Pepper Money: The story of Interesting

Campaign creates cut-through by redefining a sector and putting Pepper at its Heart.

The Challenge

Pepper Homeloans, known today as Pepper Money, is the UK intermediary mortgage lending division of the Australian-listed global financial group Pepper. After a relatively slow first year, Pepper Homeloans set ambitious growth targets. A key to achieving these targets was differentiating in a notoriously difficult sector.

The Solution

Recognising that Pepper’s intermediary-facing mortgage proposition did not differ dramatically from others in the same space, we identified an opportunity to create cut-through by redefining the market terminology itself. The terms ‘non-conforming,’ ‘unconventional,’ ‘adverse,’ and ‘diffi- cult’ had inappropriate and inherently negative associations. Instead, we adopted a more human stance, focusing on people and their individual situations, introducing the concept of ‘interesting’ cases.

The Results

By articulating the lender’s proposition in a way more suited to the times and resonating powerfully with brokers on a human level, Pepper re- framed the conversation around specialist mortgages, and in doing so differentiated the brand in a memorable and meaningful way.

Within less than a year, registrations were up 225% and Pepper’s lending volumes increased by 153%. This campaign marked the beginning of new levels of engagement, wider brand awareness, and a reinvigorated sales team. Unprompted willingness to recommend, a key metric in BVA BDRC’s monthly Project Mercury broker survey, increased steadily. The team even noticed brokers quoting the brand language back to them: “I’ve got an interesting case for you...”

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