Permission to play messaging that wins

Over the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to sit down with a couple of well-known financial services organisations – one in the UK, one in the Nordics. Both were over 100 years old. Proper institutions. The sort of brands most of us recognise instantly, and probably grew up seeing on high streets, sponsor boards, and letterheads.

They were proud of that heritage, and they should be. But they were also feeling the pressure. Digital-first providers are stealing a march on growth, and it is not because these established brands are doing anything “wrong” in the traditional sense. It is because their customer engagement and messaging is stuck in what I call permission to play messaging.

And in financial services, “safe”, “secure”, and “reliable” are exactly that.

What permission to play messaging really does

We talked about the messaging both organisations were using, it leaned heavily on reassurance:

• Safe money
• Trusted for generations
• Reliable service
• Secure technology

Here’s the challenge. Nobody actively chooses a bank or insurer because they think the alternative is “risky”. Safety is the minimum bar. It is expected.

Yes, all financial services carries risk (the 2008 financial crisis proved that in a very public way), but customers do not wake up thinking “I fancy a slightly risky provider today”. So when brands lead with safety alone, they end up sounding like everyone else.

That is what permission to play messaging does. It buys you credibility, but it rarely creates preference.

Differentiators are felt, not said

One of the CRM leaders I spoke to put it really well. His focus was shifting towards the emotional side of money. Not money as numbers and products, but money as an enabler.

Because when you strip it back, people do not want a pension, a mortgage, or an ISA. They want what those things give them:

• confidence they will be ok
• freedom to make choices
• progress towards a goal
• control when life changes

That is where differentiation lives. Not in claims, but in experiences that make customers feel understood and supported.

Digital-first providers often do this by default. Their comms feels closer to the customer because it is built around life moments, not product lines. Legacy brands can absolutely do the same, but they need to connect CX and CRM so the promise shows up consistently.

What established brands should consider in CX and CRM

If you are an old, established brand, your heritage is an advantage. It is credibility. But it is only useful if you combine it with modern orchestration across channels.

The practical things I would look at first:

• Pick the “money moments” you want to own: first salary, first home, new child, retirement planning, inheritance. Build CRM journeys around those moments, not just campaigns.
• Turn reassurance into proactive help: timely nudges, clear explanations, next-best actions that reduce effort.
• Personalisation needs to earn its place: use data to be more relevant and useful, not just more targeted. This is often where a CDP business case helps align teams on outcomes and governance. (purplesquarecx.com)
• Make the operating model match the promise: if your positioning is “we’re here when it matters”, then design service, comms, and follow-up around that standard.

Permission to play messaging is still needed. You cannot skip trust in this category. But trust is only the entry ticket. Differentiation is what gets customers to choose you, stay with you, and recommend you.

And for legacy brands, the winning formula is simple: keep the heritage, modernise the experience, and talk about what money makes possible for people – not just what you do with it.