Building Trust and Driving Mass User Acquisition

As a new neobank in a highly competitive fintech market, ZED needed to build brand trust from scratch. Its core challenges were twofold:

1) build a credible, innovative brand to attract users, and

2) drive mass user acquisition for its product waitlist to prove market traction to future investors.

Strategic PR for Credibility and Demand Generation

PRecious leveraged the compelling narrative of ZED’s experienced founders. Using the PRecious IMPACT Pathway, we developed a strategy to build trust and drive demand simultaneously:

• Identify: We identified the core target audience (young professionals) and their primary pain point (lack of credit access from traditional banks).
• Map: We mapped the key business goal (prove product-market fit to investors) to a clear and measurable PR KPI: grow the product waitlist.
• Plan: We built a six-month strategic campaign, timing key stories to align with regulatory milestones (like its BSP certification) to maximize credibility.

Activate: We launched the campaign with a high-impact media briefing for key fintech press, followed by sustained one-on-one interviews for the founders with both local and regional media to amplify their unique, founder-led story.

Measurable Results: 730% Waitlist Growth and Investor Validation

The campaign delivered significant, measurable results in both brand-building and direct user acquisition.

• Massive Audience Reach: The combined media efforts achieved a total reach of more than 29 million, successfully introducing the ZED brand to its core target demographic.
• Direct Demand Generation: Proactive media outreach was a primary driver in growing the product waitlist from 12,000 in January 2024 to nearly 100,000 by October 2024—a more than 730% increase.

Strengthened Investor Credibility: This massive, measurable user demand provided indisputable proof of product-market fit. This traction, amplified by a strong media presence, became a powerful validation tool for investor conversations, significantly strengthening ZED’s appeal and credibility for its next funding round.

Key Takeaway – PR as a Demand Generation Engine

In a high-trust sector like fintech, PR is a powerful demand generation tool. By aligning a compelling founder story with key business milestones (like a product launch or regulatory approval), you build credibility that directly drives measurable user acquisition and validates your model for investors.