Growth Gorilla

Your paid media might be performing badly because of something that has absolutely nothing to do with paid media. After hundreds of discovery calls, you start noticing a pattern. Brands come to us because CAC is too high. ROAS has dropped. Or they cant scale. So naturally, everyone starts digging around inside the ad account. Sometimes thats exactly where you should look. Sometimes its the last place youll find the answer. People might not trust you yet. Your landing page might be losing them. Your proposition might not be strong enough. You might simply have an awareness problem. The numbers show up in paid because thats what youre measuring. But that doesnt mean paid created the problem. This is why the best growth teams know when to stop touching the campaigns and start looking at the business around them. Sometimes the smartest thing your paid media team can do is stop touching the paid media. Ross and I get into this in the clip below. Want to hear the full episode of 8 Reasons Your Paid Media Isn’t Working? Click the link in the comments below to listen.

Most ads fail before they even launch. Not because the targeting’s wrong. Not because the budget’s too low. But because nobody properly stress-tested the creative. One thing we talk about constantly internally is this... "Would the ad still work if you changed: → the audience? → the funnel stage? → the platform? → the context?" Because “good creative” isn’t universal anymore. An ad that works for a warm audience on Meta might completely fail as cold traffic on LinkedIn. That’s why modern fintech marketing needs more than execution. It needs judgment. Sometimes you’ve got loads of historical data helping guide decisions. Other times, especially with reactive campaigns or offer-led campaigns, you’re working with limited data and building hypotheses instead. That’s where experience still matters massively. AI can automate parts of paid media now. But it still can’t fully understand: • audience psychology • trust signals • emotional nuance • cultural context • messaging tension Especially in fintech and financial services where customer behaviour is heavily influenced by risk perception. The best campaigns survive pressure before launch. That’s the difference between expensive creative, and effective creative. And honestly, what better example of “creative without proper testing” than the recent Colgate AI backlash?

“We need to scale efficiently.” I’ve heard some version of that from countless marketing teams. But usually there’s another question hiding underneath it: “How do I defend this budget when someone asks me where the money is going?” That’s a very different problem. The same thing happens with creative. "We need a creative refresh” can actually mean: “We’ve run out of ideas.” Or: “We physically can’t produce enough creative to keep up anymore." And “our attribution is messy” often means: “I don’t completely trust the numbers I’m using to make decisions.” These might sound like paid media problems. But underneath them, you’ve usually got problems with confidence. Confidence in the creative engine, the growth plan, the tracking. Confidence that when someone in the room asks, “Why are we spending more here?”, you have a good answer. That’s why I think a big part of our job as an agency is giving marketing teams something they can actually stand behind. A plan they understand. Numbers they trust. And a clear idea of what happens next. Ross and I unpack some of the most common problems we hear from CMOs in the clip below.Want to hear the full episode of 8 Reasons Your Paid Media Isn’t Working? Click the link below to listen.

Fintechs aren't just competing with other fintechs anymore. They're competing with creators. And that's a scary thought. Because you can outspend another startup. You can't outspend someone with hundreds of millions of loyal followers. Attention has become infrastructure. And the brands that own it won't need to buy it. 👇 This is why MrBeast's latest move matters far more than people realise.

Well, that escalated quickly... We have only have 3 seats left for our October 15th roundtable. Which is great saves me scheduling the social posts we had planned for the next few weeks... If you work brand-side in fintech or financial services, this is your chance to spend an afternoon with other marketers comparing notes on what’s actually working in paid social right now. Creative testing. AI. UGC. Scaling content without scaling your team into oblivion. We've previously had marketers from Monzo, Wise, Chip, Shares, Tembo, Snoop, GoCardless and plenty more join these sessions. And we'll bring what we've learned helping 50+ fintech and FS brands grow. No presentations. No suppliers. No hiding at the back checking Slack. Just a small room of smart people talking shop over a delicious lunch. 3 seats left. Come grab one before I have to write the “sold out” post. October 15th. Central London. See you there.

Half the seats are already gone and we only launched this 2 days ago. That tells me one thing: Fintech and FinServ marketers really want/need somewhere they can talk honestly about what’s actually working, and what's not. That’s exactly why we're hosting a small, invite-only session for brand-side fintech and FS marketers focused on: → Paid social → Creative testing → AI → UGC → What actually scales in 2026 We’ve had marketers from Monzo, Wise, Chip, Shares, Tembo, Snoop and GoCardless join previous sessions. Not as speakers or as sponsors. Just smart people in the room sharing what they’re seeing from their side. And that’s the point. We’ll bring what we’ve learned from helping 50+ fintech and FS brands grow. You bring the questions. When? 15th October Where? Central London. Who? Fintech & FS brands only. Link in the comments. Grab your ticket before they get snapped up.