AdMiration feature: Monzo’s “Money feels different on Monzo"

For this week’s AdMiration feature, we researched Monzo’s “Money feels different on Monzo” ad.

This visually stunning ad is part of their “Money never felt like Monzo” campaign, which is meant to portray everything that Monzo stands for — creating a very different and overall better banking experience. 

Read on to get our 3-2-1 snapshot of the ad (3 facts, 2 learnings and 1 reflection) and learn how their ad was received based on our data. 

The ad opens to a scene with a man sitting at an office desk, dressed in a suit, who slams his head on the desk once the word “money” appears at the top of the screen. The scene shifts to that same man, who is now dressed in a karate gi and instead of hitting his head on his office desk, when the word “Monzo” appears at the top of the screen he head butts a plank of wood and lets out a war cry.  

Another new scene appears on the screen showcasing a toilet spouting water, clearly in need of repair — again with the word “money” shown at the top of the screen. The scene shifts and the toilet is now a beautiful water fountain adorned with flowers spouting water, with “Monzo” at the top of the screen. 

Several scenes of similar polarizing scenes follow that compare “money” with “Monzo,” like a spider on a bald man's head that turns into a head massager, a couple screaming that turns to kissing, two women sitting on a bus bench in the cold to sitting on a beach, and many more — with the montage getting faster and faster.

Finally, a scene of a man vigorously rowing a boat in the dark (with “money” at the top of the screen) shifts to a scene with that same man now in a speedo and laying out on a beach with “Monzo” now on the top of the screen like the rest of the montage. The ad concludes with the message “Money never felt like Monzo. Download your new favourite bank.” 

3 facts

• The ad scores in the top 15% of all UK finance ads in potential to drive short-term impact and in the top 30% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term impact. 

• People found it highly distinctive and bold, particularly in a category in which traditional players dominate.

• It was polarizing in the emotions it elicited across different demographics, appealing significantly more to a younger audience and existing customers. 

2 learnings

• While advertising typically communicates what a brand delivers functionally or emotionally, juxtaposing this with category pain points can help land the point in a unique and more powerful way.

• A strong message is sometimes best landed implicitly: without a voiceover, letting the visuals and the brand speak for themselves.   

1 reflection

When breaking category codes and standing for something unique and different, your brand might not be everyone’s cup of tea. However, boldness stands out and consistency over time can help drive mental availability for your brand in the long run, even when people might not be ready to engage with it just yet. 

The ad scores in the top 15% of all UK finance ads in potential to drive short-term impact (Sales Impact: 85) and in the top 30% in potential to drive brand equity and long-term impact  (Brand Impact: 72). 

Very much like in the US, ads for financial services brands in the UK tend to underperform when compared to ads for brands in other categories. Even the most successful finance ads struggle to compete with ads across some food categories and quick service restaurants (QSR); meaning when looking at results compared to a total country norm, Monzo’s ad performance looks weaker. 

Nevertheless, there is much to admire about this ad. In a category where traditional players dominate, Monzo came in as a challenger brand breaking all category codes and has since attracted 9 million customers. The “Money never felt like Monzo” campaign embodies everything that Monzo stands for: A different and better experience. 

The uniqueness of the brand comes through in the ad with it being seen by the audience as significantly differentiated compared to other UK financial services ads (ad distinctiveness: 3.9 vs 3.4 norm).

It has undeniable viral potential (49.3 vs 43.9) with its loud, quirky, vibrant display and really captures viewers’ attention (claimed attention: 3.6 vs 3.4 norm). It is also undeniably Monzo, with a significant outperformance in the uniqueness of brand impressions metric (3.6 vs 3.4) and 79% (compared to a 68% norm) of people correctly recalling the brand after watching it among a reel of ads.

Being a challenger brand and translating their ethos into how they advertise, it is natural that the brand and their communications will appeal more to certain demographics than others and not everyone will fully get it. Among younger adults (under 45), the ad sits within the top 5% of UK finance ads on sales and brand impact. 

 Younger adults also find the ad significantly more enjoyable than older adults (45+), who find it harder to understand. As expected, Monzo customers are also significantly more receptive to the ad and understand it better than non-customers.

The way people felt about the ad at an emotional level also widely varied depending on their demographic. Overall, 22% of younger adults felt love towards the ad compared to only 4% of older adults; 15% thought It was funny while only 4% of older adults did; and only 8% of young adults found it confusing compared to 17% of older adults.

For Monzo users (compared to non-users) this trend was even more pronounced: 33% felt love vs 10% of non-users and none of the users felt confusion while 15% of non-users did.

The overall levels of confusion came through in viewers’ comments about what they disliked about the ad. One said: "Was confusing, images change too quickly to allow the brain to process what the eyes are seeing, leads you to think that the bank processes will be confusing too."

Despite the confusion, when asked to recall the main message the ad was trying to convey, 40% of the audience interpreted it as Monzo making banking easier and being a better alternative. One respondent said “It was trying to show that with Monzo everything in life becomes positive and you don’t have to worry”, while another said “The ad was trying to convey that money is a stressful topic but with Monzo it becomes far less stressful.”

Someone else believed the ad was communicating “That with Monzo using a bank isn’t difficult but a wonderful positive experience.”

There were multiple elements the ad was praised for. It’s fair to say it was quite polarizing, but unquestionably bold. The colors stood out, the juxtaposition of positive and negative scenarios was highly engaging, and most importantly it was very different from anything traditional banking brands do in their advertising.

 Here's what some respondents said they liked about it:

• "The colors and the energy. Most banks are pretty boring and traditional, Monzo is a bit more bonkers."

• "It was very different, engaging, entertaining and simple in its message and delivery."

• "I liked the scenarios from bad things to good things. The music was upbeat. The bright colors used in the background made everything stand out boldly. 

• "Everything! It was original, great and funny. Love how the things change into something nice. It's color, vibrant and positive too."

• "I liked the fact it was something new and different. Bright and bold. I liked that the cuts got faster and the juxtaposition of different scenarios."

This was visually stunning, powerful and disruptive work from Monzo that will certainly be noticed, even if not everyone is ready for it yet!

What did you think? Let us know by interacting with our coverage of the ad on LinkedIn.

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