Starling Bank’s new advertising campaign looks familiar…
Starling Bank may already be investing in Zopa loans but is it also drawing inspiration from Funding Circle?
The challenger bank launched a new advertising campaign last weekend during the England v Ireland Six Nations rugby match to advertise its business account and services.
It features a business owner taking off into the skies while sitting in her shed but struggling with turbulence until she releases some wings and soars above the clouds and gently floats while checking the Starling app.
The advert ends with lots of different buildings, representing various businesses, floating around and displays the strapline “Helping Business Fly.”
Anne Boden, chief executive of Starling Bank said the challenger brand wanted to do something “different and authentic that hadn’t been done before.”
“When business owners see the campaign, we want them to feel inspired and courageous,” she said,
“To see that they can do it as well.”
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However, it seems that the style isn’t too different to an advertising campaign Funding Circle ran at the end of 2018 (pictured below).
It featured ride-on toy Captain Galactic leading others into orbit above the earth’s atmosphere as a voiceover declares that Funding Circle can “help your business fly.”
The picture on this story shows the Starling advert above imagery used by Funding Circle on its website and Facebook pages that had a similar strapline.
There is no suggestion that Starling Bank has deliberately copied Funding Circle.
The adverts were made by two different agencies.
Starling’s was made by Wonderhood Studios and Funding Circle’s came from Lucky Generals.
This coincidence does suggest that while fintechs are shaking up the lending and banking markets, they also need to come up with more originality when it comes to advertising.
Starling Bank has been asked for comment.
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