Tickled Coral: Monzo’s New Ads Are Money in the Laugh Bank

The ‘Money Never Felt Like Monzo’ campaign first came to my attention when I was sitting at the kitchen table with my housemate. “Have you seen the new Monzo stuff?” she said. “It’s fucking hilarious.” I sat for a moment a bit bewildered – young people discussing advertising in the wild… That isn’t exactly ordinary outside of the yearly John Lewis Christmas shenanigans. I knew then, before even looking at the campaign, that they’d obviously done something right, and upon investigation I was far from disappointed. 

The brand is known for its flashy hot coral card and humorous online presence, but it’s been five years since they’ve rolled out any at-scale advertising. The campaign is made up of a 60” hero as well as out-of-home totalling to a staggering 500 assets. The ads feature multiple contrasting scenarios where greyscale horrors representing ‘Money’ are juxtaposed with joyful delights portraying ‘Monzo’. 

LBB’s Tará McKerr caught up with Monzo and the team at Uncommon to find out how they executed the campaign that got the UK laughing.

LBB> From the beginning – what was the initial brief and how did this collaboration come about? It’s been a long time since we’ve seen anything this scale from Monzo.

Monzo> In 2023 66% of our new customers came through word-of-mouth referrals, which we believe is a testament to the value and customer-centric approach that Monzo offers. However as we headed into 2024, we knew we wanted to supercharge that growth so we can bring Monzo to more people around the UK. Therefore an above-the-line marketing campaign felt like the best approach to paint the UK hot coral and ultimately bring to life that no matter how money makes you feel, on Monzo it feels different and we want to make money work for everyone.

LBB> How did you approach translating the concept of transforming negative emotions associated with money into empowering visuals for the campaign?

Uncommon> We worked with amazing collaborators such as JP Bonino (photographer) and Marie Schuller (Director) to bring these arresting creative visuals from the incredibly talented Sam, Thea and Cecilia to life. 

In order to do this, we worked with a huge team of set designers, prop stylists, stylists and production teams to make sure that every colour, every emotion and every concept was popping and reaching the levels that they needed to.

LBB> Can you share insights into the creative process behind the side-by-side comparisons used in the OOH billboards and the hero film?

Uncommon> A lot of the inspiration behind the campaign came from looking at art and how different artworks evokes specific emotions in us. We also found a lot of inspiration in the world of memes. The classic ‘reality vs. expectation’ format where something amazing is juxtaposed with something not so amazing. A very simple format that allows for a lot of creative freedom.

When it came down to executing the ideas we quickly learned that the two contrasting sides worked best when they worked as a match cut or if they had visual symmetry – like the dog with the cone and the martini glass. It allowed us to create more abstract visuals as the visual symmetry linked the two scenarios together without actually having to be similar situations. 

It was really important that the contrast of the two worlds: ‘dark/stale money world’ vs ‘hot coral bright vibrant Monzo world' were immediately readable. We wanted the Monzo side to always evoke joy and positivity.

LBB> What were the key challenges in bringing the visual transformations to life? Were there any specific techniques or technologies used?

Uncommon> One of the strengths of the creative was its simplicity and we knew from the outset we wanted to film as many scenes as possible. When our director, Marie Schuller from RSA, proposed using a virtual studio we lept at the opportunity.  Shooting this way allowed us to really control the environment and create stylised and consistent worlds for Money vs Monzo, providing the film with a strong visual identity in the process. And by pre-selecting a bank of different backgrounds that reflected these worlds – grey and muted tones for Money and a more vibrant, fun and colourful world of Monzo –  we could also move at speed, which allowed us to shoot up to 20 sets a day, impossible to do on location, or with a more traditional approach. Careful consideration was given towards the framing to achieve precise match cuts between the two worlds, and we collaborated closely with our VFX team from RASCAL to ensure a true representation of the Monzo brand colours, especially the hot coral.

This followed through into stills, and it was a very precise art to match up the angles and the perspectives to ensure that each shot created the visual symmetry that was required. JP Bonino (photographer) meticulously created CG/3D renders to visualise each shot, angle and text position to make the shoot process as seamless as possible. A Lot of the backgrounds and visual effects were also created using light, JP’s lighting team did this through a lot of trial and error on set.

LBB> How did you ensure consistency across different media channels while maintaining the campaign’s impact?

Uncommon> The money/Monzo construct is so simple that it easily translates into different media channels. The OOH scenarios we came up with also worked for film and vice versa. Art directionally we had very clear rules on what defined the money and the Monzo world. So even though we worked with a separate  film director and stills photographer we knew exactly what it should look and feel like.

LBB> Were there any unexpected moments during the campaign rollout, such as social media buzz or user-generated content related to the visuals?

Uncommon> Monzo were anticipating strong reactions to their ad, and were ready to produce some reactive user-generated content, but it turns out that  the best reactions of all came from their mums, of course.

Monzo repurposed the proud mum texts they received when the campaign went live as one of the best-performing posts on LinkedIn across the campaign – driving over 100k organic impressions.

LBB> How closely did you work with Monzo’s team during the creative process? Were there any specific insights or feedback from Monzo that influenced the final execution?

Uncommon> From start to finish this was a true collaboration, we loved working with the Monzo team and they had insightful, helpful comments to make the work the best it can be at every turn. They brought us into their brand world and we worked together to push it into its next iteration.

LBB> What aspects of Monzo’s brand identity did you aim to capture through the campaign?

Uncommon> We were already big fans of the Monzo brand before working on this campaign. 

They’ve done a great job at establishing something very iconic through their hot coral card. So we wanted to honour that by using the hot coral colour in an unapologetic way. We also loved their simple wordmark. The ‘Money/Monzo’ construct allowed us to use the Monzo logo as an essential and integrated part of the campaign design rather than an afterthought. 

LBB> Finally, what’s something our readers might be surprised to learn?

Uncommon> In total, Monzo created around 500 assets as part of this brand campaign! Also, what they say isn’t true, you can work with animals (dogs & spiders in particular are very professional) just not parrots, they come with diva personalities – who knew?!