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Selling a unicorn and going #BehindTheIdea with Spendesk

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European startup Spendesk recently launched its first-ever multi-market brand campaign, putting people and play front and centre to reinforce not only its service differentiation but its people-first company identity.

As a newly minted “unicorn,” recently valued at $1.5 Billion, Spendesk has experienced huge growth in just six years. In 2021 alone, Spendesk managed over $3 billion of spend for start-ups and established companies, including the likes of Soundcloud, Gusto and Curve - firmly planting itself as a leader in the spend management industry.

We caught up with Dominique Farrar, head of brand and communications at Spendesk and the main creative force behind the campaign, to discuss the creative ideas and strategies behind the campaign and the inspiration behind it. 

What was the brief?

The brief was what you might expect from a B2B fintech aiming to increase brand awareness in Europe; we needed an attention-grabbing campaign that would make our name known and remembered.

We had three must-haves for the winning concept: it had to be simple (easy to understand what we do in a few seconds), human (rather than product or illustration-led), and intriguing (breaking the mould of B2B advertising).

What was unexpected from the brief — and something we really stuck to throughout the ideation process — was that we wanted to speak primarily to the emotional, rather than functional, benefits of using Spendesk and the feeling it provides.

Whereas most fintech ads show images of credit cards and app screens, we felt strongly that feelings, and human faces expressing those feelings, was the route we wanted to take. Our jumping off point was a very raw concept mockup around the five senses.

How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?

We had two agencies pitch ideas to us, and it was super inspiring to imagine how we could introduce the world to Spendesk in so many creative ways. While nearly all the concepts could have worked, there was one that instantly felt right and had universal appeal among our stakeholders: the ‘Satisfaction’ theme from Design Studio.

It aligned so well with the feedback we heard in customer interviews, where Spendesk users kept coming back to the satisfaction of using something so simple and intuitive. It also checked all the boxes of our brief: it was simple, human, and we could dial up the intrigue with the photography and art direction.

What was the process behind ideating the concept?

The first version of Satisfaction was visually quite different than where we landed in the end. It started with a more feminine, modern aesthetic that played on the senses: touch, taste, smell, etc. It was beautiful, but a bit safe, so we asked Design Studio to take satisfaction to the extreme. We couldn’t think of anything more satisfying than being on vacation, which is how we landed on the sunny poolside setting.

What was the production process like?

Busy! Design Studio was amazingly organised and really helped us make the top priority decisions early in the process, like nailing down our “super satisfying spend management” lead line. We had regular check-ins to give feedback on every detail along the way.

Another thing we did — which I’d highly recommend — is look at each and every media placement before getting too far along in the creative process to ensure the concept would work in every format. We didn’t want to get attached to a concept that only looked great in large billboards, it needed to work well in digital and odd-sized placements too.

By establishing media placements ahead of time, we could manage the photography direction knowing all the various formats it would show up in.

What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?

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I’d say localising the messaging for France and Germany. As European marketers know, there is no such thing as simply translating your marketing message; you have to truly localise it. You have to be aware of how the same word carries a different meaning in each culture, which is particularly relevant if you talk about emotions.

Super Satisfying Spend Management sounds amazing in English, but it wouldn’t work as a direct translation in French or German where “satisfying” is just ‘fine’ or ‘acceptable.’ Luckily, we have a multi-talented, multilingual marketing team that knows our product, our customer, and was able to localise the concept for each market.

In French, we went with “Les depense pro, l’esprit tranquille” and in German we chose “Super entspanntes Ausgabenmanagement”.

What kit/tools/software were used to create the project?

We used Notion for the brief, lots of Miro boards for iterations and feedback, and Slack for constant communication with Design Studio.

For production, Design Studio used Figma. 

What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?

Despite what you see in the dazzling poolside shots, the shoot took place on a dreary April day in the English countryside. Everyone (except our good-humoured models) was wearing parkas and scarves! But thanks to a few sunny breaks in the clouds and some post-production magic, we managed to make it look like a perfect summer day by the pool. 

What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?

Feelings trump features any day. Elegant software should deliver more than just functional benefits, it should make us feel something positive as well. “Satisfaction” was the simple message that perfectly captures the true value of our product and what makes Spendesk beloved by thousands of finance teams and employees.

The satisfaction of saving time, saving money, and being free to focus on meaningful work; that’s what we wanted to celebrate through this campaign.

How long did it take from inception to delivery?

Just under six months from sharing the initial brief, to going live in all markets.

What do you hope it achieves for the brand?

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Naturally, from a brand perspective, we hope the campaign connects the Spendesk brand to that universal feeling of ease and satisfaction that we all crave. Beyond that, I hope it makes our customers and employees proud and that the message of satisfaction at work resonates.

We want people to walk away with a feeling that Spendesk delivers something truly essential. It makes our daily work better, easier, and more satisfying.

Credit list for the work?

Design Studio for creative, Ilka & Franz for photography, and Tug Media for media.

We also want to extend a huge thanks to our wonderful customers for sharing their time and feedback along the way, as well as the countless Spendeskers who poured their passion into making the message land well in each country and language.

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