Gordon Brott

Chase ran the same $400 checking bonus offer through two different shared mail (co-op) companies in the same week: Save and Valpak. Both are competing vendors that bundle multiple advertisers into one mailing to split the postage cost. Piece 1 - Valpak Arrived inside a Valpak envelope. Chase bought the envelope's own front and back cover ($400 offer on the front, refer-a-friend on the back) plus one of three Chase inserts riding inside, the other two promoting Business Checking and Private...

I'm a customer acquisition marketer, so brand isn't where I focus my attention. But I've been seeing a lot of TD Bank content in my feed, and every time something feels off. It's the font. They rebranded last year and the typeface I'd associated with TD for 20+ years changed just a bit, and it's a weirdly visceral reaction. Not just "huh, that's different" but more like something's wrong before I even register why. So even as someone who might tell you to put the entire marketing budget into...

There's an interesting dynamic in customer acquisition marketing for financial services. Banks and credit unions start with the advantage over fintechs and alternative lenders. They have billions in assets, experienced teams, established brands, and decades of customer data. But fintechs and alternative lenders typically do the better acquisition work. Because they depend more heavily on paid acquisition and growth targets, every dollar has to justify itself on a shorter timeline. They test...