Finance advertising is finally gaining momentum, but efficiency matters

Finance advertising is showing impressive growth. In 2024, leading U.S. banks spent over $22.5 billion on their ad and marketing, a 8% jump from the previous year.

Right now, digital is a significant growth driver. 52% of banks and 47% of insurance companies increased their marketing spend on digital channels in 2024. 

Overall, experts predict that the finance sector will see one of the highest growths in ad spend at +6.4% throughout 2025—notably above the global average of 4.9%,. while U.S. financial media network ad spend is projected to climb from $640 million to $1.22 billion by 2026.

To act on this growing momentum, CMOs can’t base the allocation of their ad spend on intuitive guesses—they need to to make strategic investments based on real-time consumer data. 

TDL;DR:

• Financial advertising is trending up and consumer trust has never been higher. 

• Financial CMOs need to prove ROI and gain market share, but this newly-gained trust is fragile and there’s strong competition from challenger banks.

• To keep pace and compete with challenger banks, CMOs must validate creative rapidly.

In 2025, consumer trust in the financial services sector rose to 64%—moving it into the “trusted” bracket for the first time in years. While trust in banks rose even higher—to 66%. This places consumer trust at the highest it has been since the 2008 crisis. 

This gives companies in the financial services industry a prime opportunity to act on positive consumer sentiment. But creative needs to be smart and strategic to build on this momentum. It needs to speak to consumer’s genuine interests, pain points and financial concerns in distinctive, original ways. 

It’s also important to note that this trust is fragile. Edelman Smithfield reports that the sector still ranks towards the lower end of the 17 sectors measured on trust. Ipsos notes that rather than recent gains reflecting favorable consumer opinion, they instead show a successful recovery from an extended period of poor reputation—highlighting that the change in perception is less about consumers having a strong view of the sector and more about a return to a perception of basic reliability. 

To win over neutral or critical consumers, creative must be authentic, credible, and transparent. It must be value-driven, emphasizing integrity, consumer support throughout economic turbulence and a commitment to sustainability and social responsibility over profit. 

Challenger banks are growing deposits at 37% annually, redefining speed and agility. Challenger banks and neobanks, like Monzo and Revolut, are particularly popular among younger demographics. 60% of Millennials and 72% of Gen Z use a neobank as their primary banking service. While one in five consumers have accounts with a challenger bank and 30% of all U.S. households have accounts with a digital-only bank. 

Challenger banks are often seen by consumers as more modern, more accessible (notably, more tech-savvy and user friendly) and possessing similar values to themselves—such as on matters of sustainability. 

To keep pace and de-risk investments, CMOs must validate creative rapidly —before a full scale launch that may fail to perform. It’s essential to test your creative with your target consumers to uncover sentiment and make strategic choices that drive ROI. Early and consistent validation fosters agility, enabling you to quickly pivot campaigns in response to competitor moves, shifting rates and regulations. 

With Zappi, you can deliver ROI with 60% more predictive accuracy than traditional pre-testing. Our platform allows you to validate whether your creative connects with consumers in a measurable way, which elements drive that connection and what fails to resonate. You can use our consumer insights tool to validate your creative across digital, mobile, social and OOH—ensuring you have the right messaging, imagery, and audio before scaling.

Zappi’s Advertising System provides predictive creative validation with 60% higher accuracy than traditional methods—helping CMOs de-risk investments, prove ROI and scale trusted creative that connects with cautious consumers.

What’s more, legacy solutions can explain approximately 50% of the relationship with sales prediction and market mix modeling, While Zappi's Amplify can explain 80%. Stephan Gans, Chief Consumer Insights and Analytics Officer PepsiCo says:

"Zappi Amplify predicts not only the short term sales impact of the advertising with roughly 50% greater accuracy than our legacy pre-testing approach, it also predicts the ad’s longer term brand-building potential."

The platform also includes an AI Quick Reports feature that generates comprehensive reports that highlight the most impactful consumer feedback. By automatically incorporating this real-time data, the tool seamlessly facilitates a cycle of creating, testing, analyzing and optimizing, allowing for immediate validation and supporting quick pivots. You can also benchmark your creative against industry norms by comparing it to other ads in the database—giving you a reliable measure of how your ad is performing in regards to consumer trust. 

See how Zappi’s Advertising System empowers finance CMOs to scale trustworthy, ROI-driven campaigns when the stakes are high.