Online digital lender, Jacaranda Finance, is launching a new television campaign with the tagline 'When the banks say no, give us a go.' The campaign aims to position Jacaranda Finance as the second-best choice for individuals whose credit applications for car or personal loans up to $25,000 have been rejected by mainstream lenders.

Matthew Wong, Head of Growth at Jacaranda Finance, states that the company's value offering is to be the best back-up option for everyday Australians who need finance but are rejected by the banks. He said, “Across the 10 years Jacaranda Finance has been in the market, we’ve continued to evolve our understanding of our customer base. It’s a learning process that has allowed us to bring a laser-sharp focus to our value offering, which is to be No.1 at being No.2. Or, to put it another way, we’re proud to be able to serve as the best back-up option for everyday Australians who need finance but are rejected by the banks. That’s why the time felt right to take our creative in a new direction.”

Unlike traditional banks that rely heavily on credit scores, Jacaranda Finance uses an advanced scoring system that takes into account people’s current and recent financial behaviour, based on their bank transactions. Wong explains, “Without getting too technical, a lot of banks use rigid, predefined rules based on credit scores to determine whether a consumer qualifies for a loan. This can unfairly exclude a lot of responsible customers. At Jacaranda Finance, however, we’ve developed an advanced scoring system that takes into account people’s current and recent financial behaviour, based on their bank transactions. This more nuanced approach, which looks at how people spend their money to understand their credit risk, is what really sets us apart as a lender.”

The new campaign was developed in collaboration with Brisbane communications, engagement and marketing agency Bespoken and Brisbane studio The Little Rogue. It will air in metropolitan and regional markets along the east coast and will extend to other channels including out-of-home, radio and digital. The campaign has already had a soft launch on socials, delivering a 52% increase in click-through rates during the testing phase on iOS and Android.

Sarah Morgan, Managing Director of Bespoken, said, “The thing we couldn’t stop talking about was the markedly different approach to assessing credit applications, and the fact that Jacaranda – from CEO Daniel Wessels down – was incredibly keen to draw that sharp delineation to traditional finance and its strong reliance on credit scores. However, we saw the freshest opportunity as the core message to everyday Australians that banks are not the start and close of the lending conversation.”

Tim Harding, creative director of The Little Rogue, added, “Jacaranda’s business model is built on disruption, so it made sense their creative should also look to disrupt the environment in which it would land – one where people’s attention is often split across multiple sources of interest and information, from streaming channels and mobile phones to video games or a physical book. We knew we would only have a small window in which to seize their attention, and that meant it had to be high impact from the get-go.”