The latest Rise & Shine event explored how fintech marketers can prepare for the challenges of 2025. We focused on maintaining authenticity amidst the rise of AI, the power of user-generated content (UGC) and influencers, and how human connections are more critical than ever in a digital world.
SPEAKERS
- Moderator: Ian Horne, Head of Content, Money2020
- Mariette Ferreira, CMO, PPRO
- Abba Newbery, CMO, Insignis
- Sinead Lanyon, Global Head of Marketing, Symphony
- Shameer Sachdev, Managing Director, Growth Gorilla
- Elena Assimakopoulos, Marketing Lead, Prograd
- Tom Davies, VP Marketing, Yonder
- Laura Watkins, Director of Marketing and Media, 11:FS
Key sessions
Panel Session 1: Marketing in 2025—Preparing for the Next Big Trends
The panel discussed how fintech marketing will evolve by 2025, with a focus on balancing AI’s potential with the human touch.
Key Talking Points:
- AI Beyond the Hype: AI tools like Slack and Notion are already part of marketing workflows, but as Abba Newbery warned, “AI can make ideas derivative. Use it for efficiency, not differentiation.”
- Keeping It Human: The panellists agreed that authenticity is key in marketing—AI can’t replace human connection.
- Strategic Spending: With tighter budgets in 2023, Mariette Ferreira urged companies to invest where it counts, suggesting that fintechs should avoid “random acts of marketing” and focus on long-term growth strategies.
Panel Session 2: Level Up Your Fintech Growth—Leveraging Influencers and UGC
This session explored how fintechs can leverage micro-influencers and UGC to accelerate growth and build trust with their target audiences.
Key Talking Points:
- Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different: As Elena Assimakopoulos highlighted, aligning your brand with influencers outside your niche can significantly boost sales. “At Prograd, we grew from 7k to over 130k followers in three months by leveraging our internal team.”
- Smarter Collaboration with Internal Influencers: Laura Watkins from 11:FS
discussed the power of building internal influencers, turning your team into brand ambassadors. This is how 11:FS started their journey and grew to become a globally recognised brand. - Authenticity through UGC: Shameer Sachdev reinforced that user-generated content helps humanise fintech brands, driving more engagement.
Interview: Capturing Audiences’ Attention in Fintech
In this session, Tom Davies of Yonder shared insights on creating standout marketing campaigns in the saturated fintech space.
Key Talking Points:
- Be Bold & Genuine: Tom encouraged fintech marketers to disrupt the market by being bold and authentic. He emphasised the importance of clear, purposeful content.
- Embrace the Power of Creativity in B2C: As Tom noted, fintech marketing can learn a lot from brands like Monzo and Wise, who understood how to harness creativity to deeply connect with their customers.
Our Experts Tips
Ian Horne, Head of Content, Money2020
I’m the EU Head of Content at Money20/20, Europe’s biggest event for payments, banking and fintech. Besides staging content for the show I’m a writer and published author.
“Focus on outcomes: Don’t be fooled by vanity metrics or assume that attention equals sales. Meet the right people in the right places, and make sure you’re reaching new customers.”
“Be Bold, be Genuine: If you’re a disruptor don’t be shy about it, and communicate with authenticity. If you’re leveraging influencers or UGC, make sure that your brand actually resonates with them.“
“In-Person is Back: A lot of your customers have returned to the office, and there’s also fatigue with certain styles of online marketing. Get to events, network, infiltrate that influential WhatsApp group. stay ahead of the curve. “
Mariette Ferreira, CMO, PPRO
CMO at local payments platform, PPRO, and previously at fintech consultancy 11:FS, Mariette is serial B2B marketer with a soft spot for fintech.
“Avoid ‘Random Acts of Marketing: The best way to waste money is to do standalone activations that don’t tie into any strategic goals.”
“Pick a channel where you can win: All media channels are saturated – pick the one or two where you have the best chance to stand out, and double down.”
“Test & learn with clear outcomes: Set an experimentation culture in your team to try new things, but always set clear boundaries and outcomes to validate your hypothesis, otherwise you’re just doing ‘stuff’.”
Abba Newbery, CMO, Insignis
CMO at Insignis – the wealthtech platform for cash deposits. Seasoned fintech CMO, ex ad agency, dog lover.
“Resist Short-termism: being memorable and thinking long-term will drive short-term success.”
“Think people first: we are back in the office, we have been lonely, and our worlds of home and work our more blurred than ever. Entertain first, educate second.”
“Focus: Be consistent, execute fewer things but do it flawlessly, and hold tight – just because something is not successful quickly does not mean it is a failure.”
Sinead Lanyon, Global Head of Marketing, Symphony
18 years experience in finance and technology industries. Passionate about creative campaigns that differentiate brands.
“Establishing trust with your audience is key: Be transparent in your value proposition and showcase how clients use your offering. Prospects measure and evaluate brands based on trust and credibility, get this right and you are onto great things.”
“Creativity unpins the best campaigns: Think different, think bold and push boundaries. Understand how your creatives can make you stand out from the crowd and stop the scroll.”
“Always have the client in mind: Being client centric isn’t just a marketing buzz word. Truly understanding your clients pain points and position your offering to tackle their needs is critical.”
Shameer Sachdev, Managing Director, Growth Gorilla
Shameer has been helping fintechs and financial services scale through strategic growth marketing since founding the agency in 2017.
“Authentic Partnerships: Build real relationships with influencers by staying true to your brand’s values and finding genuine alignment. trust with your audience is key”
“Leveraging UGC: Let your customers tell your story. Use UGC to bring a human touch, spark engagement, and build trust with new audiences.”
“Data-Driven Success: Use data to fine-tune and grow your influencer and UGC campaigns, making sure every move pushes you toward bigger results.”
Laura Watkins, Director of Marketing and Media, 11:FS
I head up all content marketing and brand at 11:FS, a leading financial services consultancy, with a popular media arm, with its own international audience, which includes our twice-weekly podcast Fintech Insider and events such as After Dark.
“People buy from people: Just because you’re a B2B brand, doesn’t mean you can’t be human or speak with a human voice, buyers react better to that than a corporate one, or worse an automated one.”
“Do things on purpose with purpose: Know why you are running a campaign/posting that piece of content/ making a video before you start – and what you intend to get out of it, and for who.”
“Your people can be your best brand ambassadors: Lean on your internal experts and make a strategic decision as to who’s profiles to raise, and they can grow the brand along with themselves – and more leading voices is always better than just one that the brand relies on too heavily for everything.”
Elena Assimakopoulos, Marketing Lead, Prograd
Prograd is the UK’s No. 1 side hustle comparison site, aimed to help young people save time and effort when trying to earn, save and invest. Alongside this, I am a best selling publisher and influencer/ UGC creator..
“Be different: Fintechs often think that they have to stick to the finance niche when it comes to influencers. This is not true, a matching target audience is all you need.”
“Test, test, test: As with anything in marketing you can plan as much as you like, but campaigns don’t always get you the results you desire. It’s the same with social media marketing. Virality is hard to come by. So test new things.”
“Internal Influencers for the win: Raising your internal team as influencers, is a rising trend and differentiator to help raise awareness and sales for your brand. It won’t happen overnight but the results can be huge (e.g. we went from 7k followers to over 130k in 2 months).”
Join the next Event
The next Rise & Shine event “Why Governance is the Secret Sauce for Effective Fundraising in Fintech” will be on Nov 07.
Please contact Calypso Harland, if you would like to be involved