The financial services industry is at an inflection point. Companies need to innovate to survive, yet the very regulations meant to protect consumers can stifle creative thinking. Meanwhile, the competition is intensifying, and customer expectations are constantly shifting.
Messy and complex challenges? That’s what gets the experts at kyu companies like Kepler and SYLVAIN energized. They’re addressing industry issues head-on and helping financial services clients navigate this complicated landscape with both precision and creativity.
Problem: The Innovation-Regulation Standoff
Because financial companies often view compliance requirements as creativity killers, they default to safe and conventional approaches that fail to differentiate.
At growth marketing agency Kepler, client solutions vice president Carolyn Emond encounters this mindset regularly. “There’s the belief that innovation and risk-taking in a highly regulated sector are mutually exclusive,” she explains. While her clients are open to testing new platforms, “they need assurance that these new ventures will drive tangible results,” she says.
Solution: Strategic Risk-Taking Through Data
Kepler entirely reframes innovation. Rather than viewing regulation as an obstacle, Emond’s team approaches innovation “as a strategic, data-driven process.” Testing frameworks are developed with clear KPIs, allowing clients to start small, gather data, and make informed scaling decisions.
This methodology transforms relationships. “Once our clients see the initial data and buy into this iterative process, they become incredibly engaged,” Emond says. “They’re not only open to the risk but are eager to work with us to make continuous refinements.”
The result is intelligent experimentation where compliance becomes a design parameter rather than a creative constraint.
Problem: The Rationality Myth
Traditional B2B financial services marketing operates on a flawed premise: that business owners make purely rational decisions. This leads to sterile messaging that fails to connect with the humans behind business decisions.
Ben Cheney, a partner and part of the founding team at design and strategy firm SYLVAIN, regularly fights this misconception: “Small and medium business owners are human beings, and people are inherently emotional, with real hopes, real worries, real needs.”
Solution: Human-Centered Business Marketing
SYLVAIN understands that financial decisions carry profound emotional weight. Whether a customer feels accomplished accessing an airport lounge or a coveted reservation thanks to their premium credit card, or confident about a smart business investment, emotions are a part of every choice — even seemingly rational ones.
This insight informs SYLVAIN’s approach with its financial clients, from regional banks to global institutions and emerging fintechs. The agency incorporates human needs into all its thinking, including messaging and product design, recognizing that customers require both functional returns and emotional validation from their financial decisions.
Problem: The Loyalty Chasm
Customer loyalty in financial services has devolved into an endless race of points and perks, creating what Cheney calls “a loyalty chasm.” SYLVAIN discovered that this transactional approach breeds distrust rather than genuine connection, reducing loyalty to surface-level incentives that fail to create lasting bonds with customers.
Solution: Authentic Relationship Building
SYLVAIN literally wrote the book on loyalty for American Express. The agency found that true loyalty requires three elements: a reciprocal relationship anchored in consistency, fostered by deep emotional bonds, and solidified through intrinsic commitment.
Enterprise companies might balk at the cost, but Cheney says the benefits justify the effort: “Building a deep-seated sense of connection and inspiring genuine loyalty can make all the investment worthwhile.” The returns appear across multiple dimensions — reduced customer acquisition costs, increased engagement, higher satisfaction scores, and stronger retention rates.
Problem: Blurring Boundaries
The traditional separation between B2B and B2C marketing has disappeared, leaving companies to navigate a landscape where conventional categories no longer effectively guide strategy.
Emond has witnessed this acceleration intensify over recent years, marked by “a heightened focus on the individual consumer” that transcends traditional market boundaries. This can show up in unexpected places: LinkedIn becoming a major advertising space for B2C products, or CTV (Connected TV) being leveraged for B2B opportunities. Traditional financial institutions and fintech companies increasingly collaborate rather than compete.
Solution: Integrated Strategic Thinking
Both kyu member companies develop strategies that transcend traditional categories. Rather than forcing clients into outdated frameworks, they acknowledge modern complexity.
For Kepler, this means helping clients see opportunity where others see confusion, and understanding that the most successful players will be those who can blend the stability and trust of a traditional institution with the speed and innovation of a fintech.
SYLVAIN has witnessed this evolution through American Express’s acquisitions of fintechs, like software Center, lender Kabbage, and payment platform Rooam. “It’s paying off, giving them a unique opportunity to deliver cutting-edge financial services solutions that are backed by 170 years of trust, security, and service,” says Cheney.
Problem: Growing Competition
The financial services landscape has become crowded with emerging fintech brands. Traditional differentiators like features and rates no longer provide a sustainable advantage.
Emond has observed how this competitive pressure has forced companies beyond their old-school approaches: “They recognize that to stand out, they must have a unique value proposition that resonates on a personal level with the individual consumer.”
Solution: Purpose-Driven Differentiation
Both Kepler and SYLVAIN help clients move beyond product-focused messaging toward brand purpose and personal relevance. In saturated markets, differentiation comes from understanding deeper human needs.
This involves a comprehensive brand strategy that considers cultural impact. Cheney notes that brands like American Express and BlackRock “are impacting all layers of culture and facets of our everyday experiences.” Cheney helps influence these decisions, and “works hard to ensure is honest, impactful, and additive to the human experience.”
Transformation Opportunities
The challenges facing the financial services industry are interconnected and require solutions that combine regulatory intelligence with human insight. The most successful approaches merge innovative thinking with operational discipline and strategic vision with tactical execution.
For companies ready to embrace this complexity, the rewards extend beyond market share. Kepler and SYLVAIN are getting the chance to redefine what financial services can be: more human, more responsive, and genuinely connected to the lives of the people they serve.