Zopa is on a mission to stand out in the crowded financial services market with a refreshed brand positioning and wider goal to make banking “sweeter”. 

The business initially started out as a peer-to-peer lender before moving into banking in 2020. After extending its product portfolio over the years, Zopa now has 1.5 million customers.

The launch into banking in 2019 coincided with the rollout of the ‘The FeelGood Money company’ brand positioning. Chief customer officer Clare Gambardella told Marketing Week at the time the aim was to tackle the “chronic lack of trust” consumers have around money, while building awareness of Zopa as a brand.

Now, the bank is switching its positioning to ‘Better Banking All Round’, with a view to better reflecting its evolution and product offering.

The story of Zopa: The fintech firm taking on the big banks

The company’s growth led to the need to reposition, says Gambardella.

“We’ve come such an enormous way as a business over the last five years since we launched the bank. We’ve grown our customers exponentially. We’ve moved into new product sets. We’re now moving into everyday banking and we just wanted to bring the brand in line with that,” she explains.

While she feels the brand has “outgrown” its previous positioning, key values of authenticity and trust serve as a platform for Better Banking All Round.

The repositioning and brand refresh are still ongoing, but have involved a new colour scheme and visual identity to mark Zopa out as an “established neo-bank player”.

“We’re a digital business – we don’t stay stuck in time forever,” adds Gambardella on the need to evolve.

Making banking ‘sweeter’

As part of its evolution, in June Zopa launched of its flagship current account Biscuit, offering cashback and competitive interest rates alongside money management via one app. Other benefits include no overseas spending fees and the ability to link external accounts through the app.

Zopa worked with Lucky Generals to develop the Biscuit creative launch concept, core messaging, consumer testing, art direction and campaign styling. The bank then collaborated with Red Consultancy on a tie-up with celebrity food critic Grace Dent, whose campaign launch video on social media was hooked on the concept of an edible credit card – the idea being Zopa makes banking “sweeter”.

Considering the “crowded market”, Gambardella explains it was important get across the “simple” nature of the biscuit account.

“We thought, actually, biscuit is a great metaphor for this and it’s also a really interesting way for us to cut through, because it’s a different style of language. It allows us to communicate those benefits in a way that feels much more down to earth for people,” she says.

Using Grace Dent as the face of the campaign was “a great fit”, says Gambardella, who describes the food critic as a “trusted”, “credible” and a long-time customer of Zopa. With Dent involved, the brand hopes it can “reach people that it wouldn’t otherwise”.

Influencers have been frequently used by Zopa, with Gambardella describing them as “really creative people” who can understand the brand and create a “segue between the brand and the customer”. That said, while influencers play a top of funnel role for Zopa, they’re only used when there’s a clear space for them – not just “for the sake” of it.

Partnerships with other brands have also been an important part of Zopa’s strategy, including the likes of John Lewis Money and Octopus Energy. The brand looks for partners that are “strongly aligned” with its brand positioning and offer the opportunity to bring in new customers.

As part of its 2025 Fintech Pledge the bank is working with partners across the industry to help consumers improve their financial resilience.

We’re now moving into everyday banking and we just wanted to bring the brand in line with that.

Clare Gambardella, Zopa

When it comes to Zopa’s overall approach to social media, Gambardella explains that with the audience being so broad, the bank targets via behavioural characteristics rather than demographics.

Looking at the types of things people are doing on social platforms has been “really valuable” for the team, allowing them to “target effectively” while taking the approach of making content native and engaging to each platform.

The rest of the marketing mix for the phased Biscuit campaign is digital focused, while the team have also been focused on engaging customers, with Gambardella citing the firm’s NPS score of 75 – a level she claims is “rare” in the banking industry.

This has included referrals, making customers part of a beta programme for Biscuit and collecting their feedback. The marketing team gain insight from a range of platforms including Trustpilot scores, app store ratings and social media.

“As an organisation we are really rooted in customer feedback,” adds Gambardella.

Success of the campaign is being measured by both short-term and long-term indicators, including impressions, click rate and acquisitions.

Three weeks since launch, Zopa has seen a 6% uptick in brand affinity and a 5% increase in brand awareness. Engagement on platforms such as YouTube is also “much higher than the industry benchmarks”, Gambardella claims, while acquisition is up tenfold following the launch of Biscuit compared to the beta phase.

At the intersection

Coinciding with the launch of Biscuit, the bank released research showing people in Britain favour intentional financial behaviours over reactive ones. A quarter (24%) are looking for cashback offers or rewards, 37% using digital mobile banking and 19% have multiple bank accounts and financial products to find value, dodge fees, or get return for their loyalty.

Gambardella says the change in money habits of the public reinforced the need for the brand to evolve.

“I see the role of our brand as helping people to understand that we’re at the intersection of two things,” she says.

At the intersection between trusted incumbent banks and new players in the marketplace, Zopa believes being a fully regulated, newer bank gives it an edge in the marketplace.

“We have all of the effortless experience that comes with being a new player with new technology and a new product set. And we have a profitable model which allows us to invest back into the customer and the products, and deliver things such as a best value current account,” says Gambardella.

As the brand and company evolves, so is its approach to marketing, which she argues is “enormously important” as Zopa moves into current accounts.

While Gambardella recognises the role of marketing is “definitely about growth”, marketing has played a “different role” over the years as Zopa focuses on “agility” and “business outcomes”.

“We’ve done above the line. We’ve done digital marketing. We’ve done a lot of customer marketing and I always start from what is the objective for the business, the product and the customer. There is no one-size-fits all,” she says.

This has meant the team has evolved in terms of skillsets and using internal versus external resources, to ensure Zopa remains “really agile”. Within marketing, there is now a dedicated growth team sitting alongside the brand team, responsible for deciding “the right actions for a customer to take”.

Gambardella also reiterates the need for marketing to be “intermeshed” with product and the business for the best results.

During her time at Zopa, Gambardella’s role has evolved. When she started out, she was heading up the people team and operations, as well as brand. Now the bank is more established, she focused on brand. Going forward, Gambardella is learning from her experience at Zopa – as well as from her past roles at P&G and Virgin Active – to accelerate the brand.

“As a business evolves and scales, the requirements of marketing and comms change dramatically. How you fulfil what the business needs today, but also stay one step ahead, is really important, alongside data and being open to new skills,” she adds.