Fintech Marketing Roundup: September → October 2025
- Ani Petrova
- 47 minutes ago
- 6 min read
From challenger energy to celebrity collaborations, the last two months proved that fintech marketing is anything but quiet.
As we head into the final stretch of 2025, fintech brands are showing remarkable creative range. Across September and October, we’ve seen community-driven storytelling, AI-produced campaigns, tactile real-world experiences, global rebrands, and high-profile marketing leadership moves, all signalling that fintech marketing is maturing fast while keeping its experimental edge.
What stands out this season is how fintechs are reclaiming the power of brand as a true growth engine. Campaigns are moving beyond performance metrics to build trust, educate audiences, and inspire action. Technology is now part of the creative toolkit, while CMOs are emerging as ecosystem orchestrators, bridging growth, brand, and partnerships.
From SumUp’s community-first storytelling and Blueberry’s AI-built campaign, to Monzo’s bookshop takeover, Starling’s youthful rebrand, and Chime’s Hollywood turn, fintech marketers are experimenting with new ways to stay relevant, human, and emotionally resonant in an increasingly crowded market.
Below, we break down the biggest moves and trends shaping fintech marketing right now, from the campaigns turning heads to the rebrands redefining identity, the partnerships delivering real-world utility, and the leadership shifts setting the stage for what’s next.
In this edition, we cover:
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Fintech marketing campaigns: From community stories to AI and experiential finance
SumUp – “It’s Not All Up To You”
Global payments provider SumUp’s new multi-country campaign celebrates small business owners and the communities that sustain them. Created with Mother Berlin, it swaps the lone-founder hero myth for a collective one, spotlighting real shopkeepers in Berlin. The human, documentary-style tone signals a move toward authenticity and shared resilience –a brand storytelling trend spreading fast across SME fintechs.
Blueberry – “Make Your Move”
Australian broker Blueberry launched a global campaign produced almost entirely with generative AI, one of the first in financial services to do so end-to-end. From concept to visuals, every asset came from AI tools, allowing instant localisation for multiple markets. The campaign positions Blueberry as a tech-forward brand living the same speed and precision it promises traders.
Monzo – “The Book of Money”
In September, Monzo turned to long-form, experiential storytelling. Partnering with Penguin Random House, creative agency BBH, and Freuds, it released The Book of Money, a jargon-free guide to everyday finance.
To launch it, Monzo opened a Soho pop-up, The Book Nook, where visitors could generate personalised book covers that mirror their financial goals, with royalties going to the financial-literacy charity Money Ready.
This campaign is a masterclass in content-led brand building and generating trust through education, backed by tactile, shareable experiences that extend beyond screens.
Chime – “Bank Smarter This Season”
October saw Chime step into celebrity-driven storytelling with actor Jason Momoa, combining humour and heart to connect banking with lifestyle. It marks a clear pivot from pure performance marketing to big-idea brand work.
Pay10 – Virat Kohli × Anushka Sharma partnership
Indian payments challenger Pay10 made a splash by enlisting two of India’s most recognised faces ahead of its UPI-app launch, cementing a trend: fintechs turning to cultural icons to bridge trust gaps at mass scale.
What you should note:
Brand campaigns are reclaiming space in fintech. As performance saturation kicks in, attention and differentiation are being sought through star talent and bold creative.
AI in marketing is on the rise: Blueberry’s AI-led workflow is a signal that marketers have already started embedding tech into marketing operations, not only messaging.
Regional breadth matters. Campaigns are increasingly multi-market from day one, especially in Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Fintech rebrands: Identity as a growth engine
When the story is bigger than a product update, fintechs are opting for full brand refreshes. In September, Tilt (formerly Empower) rolled out a new name, logo and identity to match its mission of fair-credit access for working Americans. In addition to an aesthetic update, the new identity involved a narrative shift, inviting users to partner in changing their odds. Around the same time, Lydiam Group modernised its brand to reflect explosive growth, a regulatory licence in Poland and a tilt toward Asia/Latin America expansion.
Another major refresh came from UK's Starling, which unveiled its new brand identity under the promise “Good with Money.” The bank dropped “Bank” from its public name, introduced brighter colours, bolder typography, and new AI-powered app features like Spending Intelligence and personalised Spaces.
This is an interesting move for a maturing brand like Starling. Having already earned mainstream trust, the fintech now seems to be reclaiming a more challenger-style energy that is likely an effort to reconnect with younger Gen Z audiences and move a step away from the traditional “serious banking” tone. The new look is confident, lively, and behaviourally focused, positioning Starling less as an institution and more as a money coach that helps customers take control of their financial habits.
By October, this trend extended into architecture and global positioning. iGaming fintech Yaspa unveiled a new global identity ahead of its push into US/EU markets. Meanwhile, nCino integrated its FullCircl acquisition and launched nCino Identity Solutions to streamline its portfolio and clarify its value proposition across banks and insurers. And in the consumer stack, UAE-based botim money emerged as a rebrand of PayBy, combining consumer fintech and merchant payments under one coherent umbrella.
Key takeaways:
Rebrands now often align with business model evolution, not just visual refresh. They reflect new geographies, new product ecosystems, or new audience segments.
Brand architecture rationalisation is gaining importance, especially for fintechs making multiple acquisitions or serving both B2B and B2C.
Timing is strategic: many roll-outs begin digitally with app/icon updates, then physical assets follow (cards, branches) to minimise disruption while signalling change.
For maturing challengers like Starling, visual reinvention can be a way to stay culturally relevant, speaking to younger, more values-driven audiences while still retaining legacy trust.
Fintech partnerships & GTM activation: Utility meets brand
This autumn, several fintech partnerships stood out for turning brand presence into real user action.
Global Payments secured exclusive rights across HBSE’s sports portfolio, including the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Devils and the Prudential Center, to bring real-time payment experiences into live venues. The collaboration bridges fan engagement with in-the-moment transaction utility, making the brand visible exactly where digital and physical spending meet.
In India, HDFC Bank partnered with Vyaparify to roll out QR-based digital storefronts for small businesses, turning every merchant into a branded acquisition point. Meanwhile, Revolut officially launched in India with full UPI integration, a move that instantly embeds the fintech into the country’s dominant payments rail and local consumer habits.
Together, these collaborations highlight a broader trend: fintech brands are layering utility with tools, features, and real-world access on top of storytelling and identity. The result is growth that’s not just seen, but used.
Fintech CMO appointments
Hiring a CMO is no longer a “nice-to-have” for fintechs, and they’re positioning it as a strategic growth function. In September, companies like Marqeta (Jonathan Soffin) and Sambla Group (Petra Blixt) brought in senior marketing leaders with brand and acquisition credentials. Facephi appointed Mariona Campmany to further their global biometric identity push.
October added further depth: Mastercard named Jill Kramer as Chief Marketing & Communications Officer (effective December), a signal that even legacy payments players view marketing leadership as central to future growth. Niche players like IRALOGIX (Susan Canavari) and Compare Club (Zara Cobb) also appointed CMOs to scale their narrative and commercial footprint.
What this suggests:
The CMO role is expanding beyond demand-gen: it now spans ecosystem GTM, partner messaging, brand-platform thinking and content leadership.
There is a convergence of disciplines: acquisition, brand, growth ops and storytelling. Fintechs are demanding CMOs who can articulate across channels and business lines.
When you see a CMO hire in fintech, it often marks a shift: new market push, product-platform transition, or step-change in brand ambition.
The emerging fintech marketing playbook: 5 signals to watch
Brand is back with proof. Big creative (Chime, Pay10) is returning as a differentiator, not vanity. Expect more hero storytelling paired with measurable conversion layers.
Technology powers creativity. AI isn’t just automating workflows; it’s shaping creative output and enabling micro-localisation at speed (Blueberry’s model will soon be common).
Rebrands = business resets. Tilt, Starling and nCino show that identity work is a strategic infrastructure for expansion, regulation, or category clarity.
Utility-driven engagement. Tools, QR flows, or educational books outperform banner ads, can provide instant value while branding in context.
CMOs as ecosystem orchestrators. The new fintech CMO bridges brand, partnerships and growth ops, being part storyteller, part operator. Marketing leadership is now growth leadership.
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