Uncommon and Monzo rethink traditional banking aesthetics in a new energetic campaign
Monzo has launched its most extensive campaign in half a decade in collaboration with Uncommon.
The agency's inaugural project for the brand has a simple premise: to emphasise how handling financial matters is made simpler with Monzo.
As UK high street bank closures reach record levels, partly due to the increasing popularity of digital banking, over two-thirds of UK residents having a digital-only banking account.
Money Never Felt Like Monzo.
As the largest digital bank in the UK, with over nine million customers, Monzo's latest above-the-line campaign highlights how its platform can positively impact individuals' relationship with money.
"Money Never Felt Like Monzo" by Uncommon Creative Studio, is directed by Marie Schuller. The 60-second film illustrates the platform's user-friendly nature through though provoking comparisons set to bold use of block colour. For instance, a tarantula traversing a bald head is depicted as a head massager, while nails on a chalkboard are transformed into the delicate plucking of a harp: aiming to transform negative and stressful associations with money management into empowering and positive emotions.
The out-of-home ads, meanwhile, are created by the agency and photographed by Jp Bonino, employing similar side-by-side comparisons: for example, a broken toilet is reimagined as a charming bird fountain, and ice block shoes become soft, plush slippers.
These ads will be displayed across the UK, including London, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Newcastle. Additionally, Monzo will adorn the Financial Times in its signature hot coral pink hue both in print and digitally.
Our take
We love how Uncommon’s use of a simple, repetitive concept maintains attention spans through clever sound design, vivid colours, playful fonts and increasingly rapid editing.
The ‘tension and release’ technique is taken to amusing and literal heights here, as Monzo deftly sidesteps traditional banking aesthetics for something more akin to a tech brand. This seems fitting given the sector’s drift away from the high street and onto our phones and desktops (Monzo is Britain’s biggest digital bank), not to mention the increasing blurring of business and consumer messaging.
Uncommon has taken the widely held opinion that banking is a bit of a headache, and remedied that through subversive visuals. Nils Leonard, co-founder of Uncommon Studio hit the nail on the head when he described the advert’s MO: “We never talk about how money makes us feel”.
Credits
Agency: Uncommon Creative Studio
Director: Marie Schuller
Photographer: Jp Bonino
Production company: RSA Films
DOP: Olan Collardy
Sound & Music: Soundtree
VFX: Rascal Post
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