Loan Market launches major consumer campaign

The campaign - which promotes the Loan Market brokerage brand (not Partner businesses operating under their own brands) - has a projected retail media value of $5.5 million.

Loan Market has partnered with creative agency Sports Entertainment Group (SEG) to develop and deliver the campaign, will include television, radio, outdoor, digital and search engine advertising. It will also introduce new sonic branding and influencer-led digital content reflecting the blue Loan Market logo.

It marks a shift in brand messaging from “Seriously Helpful” to “Make it Yours”, which focuses on customer ambition and ownership.

According to the group, the goal of the campaign is to improve brand discovery and support Loan Market branded brokers with increased consumer visibility across national and local markets.

One of the key elements of the campaign is a new sonic brand, or "earworm", which Loan Market said has been designed to boost brand recall through short, catchy audio hooks used across TV, radio, and digital channels.

According to the brokerage, the campaign will be rolled out in phases, beginning in metro areas on 1 September, and expanding into regional centres over time.

As part of the wider marketing strategy, Loan Market also plans to invest in shopfronts and support brokers with local-level advertising and community engagement.

Why launch the campaign?

Chief marketing officer Angela Tracey said the messaging was developed to appeal to a broad consumer base and to support brokers in building long-term customer relationships.

Tracey said the group is also investing in digital strategies such as search engine optimisation (SEO), answer engine optimisation (AEO) and generative engine optimisation (GEO) to increase its visibility in online search results.

Speaking at the Scale Up conference, she said: “We're repositioning the Loan Market brand to focus on three powerful pillars; ownership, empowerment and knowledge. At the heart of our new messaging is the people you help; your customers, and it's summed up best in this line: ‘Your ambition is uniquely yours. Whatever your ambition, Make it Yours, with the help from a Loan Market broker’ (or adviser in New Zealand).”

She added: ”With the help of Sports Entertainment Group in Australia and New Zealand, we will be making a multi million dollar investment this year to ensure the Loan Market brand becomes the most known, liked and trusted brand in consumer finance.”

Tracey told The Adviser that the campaign was being launched now as the prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) will mean that there will be a greater emphasis placed on trusted brands.

”With an AI world really staring us in the face, that will erode trust. What differentiates brokers and why people engage with brokers, is trust. So brand is all about building trust. We need to commit to a brand. It's going to be the only thing that differentiates Loan Market and broker businesses as a whole, with an AI world coming down the track.”

Speaking to The Adviser about why the brand only focuses on Loan Market brokers (not those under the Partner model/LMG aggregation), Loan Market CEO David McQueen said this was because the creative work and messaging were specifically designed to elevate the consumer-facing Loan Market brand as a whole, rather than individual broking businesses. (Under Loan Market’s model, brokers can choose to operate under its national consumer brand or their own local brand via the Partner model, while still utilising the group’s full suite of services, support and technology.)

He added: “We want our Partner businesses to win just as much as we want Loan Market to win. But there's different ways of doing it, so we'd be doing an injustice to the Loan Market businesses by not investing in that Loan Market brand they stand behind.”

He told The Adviser that the national campaign aims to build on the performance and impact of its 750 branded brokers.

“This national campaign will amplify that impact, creating more demand, more recognition, and ultimately more opportunity for every broker in our network,” McQueen said.

“More visibility means more leads and that means more opportunities.

“On average, Loan Market generates over 65 per cent more digital leads per broker than independently branded brokers in the Loan Market Group network. That’s what a national brand delivers; measurable impact for local businesses.

“This investment is about accelerating that momentum. By lifting the brand nationally, we’re creating more demand, more recognition, and ultimately more opportunity for every broker in our network.”

However, Tracey added that regardless of what type of model Loan Market brokers are using, now “is the time to commit to a brand. And brokers can either build around their ours or their own."

Marketing packages for Partner brokers

To assist Partner brokers wanting to build out their own brand amplifications across radio, digital and outdoor media (such as billboard placements near offices), the group is offering three tiered media packages through SEG priced at a discount (estimated to be 33 per cent less than standard market price).

Partner brokers will also have access to customised social media content aligned to their brand and customisable websites for diversified brokerages, allowing brokers to showcase their lending specialty (residential, commercial, or asset finance lending).

McQueen said: “We know that building a strong brand takes time, budget and expertise and those things can be out of reach for smaller brokerages.

“This program is about making professional-grade marketing more accessible and more affordable.

“By extending our media buying power, we’re helping independent brokers build visibility in their local markets to grow their businesses.”

The Loan Market campaign marks the latest consumer campaign promoting broker services, following consumer-facing campaigns launched by the MFAA and Aussie recently.