Charting a New Course for Varo

​CHALLENGE​

Varo applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for a national bank charter. If approved, Varo would become the first national bank in the U.S. for people who want to bank on their smartphones. ​

​SOLUTION​

Since we knew downstream media would take cues from the positioning given by first reports from top reporters/influencers, we created a snowball effect by seeding them with consumer benefits, a friendly video of the CEO explaining a customer-first message, and consumer spokespeople – all timed to coincide with a major speech from the OCC. ​

​RESULT​

PR generated more than 117 pieces of coverage to equal 592 million impressions – 97% of which had a positive sentiment – in major business and technology outlets, including the Wall Street Journal (Telis Demos), TechCrunch (Ryan Lawler), Reuters, BuzzFeed (Matthew Zeitlin), Bloomberg (Sarah Ponczek), American Banker (Lalita Clozel) and PYMNTS. More importantly, the company raised $45 million in its latest round.

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