Why the Wisr rebrand hit on money smarts

Fintech and neo-lender, Wisr, opted for a brand redesign around the tagline, ‘For your smart part’ to emphasise its proposition of helping Australians improve their financial wellness.

“The brand launched about four years ago, and as we grew, it was clear we had a strong internal alignment around that vision," Wisr chief marketing officer, James Goodwin, told CMO.

“There was a lot of complexity in everyday finances. What we needed was a brand platform and an idea which simplified all the things we did as a company and made it very clear to the consumer."

Work involved having to think about how Wisr positions itself in the market. Key questions for Goodwin included: "What is the bigger idea we have around that? And how can we look at our brand design and the different elements that communications to bring through simplicity around messaging?"

The new creative positioning is part of the company’s first major campaign, in collaboration with creative agency, Bear Meets Eagle On Fire (BMEOF). The comprehensive project runs across all brand design, product and communication and aims to deliver a clear, simple message around the company’s purpose, according to Goodwin.

With the process commencing some two years ago, the disruptions COVID brought meant it's been a long road to launch. Goodwin said an initial step was connecting with customers as well as the people in the business about the brand’s purpose. The team found finances is a very complex topic.

“In that research, we found smarter decision making is actually the process people take to get there. And we found that as a strategy to focus on making better decision and making decisions easier was the strategy that would really talk to all the things we do as a company," he explained.

"The bigger idea around ‘for your smart part’ really speaks to that strategy in terms of talking about how our brains are responsible for lots of different things. But when it comes to smart decision making around finances, the smart part of our brain, that's the part that we can really help. So that's the part we really focus on through the brand communications all the way through to products and processes."

While people like the idea of financial wellness, Goodwin said their very different circumstances can make it a difficult thing for people to get their head’s around. "To make it easier, we focus on supporting our customers smart decision making and rewarding that good behaviour, which in turn helps Wisr achieve its purpose of helping improve Australians’ financial wellbeing," he said. 

While the new brand identity retains and builds on some previous aspects of the Wisr brand - the Wisr logo and purpose - almost everything else ‘Wisr’ has been rethought and reinvented around 'For your smart part’. This includes an ambitious and thoughtfully crafted desktop and mobile experience, co-created by BMEOF and Resn, one of the world’s most respected digital experience design companies. The integrated campaign includes work from famed illustrator, Peter Grundy, Swedish-based 3D animation artist, Oscar Pettersson, and Revolver director, Steve Rogers.

“It’s an extremely competitive environment, the fintech and more generally finance space. So the things we really focus on is how to differentiate our brand with a bigger idea," Goodwin said. "We then build communications around that, which are really simple to communicate across TV, digital and above-the-line advertising.

"The forward plans are to grown brand awareness because we have a lot more to deliver in terms of products and services around our financial wellness platform.”

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