How I made a challenger bank actually challenge
I was one of the first three people to start the fintech Dozens, with nothing but a belief that banking should be fairer. I not only built the brand from scratch but helped grow a nationwide community, raise £30 million in funding and earn the ‘Best Newcomer’ spot in British Banking Awards.
Role: Head of Brand Strategy & Creative
From a blank page to a brand-driven business
Community-led creation
Recruited a dedicated community pre-launch and co-created with them over 3 months.
Diversified targeting
Looked beyond the urban middle class, unlike other fintechs, for a truly democratic solution.
Friendly fin-ed
Helped people see through the banking system with fun and engaging content.
Brand-inspired product
Brought the app to life with content design and features inspired by the brand values.
Mission-driven content
Launched a traveling money survey to showcase people’s voices from across the nation.
Provocative campaigns
Used marketing campaigns to openly and boldly question the financial industry.
Community was the building block not a marketing strategy
To build financial solutions that actually help people, I started with them. I played a key role in recruiting and engaging a closed community of 300+ over three months, who joined purely for the mission. Their frustrations became the brand’s cause. Their insights shaped the product. And their hope set the company’s direction.
People’s voices gave the brand a reason to speak
I built credibility and authority for the new brand by rooting it in real voices and stories – from high streets to cafés to community halls across the country. They became key brand assets, from social content to reports, to capture the attention of people, press and the industry.
A brand identity that grounded it all
A clean and solid design style reflected the brand ethos. The sunny positivity along with the stability of black and clarity of white, made it striking and appealed to a wide range of audiences. Complete with images crowdsourced from the community.
Campaigns that boldly challenged the status quo
As a second generation fintech Dozens had to make itself heard. So, I put the big questions out there. On behalf of people. The ones that still hadn’t been answered, in spite of all the industry innovation. I also invited others to do the same with #questionyourbank
Fin-ed with bite and humour
We found that most people in the UK didn’t really understand how the financial system worked. So I created a series of empowering, bite-sized content for social — that pulled back the curtain on banking, and made it easy (and actually fun) to understand the ‘boring’ topics.
It not only gave the brand reach but a powerful role in people’s lives.
A complete cross-channel experience led by the brand positioning
I not only led the communication across marketing, social media and website for customers and investors, but also collaborated on product ideas and development.
