Monzo’s decision to put an Oscar-winning voice behind its biggest campaign yet appears to be paying off, according to YouGov BrandIndex data. The neobank’s “Get Busy Living” platform, which launched at the end of July 2026, has been followed by a broad lift in awareness, buzz and commercial-intent metrics.
The campaign
Created by BBH London, the work is built around ten spots narrated by Olivia Colman. Monzo describes it as its “first global brand platform”, positioning the bank as a quiet enabler of life’s meaningful and mundane moments. The music choices are just as prominent, moving from The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” to George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” across the campaign’s soundtrack.
The launch arrives as Monzo is widely reported to be weighing an IPO or a private-equity sale, which makes brand momentum about more than marketing alone.
What the data shows
YouGov BrandIndex tracks daily surveys of UK adults and reports net scores from -100 to +100 as a three-week moving average. Between 27 July and 5 October, the movement looked like this:
- Ad Awareness: 12.2 to 17.2, a five-point increase.
- Buzz: 7.9 to 12.1, so the conversation around Monzo improved rather than worsened.
- Impression: 16.3 to 18.0.
- Quality: 10.5 to 11.7, peaking at 14.1 on 15 August.
- Reputation: 11.8 to 14.1, with a high of 17.5 on 22 August.
- Current Customer: 14.9 to 17.2.
- Consideration: 15.1 to 18.4, a 3.3-point rise.
The headline gain is awareness, but the more useful story is consistency: the campaign didn’t only get noticed; it also moved perception and purchase-intent measures, even if several lifts are modest.
What marketers can take away
For a brand platform built on fame—celebrity narration, licensed music and broad emotional appeal—these numbers are a useful case in setting expectations. A five-point Ad Awareness lift is solid rather than spectacular. The real value shows up in simultaneous improvement across Buzz, Reputation and Consideration.
The early peaks in Quality and Reputation, followed by a settling, also reinforce why a moving average matters. Single-day spikes can flatter a campaign; the steadier three-week trend is the better read.
For students of brand tracking, the compact timeline makes this a clean case: a creative choice is linked to a measurable shift, without the confounding variables of a product relaunch or price change.
Marketing teams planning similar awareness plays can borrow that discipline: agree a short set of brand-health and commercial metrics before launch, track them weekly, and judge the work on the full set rather than reach alone.
Source: yougov.com
