Aldermore is a UK-based "challenger bank" launched in 2009 to provide specialist banking services, including mortgages, savings accounts, and business finance.
The Challenge
Aldermore came to us with a clear growth ambition: to increase lending and savings product performance by 20% year-on-year.
The challenge was that being a “challenger” was no longer enough. To grow meaningfully, Aldermore needed to move beyond individual products and give customers a stronger reason to choose it over larger, more familiar institutions.
The Spark
We saw that the opportunity was not to out-bank the big banks, but to play a role they could not credibly own.
While larger institutions spoke to everyone, Aldermore could speak with more relevance, personality and purpose to a specific, underserved audience. SMEs and ambitious business owners did not need another bank talking in financial category language. They needed a champion that understood the realities of building, funding and growing a business.
The Breakthrough
We reframed Aldermore from challenger bank to the bank for SMEs, creating a sharper and more ownable position around business ambition.
This gave Aldermore permission to connect its existing lending and savings products into a bigger story about backing people who build. We used new customer insight to reposition the offer, then created propositions, communications and content with more personality, confidence and relevance than traditional banking language allowed.
The result was a brand that could show up with the practical credibility of a specialist lender and the emotional energy of a genuine business champion.
The Impact
The shift helped Aldermore move from being an also-ran in a crowded banking market to a more focused leader for the customers it could serve best.
Campaign performance improved significantly, including a 150% increase in success for the mortgage campaign, and the business delivered long-term 20% year-on-year growth. Aldermore’s momentum ultimately contributed to its acquisition by FirstRand, which agreed a £1.1bn takeover of the bank in 2017, completed in 2018.
