The launch
Non-bank digital lender MONEYME has launched Bank Beating Loans, an integrated national campaign created by Otherside Studios and directed by Michael Beveridge. Media agency Optimise has set the campaign live, led by broadcast video on demand and a broad out-of-home rollout.
- BVOD as the lead channel
- Large-format billboards
- Street furniture
- Bus backs
The work is designed to reach potential MONEYME customers across multiple stages of consideration while building the fintech’s profile as a challenger to traditional lenders.
What the film says and how
The hero film uses the comedy principle of ‘punching up’: it targets an institution with disproportionate power, not vulnerable people. A banker sits in a 1983 Mercedes while frustrated Australians confront years of irritation with slow approvals and rigid processes. The film does not sell through rate tables; it sells the feeling that borrowing from a bank is an old habit worth questioning.
The campaign’s provocative line, ‘Sick of dealing with _ankers?’, carries that irreverent tone, and MONEYME’s promise is ‘bank beating loans’. For MONEYME, the contrast is practical: better rates, faster approvals and a real person on the phone.
What the brand and agency say about it
Michael Beveridge, creative director at Otherside Studios, says the MONEYME team has a pure challenger mindset and wanted the work to go as hard as possible on what separates the brand from the big banks. ‘This is unlike any ad you’ll see in the banking space because as we say it, they’re not a bank,’ he said.
Bryce Griffith, chief marketing officer at MONEYME, says Australians shop around for better deals on almost everything but still default to their bank when borrowing. He wanted the campaign to make people think twice and says Otherside delivered ‘something bold, entertaining and unmistakably MONEYME’.
Chris Barron, CEO of Optimise, adds that bold, unapologetic creative is easier to place when it is grounded in the actual client proposition, and MONEYME’s fast approvals and customer service stand apart from the big banks.
The category context
Traditional banks have long benefited from familiarity and consumer trust, so the campaign’s core task is breaking an ingrained habit: going to a bank when it is time to borrow. MONEYME’s answer is to position itself as a faster, more flexible alternative, supported by a YouGov finding that nearly 3 in 4 Australians, or 74.7%, believe the country would be better off with more alternatives to the big banks.
That number gives cultural permission for a provocative message. Instead of asking borrowers to trust a newcomer, the campaign asks why they should keep accepting slow approvals and rigid processes from incumbents.
What to watch next
Optimise has set the work live with BVOD and an extensive OOH system spanning large-format billboards, street furniture and bus backs. The next signal to watch is whether the bold tone translates into loan applications and whether MONEYME sustains the ‘not a bank’ positioning beyond the film.
Watch the original: MONEYME on YouTube
Source: Campaign Brief
