The global payment platform enables shoppers to pay for things in installments via their credit cards. It wanted its brand to more closely align with its mission and customers. Splitit competes with brands like Affirm and Klarna.
“As we continued to grow and launch in new markets, we identified a number of opportunities for the company to move to the next level,” said Brad Paterson, Splitit’s CEO. “It was time to refine our brand positioning and create a new visual identity to better showcase our merchant partners and reflect the shoppers who use our product.”
CEO Paterson has had a 20 year career in the payments space, including stints at Visa, PayPal in its early days, and running Intuit’s US QuickBooks Online business.
The company introduced a new purple color theme with a focus on small payments for consumers and merchants.
On the rebrand, the payments firm turned to The Ricciardi Group, a B2B marketing agency based out of New York. “We were impressed with RG’s client footprint in financial services and experience growing and repositioning brands at all maturity stages,” Paterson said.
To incorporate the voice of the consumer, Splitit organized a stakeholder group that included people from Australia, Israel, the UK, and the U.S. The Ricciardi Group found that 70 percent of credit card holders don’t use the credit they already have in order to avoid paying interest. “Together, we were able to identify the key differentiating aspects of the Splitit offering that resonate on a global scale,” said Paterson.
Instead of creating new debt, Splitit is novel in that it allows shoppers to use their current credit cards to pay over-time with no applications interest or fees. Competitors like Affirm require opening new lines of financing and often target younger millennial and Gen Z consumers without credit, encouraging them to buy now, pay later.Splitit crafted a new identity that empowers consumers to use the credit ‘they already have-on their terms’. As users can choose how they want to split payments at checkout, this positioning has allowed the payments firm to focus on a slightly more established, financially savvy consumer, giving her the power to control their cash flow.
The new positioning inspired a new, more sophisticated visual identity and brand campaign to merchants and consumers, shifting messaging from ‘Split payments in split seconds’ to ‘We have no interest in interest’ and ‘The biggest thing in payments is small’. The new work includes a brand mark that acts as a visual portal to focus the eye on the items one might choose to pay over time using Splitit.
The full campaign rolls out throughout the second quarter of 2020 with a new website and merchant signup kit. Splitit is promoting the refreshed brand using paid social, digital and a targeted merchant campaign that will focus on merchant signup and building consumer awareness.
The new brand story appears to be working. Merchant signups jumped 20%, as compared to last quarter, according to the company. The company also saw merchant sales volume increase 152% in April compared to March 2020. Splitit also worked with Raise Communications Group to establish a differentiated leadership voice in the market. The brand has garnered 10 articles this Spring around the brand story.
Source: Tearsheet