The Challenge
Consumer lending brand Oakam have been on a journey into moving to a ‘digital / mobile first’ approach. This has accelerated over the last months with significant appointments into senior marketing roles and a full evaluation and repositioning of their marketing spend as the brand moves away from ATL activity (and in particular TV which no longer offers the ROI metrics conducive to their model and customer engagement behaviour).
Digital spend with the incumbent lead digital partner had been dramatically scaled back while the brand reviewed past performance and outlined a new digital strategy. As a result of the new digital acquisition strategy, the incumbent agency was deemed no longer fit for purpose.
Oakam were seeking a new lead digital partner to drastically boost their digital performance, particularly across paid social and paid search as well as app store optimisation and in-app advertising.
GO! were charged with aiding Oakam in the successful appointment of a new lead digital partner to deliver and scale the new digital channel acquisition strategy and support their move to digital and mobile first.
GO! worked closely with the Chief Marketing & Product Officer and Growth & Acquisition Manager to clearly define the remit / deliverables expected of the new lead digital partner focussing on existing performance levels vs desired acquisition performance with particular importance placed on the ability to scale rapidly. GO! built a through briefing document that was signed of by Oakam to begin the selection process.
A clear process was mapped out detailing key project milestones / timescales, expectation setting at each stage of agency contact, a detailed feedback and evaluation framework and a targeted appointment date for the new partner, allowing Oakam to accurately plan the onboarding of a new partner.
Through diligent process management, clear briefing to both the brand and agencies involved and high levels of ongoing communication, GO! successfully managed a thorough process including agency search and selection, pitch admin management and feedback communication.
The Outcome
The GO! process was 8 weeks from initial brief signoff from Oakam to the successful appointment of Jaywing.
Jaywing were successful in their pitch after initially being endorsed as part of a 6-agency shortlist, cut to 3 following initial chemistry calls with key Oakam stakeholders.
Their data-native approach, understanding of rapidly scaling FinTech brands and their ability to blend long term strategy and short-term actions, at a granular level, set them apart. Chemistry also played a key role with Jaywing picking up on and addressing concerns held by the brand because of poor agency relationships in the past.
The onboarding process ran smoothly with the relationship on track to kick start an exciting digital revolution for Oakam.
