In a category where purchases are rare but decisions are deeply personal, Chris Maccan, CMO of NOW Finance, is playing the long game — and playing it well. As a challenger brand in financial services, NOW Finance has built its growth strategy around trust, clarity, and consistent brand building. 

I caught up with Chris to talk about how his team is using AI responsibly, dialing up emotional resonance, and staying nimble in a category that’s often slow to change, but never short on pressure.

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Roli Saxena: Chris, thanks so much for joining me for this conversation. In a crowded and fast-changing financial services market, clarity of strategy can be a major differentiator. How has NOW Finance shaped its marketing strategy to stand out, build trust, and drive sustainable growth?

Chris Maccan: In our category, purchase frequency is low; we’re talking years between purchases. But we use that time to our advantage, playing the long game to build brand awareness, familiarity, and likeability. Because we have a clear understanding of our target market, we’re able to engage with future customers consistently over time, so that when they do enter the market, we’re already on their shopping list. This makes our acquisition efforts highly efficient at turning consideration into action and driving ROI across our total marketing spend. This persistent, ongoing, and highly targeted brand-building activity has supercharged our growth and reduced our CAC.

Roli: Building familiarity over time in a low-frequency category is such a smart move, and it requires a disciplined approach to targeting and spend. That brings us to one of the biggest levers available to marketers today: artificial intelligence.

AI is rewriting how marketers build campaigns, segment audiences, and optimize spend. Where has NOW Finance leaned into AI most meaningfully, and what have you learned in the process?

 Chris: Using AI to optimise our acquisition spend has been transformative. We initially approached our partner’s AI optimisation tools with trepidation; testing, comparing, and analysing them against our BAU. Now, we’re all in. But we’ve done so in a way that ensures the campaign structure supports optimisation, fluid budget allocations, and clear visibility of outcomes. There’s a trade-off in terms of know-how and transparency, but the improvement in results has been meaningful.

Roli: It’s clear that AI is enabling smarter marketing execution, but in categories like financial services, where trust is paramount, there’s often a tension between optimizing for short-term performance and investing in long-term brand equity.

In financial services — especially in moments of financial stress — performance metrics tend to take the spotlight. How do you ensure brand-building doesn’t get deprioritized, and what role does brand trust play in customer acquisition at NOW Finance?

Chris: As a challenger brand with a product that customers can’t see or touch, nor rely on prior experience with, building a known and familiar brand is essential. The decision for customers to take out a loan is an important and high stakes decision; having trust in the provider they choose makes this decision easier, and that’s why we can’t and don’t deprioritize brand-building. 

The brand-building budget is a completely separate line item from the acquisition budget, and its ROI is measured through improved CAC efficiency, brand health metrics, and intangibles such as a stronger employee proposition and greater credibility with external partners.

Roli: That separation of brand and acquisition budgets is a tactical masterstroke, and it’s one more way you're setting the foundation for future growth. But strategy is only one part of the equation. 

Personal finance is deeply emotional. How are you thinking about messaging and tone in your marketing efforts right now? Has it shifted compared to previous years?

Chris: We’re leaning much more heavily into emotive messaging, but always pair it with a rational element. While personal finance is deeply emotional, it’s a category customers feel they should approach rationally, so we aim to capture the heart, while also giving something to satisfy the head. In practice, this means our brand ads lead with humour but always close with our no-fee product proposition. We make prospective customers laugh, feel good about the brand, and still give them a strong rational reason to choose us. Our social channels are a good example of this shift. We used to focus on product messages and testimonials, but now, it’s all about memes and remixes.

Roli: Love that balance of humor and rational proof points. But crafting the right message is only half the battle; you also have to deliver it in a way that’s privacy-conscious and future-ready, especially as third-party signals fade and data regulations tighten.

With privacy regulations evolving and third-party signals weakening, how is NOW Finance thinking about its marketing tech stack and data strategy for the next 1–2 years?

Chris: Our MarTech strategy focuses on increasing integration and targeting, alongside data minimisation and abstraction. We’re seeing significant benefits in our acquisition stack by optimising targeting activity based on actual transaction outcomes, and by enabling our marketing partners to leverage their AI tools and optimisation engines to deliver greater volume and efficiency. We take a partnership-led approach, which allows us to use both first- and third-party unique identifiers rather than any PII, hashed or otherwise. This approach enables us to capitalise on available opportunities while meeting the expectations of our customers, community, and regulators around privacy and data security.

Roli: Your partnership-led data approach really stands out, especially at a time when marketers are being asked to do more with less and still maintain compliance. It also speaks to a larger theme we’re seeing: the need to listen more closely to customers, not just track them.

In an environment where attention is scarce and expectations are high, the best marketers are the best listeners. What role does customer feedback, or real-time behavioral data, play in shaping your marketing campaigns? Can you share an example where listening closely made a meaningful difference?

Chris: We’re harnessing customer feedback and real-time behavioural data most effectively in our digital experience. Our customers prefer to interact with us digitally, ideally on their phones. Each day, we monitor and review customer feedback, alongside quantitative signals such as unusually long sessions or spikes in rage clicks. For instance, we’ve gone through several iterations of our mobile calendar/date picker UI within the application flow. By matching customer feedback with session recordings, we’ve been able to identify issues users face when entering dates on specific device and OS combinations. By listening closely and treating each data point seriously (rather than waiting for a critical mass), we’re able to move quickly and continuously refine the customer experience.

Roli: That’s such a great example of listening in action and not waiting for a flood of feedback to make meaningful improvements. Let’s zoom out to the role itself for a moment. CMOs today are expected to be visionaries, data analysts, storytellers, and team captains, all at once. What part of the role energizes you most right now, and what do you think today’s marketing leaders need to let go of to stay future-ready?

Chris: Like many marketers, I love novelty. I’m most energised when I’m creating something new or solving an interesting problem. So for me, wearing more hats than ever is definitely a feature of my role, not a bug. It keeps me engaged, always learning, and looking ahead.

To stay future-ready, marketers need to let go of any notion that they’ve figured out their growth recipe. We’re all working towards the right product–market fit, but that’s an ongoing journey, not a destination. Sometimes, especially when results are strong, it’s tempting to think you’ve cracked it. But in reality, you’re just at the start of the next phase. And if you don’t keep moving, you’ll quickly get left behind.

Roli: That reminder to stay curious, especially when things are going well, is such a timely one. And now, one last question we always like to ask to end on a lighter note.

If AI could take over one annoying task in your workday (or life), what would it be and why?

Chris: For work, I’d love an AI that can deal with sorting out double and triple calendar bookings. Failing that, an AI clone of me that can attend all the meetings on my behalf would also suffice.

For home, I desperately want to offload the making of school lunches! Why? If you know, you know. And if you don’t, it’s best left as one of those surprise things not in the parenting brochure.

Roli: Calendar chaos and school lunches—the dual nemeses of modern life. I couldn’t agree more.

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Big thanks to Chris for this candid and insightful conversation. His approach is a powerful reminder that growth doesn’t always come from chasing the newest thing, but from doubling down on what truly builds trust over time. Stay tuned for more interviews in this series, where I’ll continue chatting with marketers who are shaping what’s next.