Fintech R&R ?? - Growing Older and Wise-r - Product Growth & Brand alignment in Fintech Wise's latest refresh

Hey there??????and?welcome another edition of?Fintech?R&R???, a fortnightly dive into a?Fintech, or hot?Fintech?topic that’s caught my eye to which I’ll give my Product analysis, provide some insights?and?predictions. If you’re reading this?and?haven’t signed up yet then hit the link below

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Hey Fintechers?and?Fintech?newbies?

An update to start this week’s edition. I’ve listened to the feedback submitted via the form?and?added ‘Favourite Tweet’?and?‘Summary of recent?Fintech?News’ to the end of this edition which will be a mainstay going forwards.?Although formatting on LinkedIn isn't as good as it is on Substack so subscribe to get my next perfectly formatted update in your inbox.

Regarding the inspiration for this week’s topic, the title?and?the puns, Wise made that pretty easy for me, so thank you Wise team!

Specifically, it's their recent rebrand made me think about this tricky question, “As your product evolves, when, if at all, is the right time to rename/rebrand?”.

Pulling at that thread made me ponder brand value?and?alignment with product?and?organisation objectives.

And?although the Product team isn’t directly responsible for rebranding, renaming, changing marketing materials, tone of voice etc, these things evolve based on the long-term strategic direction of the business, which works symbiotically with the growth?and?evolution of the product.?

So as well as my favourite tweet, interesting news (and?puns + movie references of course), this week includes the following:

• Who?and?What is Wise?
• Wise’s Product?and?Brand evolution
• Other?Fintech?Rebrands/Renames
• Reasons to Rebrand including Product evolution
• Figuring out when to rebrand (if at all)

Who?and?What is Wise (nee TransferWise)????

Wise started life TransferWise?and?was launched way back in Jan 2011 by founders Taavet Hinrikus (former Chairman)?and?Kristo K??rmann (current CEO), with the vision of making international money transfers for individuals faster?and?cheaper than traditional banks.?

As with many passionate founders, they were directly impacted by the problem they were trying to solve. K??rmann was working for Deloitte in London, being paid in pounds?and?wanted to send money back to his home country of Estonia to pay his mortgage. Taavet lived in London but was paid in Euros?and?needed pounds to pay bills?and?generally get by in London. They each needed the currency the other one had?and?didn’t want to be stung by long transfer times?and?high fees.?

And?that’s what they discussed when they met at a party in London?and?devised a novel way of solving the problem. Kristo would top up Taavet’s account with pounds,?and?Taavet would add Euros to Kristo’s account using a rate without any extra fees.

That concept of peer-to-peer transfers worked for them?and?is the basis of Wise’s fast?and?fair money transfer model.

The early, circa 2011 offering used the P2P model?and?supported transfers to?and?from GBP?&?EUR, charging a fixed fee for each transfer.?

Over the years TransferWise grew.?

Slowly increasing the number of supported currencies from the original 2 to over 50 today.?

Growing its core transfer functionality by adding multi-currency personal?and?business accounts, debit cards,?and?expense tracking, amongst other features.

And?growing its customer base organically?and?by increasing marketing efforts.?

They’ve also developed Wise Platform, allowing neobanks?and?other fintechs to use its?tech?to facilitate fast?and?cheaper transfers rather than building this functionality from scratch.??

The next steps are clear. Increase currency?and?country coverage,?and?continue to evolve?and?expand the Personal, Business?and?Platform products by increasing payment methods, reducing transfer costs,?and?increasing transfer speeds.?And?crack 2 huge markets. China?and?India. All of which will add to their existing 16 million customers?and?pursue their Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) of saving customers ￡180BN.

Product?and?Brand go hand-in-hand???

At the top, I mentioned pulling at the rebrand thread, but this edition could have covered many other areas based on the initial subject matter. A deep dive into BHAGs?and?their importance in uniting a company towards a single collective goal. A look into Product Vision -> Product Strategy -> Product Roadmap -> Product Backlog. Or a write-up about product-led growth. But I’m fairly sure I’ll be able to cover these topics in future editions. I couldn’t let the opportunity pass to cover a neglected area of?fintech?product using this shining example. It also gives me an excuse to make an image-heavy edition?and?include a Justin Timberlake reference…

So let’s start by looking at some of the pivotal moments in the evolution of this?fintech?unicorn started by two wise men over 12 years ago…

2011

TransferWise was the name they established in 2011 with their initial offering of GBP/EUR fixed fee transfers. Coming up with a startup name can be a challenge in itself because there are multiple avenues to go down, including:?

• A name based on the name of the founder(s). Adidas, Ford, Gillette, JP Morgan Chase?and?Barclays are famous examples, but this naming method is less prevalent in modern-day?fintech.?
• A name that is slightly obscure but memorable?and?one which a brand?and?following can be built around?and?quickly scalable from their original product offering. E.g. Monzo, Zopa, Coconut.
• A name that encapsulates principles or represents company values like trust?and?authority but is not necessarily directly related to the product or offering. In FS, companies like BlackRock, Fidelity?and?OakNorth are good examples.?
• A name that represents a location like HSBC, RBS, Bank of America, Bank of China.???????
• Or a name directly associated with the service, product functionality?and/or customer value. E.g. Checkout, Wagestream, PrimaryBid, ClearScore, Freetrade

Note: Check out more details about naming strategy from?Frabrikbrands

It’s the latter that they went with, which relates to the product offering of simpler, smarter?and?fairer money transfers, therefore TransferWise.

As you can see, the logo?and?colour scheme reflected the early-stage nature of the startup?and?product at the time.

2014

By the end of 2014, TransferWise had raised over 25m in funding?and?gained the backing of mainstream entrepreneurs, including Richard Branson?and?Peter Theil (PayPal co-founder). They’d also grown to 240 employees (200 employees in 2014 alone).?

In terms of product development, the progress was major.

Expansion of the number of supported currencies from the original lovestruck pair to hug family, including US Dollars, Swiss Franc, Polish Zloty, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian Krone, Chinese Yuan, Indian Rupee, Turkish Lira,?and?South African Rand.

The launch of an Android app in 2014 in addition to the iPhone app launched the previous year.

These product advancements, great word of mouth?and?campaign marketing led them to the milestone of ￡1 billion in cross-border payments transferred by mid-2014.?

This product evolution?and?customer growth led them to embark on their first major rebrand, launched towards the end of 2014. This made the brand more distinctive, ensured their product could get into the hearts?and?minds of an even wider audience but also gave the brand a more modern look?and?feel?and?was representative of the significant progress made.?

The rebrand also saw the introduction of its first on-brand symbol. The ‘fast flag’. Cementing them as?the?cool money transfer service.

2021?

This was the most significant change in the brand?and?an indication of the scale of the evolution from the initial offering.?

It wasn’t just a?widening?of the offering in terms of the number of supported currencies. But, an increase in the?depth?of what they were offering that significantly changed in the years since it’s the first rebrand.

And?what was the change?

Yup. They dropped ‘Transfer’, becoming ‘Wise’. Or ‘Wising up’ if you will.

So why is this significant??

Because dropping the ‘Transfer’ was a very clear statement.

By 2021, Wise had personal?&?business accounts to store money in multiple currencies, debit cards, multi-user access, launched in more countries?and?had Wise Platform, its ‘borderless-money-as-a-service’ infrastructure allowing neobanks?and?other fintechs to leverage its?tech?to serve their customers. Wise Platform allows them to scale their customer base whilst maintaining a manageable customer acquisition cost.?

That’s why it’s significant. Because the product evolution clearly indicated they were moving beyond just sending?and?receiving money.

2023

It’s been two years since the name change. So why change the brand again??

A branding refresh was always on the cards,?and?I think this was part 2 of the 2-stage plan that started with the name change. The second part being aligning the brand with company?and?product objectives?and?the growing?and?diverse customer base.?

It’s clear from the latest green refresh that global domination is the next step. From 2021 they’re not just money transfers but looking to be the go-to app for everything borderless money. Expanding the breadth of the offering to serve more countries, currencies?and?customers as well as the depth of the product by adding things like debit card rewards, even faster transfer times across countries, cashback for business customers?and?much more.?

Creating a brand that aligns with a global vision?and?lofty products ambitions is certainly a wise move?and?allows them to target new segments?and?launch to new countries much more seamlessly.

I think the world's first globally accessible digital bank could be on the horizon…

Some other examples of?Fintech?Rebrands??

Wise are not the only?fintech?to get a bit of a face lift. Here are some other examples of?fintech?brand/name changes over the years.

1. Monzo?tweaked logo?and?early name change?-?Monzos birth name was Mondo. Since the change they’ve made more brand?and?design changes adding more human imagery, refreshed illustrations?and?generally making it a bit friendly to a wider audience
2. MarketInvoice first renaming to MarketFinance?and?then rebranding?and?renaming as?Kriya?-?A full name?and?rebrand to move from pure invoice finance into more an embedded finance offering
3. Rapyd?rebranding?- Changing to a more colourful edgy brand to stand out from the other?fintech?players in the market
4. Tweaking Nubanks logo?and?colour scheme?- Softer edges on its fonts?and?logo?and?a slightly different shade to it’s popular purple?and?it’s evolution reflects the bank becoming more mature?and?accessible to an even wider Brazilian audience

Reasons for rebranding???

My intention wasn’t to turn this into a deep dive into Wise?and?all the reasons I think they’re great. Although I’ve clearly done a bit of that.?

The point is to highlight brand evolution, the importance of timing,?and?the reasons behind a branding change.?And?even though an evolving product is one of the supremely important reasons, it’s not the only one.

Product Evolution

An obvious one?and?a contributing factor in Wise’s rebrand.

As a product changes from early stage MVP, finds Product/Customer?&?Product/Market fit?and?eventually expands in terms of the offering, the initial brand inevitably needs to be tweaked to fit what the new product looks like.?And?if the product snowballs?and?outgrows the initial brand, these tweaks turn into a full-blown refresh.

Pivot in Business Objectives

Businesses change objectives all the time. Whether switching from a B2C to a B2B model, doubling down on a specific part of the product?and?discarding others, or completely changing what the product is. This is what Instagram did when they pivoted from Burbn, a foursquare style check-in app, to the ‘instant camera’/’ telegram’ app we know?and?love/loathe today.

Changing Design Trends

Digital design, like fashion, has trends that fall in?and?out of favour. Trends usually change over time?and?some are a flash in the pan. For example, the use of illustrations in websites?and?brands has become pretty popular, but should this trend fall out of favour, it could require a branding refresh.

Much like Justin Timberlake when he went solo after N-Sync, he had to drop out of waining popstar trend?and?into the more popular RnB route.?And?to do this he needed a haircut?and?a change of wardrobe.

(Yes, two JT references in one newsletter)

Changing Customer Segment

Another one I’m confident contributed to Wise’s refresh.?

Customer segments factor heavily in designers’?and?brand agencies’ processes when creating a brand book, logo, tone of voice etc. Because building a product?and?brand aimed at Gen-Z differs from one aimed at baby boomers.?

And?as a product grows, the target customer segment becomes broader so the brand that worked when the customer profile was very specific often doesn’t resonate with the new wider base.

Is it time to rebrand/change brand???

This is the ultimate question facing a lot of fintechs?and?can be a dilemma. After all, changing the name?and?brand can be a time-consuming?and?costly exercise?and?only sometimes land the way you expected. So is there a ‘right’ time to rebrand?

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m no designer. But I have worked with many great design?and?brand folks?and?learnt a lot by osmosis.?And?through this learning by osmosis, I’ve come up with a list of key questions to ask?and?assess if thinking about a rebrand…

• Is your product offering significantly different to what it was a 6 months ago?and/or will it be significantly different in 6 months time?
• Is there a clear roadmap showing an evolution in the product?and?change in direction for the next 6-12 months?
• Does your brand look dated or stale compared to competitors?
• Was the last time the look?and?feel was updated greater than 5 years?
• Have you had significant customer growth over the past 3 years?
• Have you expanded to new geographies?and?different cultures since your last brand update?
• Has the business changed its model?
• Is the organisation focussing on B2B rather than B2C or vice versa?
• Have your regional customer segments considerably changed over the last year?
• Are you looking to target or launch to a region or segment with significant cultural or social differences to the existing customer base?
• Are your design?and?brand still based on what was used during MVP?

If the answer to the majority?and, god forbid, all of them is yes, then the odds are you need to at least think about updating your design?and?brand.

Obviously this is not a simple task?and?doesn’t just involve the product team.

It’ll require a deep dive into the medium?and?long term product roadmap, a review of the company objectives (looking historically?and?into the future), a look at the competitive landscape?and?probably engaging external voices like brand agencies?and?consultants.

But if you get it right, continue to refresh your brand?and?maintain one that aligns with your organisation, product, customer base?and?ambition you’re making wise moves for future growth?and?scale.?

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Interesting?Fintech?News w/ My Comments

• Klarna loses 1 Billion?- Pretty big wad of cash to lose. But they’ve said they’ll return to profitability in 2023.?Although they didn’t explain how…
• Griffin?gets a banking licence - The banking-as-a-service technology provider was recently granted a banking licence from the FCA meaning they can customer deposits.?It’s the UK’s first ‘BaaS Bank’?and?I think it’ll make them a big draw when it comes to selecting a banking service provider
• Candidly?gets $10.5m in funding - The US student debt?and?savings optimisation looks to capitalise on it’s recent growth.?This recent surge in US based student finance platforms (Frank covered last week) could accelerate the disruption of the student finance monopoly here in the UK. We can only hope

Favourite Tweet

This tweet encapsulates why customer journey mapping is essential. Especially if you’re the Prime Minister?and?want to seem like you’re ‘doing innovation’

https://twitter.com/sharonodea/status/1632718575449382916?s=20