across the entire spending process with 100% visibility and built-in automation. Ultimately, businesses that use Spendesk empower finance teams to gain valuable time to invest in strategic topics to grow the business. Founded in 2016, Spendesk is now trusted by thousands of businesses from start-ups to established brands, such as Algolia, Soundcloud, Curve, Doctolib, Gousto, Raisin, Sezane, Wefox, and has built CFO Connect, one of the biggest global community of finance leaders with more than 8,000 members.
For more information and photos, visit: https://www.spendesk.com/en/press/
About Design Studio
Design Studio creates brands and experiences through radical collaborations. The team is a curious, ambitious and welcoming collective, of over 100, spanning London, New York, Shanghai and Sydney. The methods go deeper and push further, to inspire deep connection with teams and communities. They took the team to 14 countries in a week with Airbnb, made them all Deliveroo riders, sent them on a week-long backpacking trip around South East Asia for Lub d, and turned the whole team into fanatical gamers overnight for Riot. Design Studio believes this philosophy delivers remarkable change.
About Tug
Tug is a performance driven, global digital marketing agency, optimised to grow ambitious brands through the smart combination of data, media, content and technology. Tug helps brands across a wide variety of verticals to reach their target audience at all stages of the funnel, from ATL activations, to the development of SEO and paid media campaigns. Tug’s clients benefit from global teams that are fully collaborative, removing barriers to siloed thinking for optimal outcomes. The team focuses on driving results and holds themselves accountable for each client’s performance.