Growth Marketing In The Crowded Space Of FinTech With Michael Goodbody, CMO Of Dave

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Michael Goodbody’s journey to CMO of FinTech company Dave is certainly unique, starting in professional sports, moving to journalism, then switching to FinTech marketing. Spending time at fast-growing financial institutions like Wise (formerly TransferWise) and Credit Karma gave him an exceptional growth marketing lens within a space known for growth leveling.

In this episode, Michael and I discuss his marketing process, his focus on products that achieve what people are looking to do, countering the competition, and Michael’s thoughts on the type of talent he’s looking for in marketing today.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Keys to differentiation in the FinTech Space
  • The difference between creative growth marketers and data-driven creatives
  • What type of creative talent is needed for FinTech marketing

Key Highlights

  • [01:30] Michael’s path to marketing
  • [06:56] All about Dave
  • [08:41] How Dave’s unique background contributed to current success
  • [10:24] Approaching the role of CMO
  • [12:37] Growing within the FinTech space
  • [21:48] Continuing to stand out in a crowded marketplace
  • [28:16] What marketing looks like at Dave
  • [33:01] Defining marketing talent at Dave
  • [38:19] An experience that defines Michael
  • [40:06] Michael’s advice for his younger self
  • [42:38] What marketers should be learning more about
  • [46:05] Brands and causes we should notice
  • [48:14] The biggest opportunity or threat for marketers today

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Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Snapchat’s AR Gambit: What Marketers Should Know

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Snapchat’s AR offerings may be a sleeping giant for brand marketers seeking to engage Gen Z users resistant to traditional banner or video ads.

Why Marketers Shouldn’t Overlook Snap 

Snapchat has 347 million daily users who spend an average of 27 minutes a day on the site—that’s more active viewers than the entire population of the U.S. and just three minutes less than Facebook. Snapchat also has great demographic engagement for those seeking to reach 13-34 year-olds. According to the company, 75 percent of millennials and Gen Z use Snapchat, and most of these users are also Instagram and TikTok users. Brand marketers can reach the same audiences on those sites through Snapchat—with the added benefit of engaging creative options like AR.

Outside – There Be AR Dragons

Before HBO’s House of the Dragon launched on August 21, Snap helped HBO bring the show’s iconic dragons to life through a dragon-themed AR lens. Snap’s selfie Lens allows users to transform their image into a fire-breathing dragon and fly and interact with other dragons in worldview mode.

Customized location-based AR experiences for Los Angeles, Rio De Janeiro, London, Mumbai and Prague will continue to roll out throughout the season. HBO’s use of AR with Snap is telling, with an estimated $100 million in media spend available for House of the Dragon. Why AR for a network that could seemingly spend almost “anything” on “anything?” Well, they work, according to a recent study, even better than many traditional ad formats. According to a recent study by Magna Global, AR ads perform just as well as pre-roll video ads for brands and outperform them when it comes to purchasing intent and consumers stating that the ad made them feel closer to the brand and excited about using the product or service. Per the report, those results were uniformly positive among respondents in Australia, Canada, France, and The US—with purchase intent showing a 13 percent boost at the beginning of the sales journey after the initial viewing. 

How Marketers Can Use AR To Boost Brand Engagement

AR has plenty of non-fantasy applications to offer brand marketers. Here are just three:

Product Interactions

Leveraging AR technology to get users to engage virtually can be a powerful tool for promoting brand recall. According to the Magna Global report, 70 percent of consumers surveyed reported that a virtual try-on option would boost their purchase intent.

Adding AR Into The Mix Of Retargeted Ads Or A New Ad Sequence

Users already on a purchase journey may react best to an engaging AR ad. Users in the middle of an ad sequence showed a 27 percent increase in their “excitement about the brand.”

Use AR As A Content Alternative

AR delivers what few other ad formats can: a user’s full attention. Getting a consumer to sit still and consume ad content is hard work—but not when it is engaging—and AR goes a long way to deliver on the “fun” aspect of content by gamifying interactions. 

A big plus for brand marketers seeking to dabble in AR is that 63% of Snapchat users, about 200 million people, interact with an AR feature daily, according to the company. Whether marketers use an influencer to promote preexisting AR content or develop original content, AR can be a painless way to bring a brand into the metaverse.

Trend Set: Week Of August 22nd

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Ayzenberg’s Ashley Otah looks at three major cultural trends this week and what they mean for brands.

Shuffles

Pin it to win it. Shuffles, an invite-only collage-making app by Pinterest, is all the rage. Although not publicly launched, the app has garnered over 211,000 iOS downloads and is making a splash worldwide. According to the app description, users can curate anything from dream bedrooms to festival outfits and everything in between. The personal and positive feel follows the trend and desire for social media to be more than just sharing a wide cast net of content to the world. The mobile-first mood board medium looks to be a successful outlet as the race for apps that center community, creativity and content—without toxicity—continues.

Instacart x Lizzo

Phone eats first. Instacart launches a new brand campaign and in-app experience with the help of Lizzo. The international superstar brings the everyday grocery lists to life in “The World is Your Cart.” With the new launch comes a new feature titled “Carts,” which enables users such as creators, personalities and more to create shoppable and curated content. The mixture creates a personal feel with a pop culture punch that makes the mundane much more manageable. Small insights make big impacts, and in-app experiences can magnify them.

Tiffany & Co. x Riot Games

Go big or go home. Tiffany & Co. has partnered with Riot Games to redesign the League of Legends World Champion Summoner’s Cup. While not new for Tiffany’s, as it has a 160-year-old history of creating symbols of achievement in many sports, the partnership showcases the ever-changing landscape between varying verticals and sectors of all industries. As the esports ecosystem continues to boom, collaborations like these will continue to blossom. Crafting and creating authentic and meaningful experiences, however, will remain essential.

What YouTube’s New Podcast Play Means For Brand Marketers

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According to a recent survey of 3,000 consumers aged 13 and up by Luminate, YouTube edged out Spotify and Apple Podcasts as the most used platform to listen to podcasts—but there’s a catch: A lot of it is actually video.

The Details:

Luminate’s Podcast360 report reveals that 78 percent of consumers surveyed use YouTube to discover new podcasts and keep up with favorites. That makes sense: YouTube adds an extra layer of immersion to podcast listening—video—and it also gives creators the opportunity to share extras—like links in their bios, images or other video clips that audio-only listeners miss.

According to the Luminate study, 59 percent of podcast listeners watch their podcasts on a video platform, with YouTube as the undisputed leader. That power is not lost on YouTube, which is facing competition from TikTok and Snap for users’ attention. The difference is that for advertisers seeking to reach Gen Z and millennials, YouTube has the lion’s share of users’ attention when it comes to content. According to eMarketer, two-thirds of the U.S. population visits YouTube at least once per month. That’s a huge audience that could be primed for new podcast discovery and that could help increase YouTube’s online engagement rates. Approximately 104 million Americans listen to podcasts on a regular basis and 66 percent of those listeners who identify as podcast fans are 18-34, per BuzzSprout. Boosting YouTube’s podcast appeal may not only keep young podcast fans online, but it may also help YouTube reach aging populations like millennials who, along with Gen Z, show respectable rates of daily podcast listening (both 32 percent of those who listen to podcasts) according to S&P Global. 

This brings context to YouTube’s recent, US-only launch of a dedicated homepage for podcasts. The page will not only help users find their favorite podcast content and discover new ones, but it may also be part of an A/B test to get emergent creators excited about shifting their brands to YouTube from its competitors over time. While purportedly leaked plans for an expanded podcast strategy hints at practical improvements for creators (like RSS uploads), YouTube’s soft launch may have been nudged along by TikTok’s reported plans to launch a music service. YouTube is currently offering incentives of up to $300k to creators willing to deliver video versions of popular podcasts, according to 9to5Google. Merging formats as a creator is a lot easier when there is a search, ads and video behemoth like Google behind an offer. While TikTok has a powerful draw for Gen Z viewers, YouTube is still the OG with a powerful ad network, analytics and brand name penetration among all demographics, not just the kids. Only about 42% of millennials use TikTok, while 82 percent use YouTube.

What It Means For Marketers:

There will be some intriguing opportunities for brand marketers to get in on the “ground floor” of YouTube’s podcast push. Podcast creators and influencers looking to expand their content range may find YouTube eager for quality content. The good news for brand marketers is not just that there are opportunities to reach new audiences with creative ad formats. There will be new content options, too. Creatives can deliver powerful branded content, from fiction to video/podcast hybrids that take advantage of YouTube’s live-streaming and watch party features to drive new levels of brand engagement. But it may take a while for YouTube to roll out all of its planned creator goodies. That gives marketers some breathing space to create a strategy that can leverage creator relationships to develop exciting new content formats.

Check out YouTube’s new page here.

The Future Of Green Products With Seventh Generation’s CMO, John Moorhead

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John Moorhead, CMO of eco-focused product company Seventh Generation, was a reluctant marketer. He “thought it was for the birds” until he realized the business impact it could have on one of his passions–the outdoors. It was then that he knew marketing would become his path to change the way people think about the products they use.

In this episode, John and I discuss his passion for environmentalism, how Seventh Generation is creating the future of green products, the new look of the brand, and the role of advocacy that businesses play in the world today.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • How Unilever and Seventh Generation utilize marketing in traditional and e-comm retail
  • Where businesses can impact sustainability and environmentalism
  • How Seventh Generation amplifies advocacy for their company and consumers

Key Highlights

  • [01:08] John’s path to marketing
  • [06:07] All about Seventh Generation and the acquisition by Unilever
  • [08:53] Seventh Generation’s brand refresh
  • [13:00] The future of green products
  • [14:05] Technology and science helping at the shelf
  • [16:27] Marketing’s challenge to address sustainability
  • [19:02] Connecting traditional marketing channels with e-comm
  • [22:34] Business’s roles in sustainability and climate
  • [26:16] An experience that defines John
  • [28:40] John’s advice for his younger self
  • [30:20] What marketers should be learning more about
  • [31:20] Brands and causes we should notice
  • [32:59] The biggest opportunity or threat for marketers today

From our sponsor:

I want you to have the same easy experiences I do for all my podcasting and content needs. If you go to zencastr.com/pricing and enter promo code (marketingtoday), you’ll get 30% off your first three months. It’s time to share your story!

Resources Mentioned:

Follow the podcast:

Connect with the Guest:

Connect with Marketing Today and Alan Hart:

Alan B. Hart is the creator and host of “Marketing Today with Alan Hart,” a weekly podcast where he interviews leading global marketing professionals and business leaders. Alan advises leading executives and marketing teams on brand, customer experience, innovation, and growth opportunities. He has consulted with Fortune 100 companies, but he is an entrepreneur at his core, having founded or served as an executive for nine companies.

Heineken’s Calendar Closer Campaign And What Marketers Can Learn From “Quiet Quitting”

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After The Great Resignation, Americans have gone back to work but are now “quietly quitting.” In the midst of this, we’re taking a look at what marketers can learn from Heineken’s ‘Calendar Closer,’ a creative take addressing work-life balance. 

What Is “Quiet Quitting,” And How Does Heineken’s Calendar Closer Address It?

Quiet quitting is more of an aggregate lifestyle shift than a trend. Just like the millions of Americans who decided to work remote permanently, many Americans are choosing to continue to do their jobs—but impose their limits on how much “extra” they are willing to give their employers gratis. That means not pulling all-nighters or competing on how little sleep they get to make deadlines. It is also about a shift in the American zeitgeist around work ethic: After the pandemic’s economic uncertainty and The Great Resignation, workers may be less afraid of losing their jobs or leaving an employer who discourages work-life balance than ever before. In a world where many workers work at home, some feel they never actually leave the office. The Calendar Closer campaign taps into workers’ desire to disconnect at a reasonable hour and feel good about it. The Calendar Closer landing page reminds viewers that we’re working more now than ever before and encourages them to schedule just one more meeting—with up to three friends—for a chance to win a lifetime supply of Heineken. 

What Marketers Can Learn From The Calendar Closer

Heineken recently named Dentsu as its agency of record for media and recently experienced a 5% dip in retail sales, which it attributes to supply chain issues. Addressing the elephant in everyone’s room —“always on” connectivity often means “always working”—Heineken is shifting away from conventional themes in beverage advertising: showing groups of happy, gorgeous people out in nature enjoying a brew. The Calendar Closer acknowledges that you are not only likely stuck in front of your laptop but that it isn’t going to change any time soon. At a minimum, you can do a Zoom meeting with people you want to see. The Calendar Closer ads have been appearing on business-focused platforms, like WeTransfer, seemingly to reach workers when they are most likely to be yearning for a break but realizing that they won’t be able to venture far from their laptop. Marketers can glean several insights from The Calendar Closer Campaign:

Reaffirm, Don’t Explain Context

The Calendar Closer is about triggering recognition, not over-explaining. Obviously, you’re at your desk or on your bed with your laptop and you are working too much. We don’t need to go further into that. We know you can’t leave, and we won’t insult you with pictures of happy people doing what you can’t. That affirmation supports the idea that Heineken is for real people with jobs that can’t ever really leave (figuratively or physically), not the fortunate few.

The Solution First, Sales Second

One of the biggest challenges for remote workers is saying “no,” especially when their calendars are often open for the world to see. The semi-subversive idea behind The Calendar Closer is that the one unrestricted freedom many remote workers have is closing off time on their calendar—so bosses, colleagues and clients cannot schedule a spot. Instead, the copy encourages workers to “schedule just one more meeting,” but with friends. It’s a simple solution that can happen instantly, and it solves a big problem for the quiet quitter: finding a simple way to make work-life balance happen quickly.

Make Incentives Payout Instantly

Anyone can find a coupon. However, the Calendar Closer’s game element—the reward being a lifetime supply of beer—means that when you schedule more time for you and your friends, you have a better chance of winning a big, tantalizing reward. That means The Calendar Closer is addressing two of remote workers’ biggest problems – isolation and overwork—just by putting their names in a virtual hat and asking them to schedule some human time.

TikTok Is Testing Snapchat Copy ‘Nearby’ Feature

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TikTok’s rapid ascendance has taken vertical content and mobile viewing to new heights yet unrealized by Snapchat and now to seemingly pour more salt in that wound, TikTok is stealing what was arguably Snapchat’s best feature: being able to see what’s going on nearby.

Given the level of niche insights into an individual’s interests, the TikTok version of this feature has the potential to be highly targeted, just like its For You page algorithm.

A foodie? How about these cool places nearby where other folks have been filming TikTok’s? Big on travel? Check out these hotels for a top-tier staycation.

Currently, the Nearby feature is only appearing for some users at the moment and has been fully confirmed by TechCrunch.

“We’re always thinking about new ways to bring value to our community and enrich the TikTok experience,” a spokesperson for TikTok replied via na email to TechCrunch.

It appears that location tags on the app are about to get far more important and brands with physical retail presence should begin to incentivize consumers to tag their locations as much as possible.

Instagram also ripped a searchable map tool as of July this year, signaling that we could soon have enhanced geo-targeting capabilities on social platforms beyond where people live, but also places they frequent and support.

What Marketers Can Learn From SVOD’s Rise

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Years ago, when “cord-cutting” was a new phenomenon, networks, brands and marketers struggled to understand if streaming video on demand (SVOD) could ever really supplant “regular” television as America’s favorite source of entertainment. Now, not only has SVOD outpaced over-the-air networks but consumers’ taste has evolved in response. The result? The elevation of user experience from an aspect of a streaming channel’s overall value to consumers to a key differentiator. Not only is the same network TV content available through multiple channels, but much of the same original content produced by streaming channels is available on multiple platforms. That makes multiple streaming subscriptions hard to justify for some consumers—and some of the biggest SVOD brands, like Netflix, have experienced bracing losses. What’s the difference between SVOD winners and losers? An old idea—the same one that launched and sustained the ‘golden age’ of television for decades: great content and ads that were relevant, well-placed and engaging.

The Data

A new report by Infillion, “The Consumer-Defined Future of Streaming is Here,” reveals some encouraging news for marketers seeking to advertise with SVOD platforms. While 38 percent of consumers in the Infillion survey “always or usually” avoid ads, a majority (62 percent) reported that they at least “sometimes” watched ads. Of this number, 34 percent of views “always or usually” watch ads.

For the majority of those who pay attention to ads, most are usually multitasking (61 percent) or talking to friends or family (54 percent). That means that while consumers are distracted during commercial breaks– they aren’t inaccessible to marketers’ brand messaging—and most do not mute ads (only 39 percent do). Just as SVOD challenged TV networks for consumers’ attention, brand marketers can reach consumers on SVOD by understanding how consumers, empowered by a range of content choices, decide where to assign their attention.

Consumers Don’t Mind Ads—Really

According to the Infillion report, while 63 percent of consumers say “ads while streaming are invasive,” 50 percent agree with the statement “ads tailored to you and your interests are good,” and almost the same number believe that “ads online accurately reflect my interests.” 

Viewers Are Open To Ads From Unfamiliar Brands

Another 70 percent state that they prefer to see ads from a range of brands, not just ones targeted to them. That means the right content, shown at the right time, can reach even the most discerning consumers—viewers who are paying for the privilege to select their content. 

Be Smart About Ad Frequency And Relevance

As the opportunities for brand marketers to advertise on SVOD channels evolve, marketers should ensure that the content that they share and the frequency that they place ads reflects consumers’ new ability to find the same content in multiple locations: too many ads or too many irrelevant ads may cause them to seek their favorite shows on other networks. 

Start Planning That (Relevant) Campaign

The good news: 62 percent of consumers think that relevant ads are worth watching, according to the Infillion report.

DTC Gets Creative: Creator Marketplaces Amplify Influencers’ Monetization Power

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What do Walmart and Shopify have in common? A keen understanding of the power of influencers and why curated, influencer-driven marketplaces may be marketing’s Next Big Thing. The next wave in “direct to consumer” (DTC) may be led by influencers—and some of the world’s biggest brands.

The Details:

Last week eCommerce platform Shopify launched Shopify Collabs, a creator marketplace that serves as a match-making tool for influencers and creators and merchants. After a creator is approved for a Shopify Collabs account they can use Linkpop, Shopify’s link tool, to share a collection of products from Shopify partner merchants on their social accounts. When posts drive purchases, Influencers get paid. Walmart is also rumored to be in the process of launching its own influencer-driven marketplace due to recently filed patents. Walmart would join Amazon as a newer entrant into influencer marketplace matchmaking with a yearly add spend topping several billion dollars. Influencers drive value not only for merchants participating in link-sharing but also for the brands that offer that feature them on their platform. 

Why It Matters:

Effective influencers drive sales. A recent survey revealed that for every dollar a brand spends on an influencer, they earned an average of $5.78, with the highest earnings hovering around $18. Platforms like Shopify benefit from influencers raising their profile as an alternative to behemoths like Amazon and Walmart, while the latter may gain new attention from young or niche audiences that might not see either platform as a source for unique or curated collections of on-trend merchandise. Influencers deliver incredibly valuable, “hand-crafted” advertising that is targeted to the new audiences that brands need to reach. Influencers work like self-contained creative agencies, filtering through insights about what their audiences want and delivering content that engages them and eases them through the sales funnel effortlessly. When influencers get on board to share the products or brands that they love “free” in hopes of driving sales, retailers may save millions in ad spending simply by opening up their platforms, ala Shopify, and making it easier for influencers to do what they do best—drive awareness (and sales).

The Marketers’ Takeaway:

Because influencers are experts at finding new audiences and responding to their needs with engaging content, marketers’ biggest challenge may be finding the right influencer for their brand. Influencers can provide long-term value to brand marketers as product lines scale and business models change by bringing real-time, unfiltered insights to marketers who can use those learnings to improve conventional campaigns and tailor special offers to new audiences.

Trend Set: Chipotle, Google And Thredup

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Ayzenberg’s Ashley Otah looks at three major cultural trends this week and what they mean for brands.

Chipotle

When life gives you lemons. Inspired by Chipotle fans who “accidentally” fill their water cup with lemonade, Chipotle presents the “Water” Cup Candle. While it looks like their water cup, it smells like their lemonade and stirs up memories for everyone. The limited product is now sold out but showcases that the ability for brands to be agile and deeply understand their community (and their jokes) can set them apart and even strengthen brand loyalty.

Google

Word search. Google’s newest search engine, Multisearch, could be a game changer for how people shop, use the internet and more. This advanced AI tool enables users to look for images and information beyond the exact words typed. So, it’s no longer about the total stream of keywords users are looking for but rather a more in-depth sweep that can create whole pages of results by taking an image. Comparable offerings, as seen on platforms such as Pinterest, illuminate the powerful way consumer habits are shifting. Continuing to stay abreast of these habits while infusing them with current offerings sets brands up for success.

Thredup

Future of fashion. No fashion sin is too big for the new Thredup fast fashion confessional hotline. With confessionals available for everything from “I want to stop impulse buying” to “I am addicted to fast fashion,” the hotline aims to ensure that each shopper who picks up the phone leaves with knowledge and tools to equip themselves in the future. In partnership with Stranger Things star Priah Ferguson, the campaign highlights technology, fashion, and other verticals do not have to exist separately; they can tie together seamlessly.