Metro Bank launches first campaign to empower small business

Metro Bank

Metro Bank has launched a new brand and marketing campaign, demonstrating its commitment to empowering the UK’s small businesses and underlining its highly-rated business banking offering.

This is Metro Bank’s first ever business brand campaign, with radio advertising sitting at the heart of that. The campaign also marks the first time that the Bank has been involved in a publishing partnership, with The Guardian, and will be further supported by an array of digital channels across social media, YouTube, display and paid search. Metro Bank is working in tandem with agency partners Goodstuff and Mr. President to successfully deliver the campaign.

The Bank will be featuring three of its business customers throughout the campaign, giving them an opportunity to showcase their businesses and delve into the close, mutually beneficial relationships they’ve built with Metro Bank. A key advantage for Metro Bank business customers is that they get their own dedicated business manager, who’s there for them every step of the way and on-hand to offer help. Each business manager features alongside their customer in the campaign, reflecting the close connections and friendships created as a result of Metro Bank’s approach.

The three businesses featured are:

  • Lexi’s Treats, which makes low calorie snack bars and has grown quickly with the support of Metro Bank. Lexi is a former banker turned businessman, who saw a gap in the market for low calorie snacks that genuinely taste great too.
  • Daisy’s Dog Empawrium, a business making dog accessories and homemade dog treats, with a shop in Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent. Daisy’s secured a Government-backed Bounce Back Loan with Metro Bank, enabling the business to develop e-commerce capabilities during lockdown.
  • Koalaa Ltd, which designs and produces bespoke prosthetic limbs for children and adults. Its core mission is to ensure that prostheses are comfortable and much more affordable.

In the last year alone, Metro Bank has released a number of technology upgrades specifically designed for businesses. This includes a new SME insurance offering, fresh invoicing capabilities, receipt management upgrades and enabling Direct Debit Origination. In addition, the Bank launched a Business Account Online (BAO) journey for SMEs, so new customers can open an online business account on their mobile or online in just 15 minutes from start to finish, 24 hours a day.

This is in addition to the £1.5billion of Government-backed loans offered by Metro Bank to 36,000 UK businesses. The Bank also managed to keep all of its stores open throughout the pandemic, and is now back to offering 7 days a week opening hours, early until late. 

The Bank has a range of other initiatives which it uses to promote and empower local businesses. To date Metro Bank has hosted more than 11,000 networking events in its stores, giving local businesses a platform to succeed and reach new people. The Bank also works in partnership with Enterprise Nation, a leading provider of advice to small businesses in the UK. This has a range of benefits for customers, including online tools that connect business owners with the answers they need, as well as a diverse range of virtual events held up and down the UK.

Jessica Myers, Brand and Marketing Director at Metro Bank, comments: “As a community bank – one that’s proud of the people and businesses where we operate – it’s a pleasure to feature three of our fantastic businesses and tell their powerful stories through our first fully integrated business brand campaign, whilst creating their own advertising campaigns too. Metro Bank is a champion of human relationships in banking. People value other people, and as the nation’s businesses recover from what has been an incredibly tough year, that’s more important now than ever before.”