Money may make the world go round, but not all financial services customers need to be spun toward the same guidance.
Capturing their attention requires a strategy in crafting, packaging, and distributing your money-centric messaging. It must also continually adapt to the evolving audience needs and engagement preferences. For example, as consumers grow more accustomed to getting quick answers through AI tools, they expect your financial advice to be just as easy to access and apply.
Further, to win their trust and consideration, your content must also be more accurate, context-aware, and customized than what they might see from AI or your competitors.
To help finance-related organizations conquer these challenges, I’ve gathered examples from 2025 Content Marketing Award winners and finalists. Other vertical industries will find them applicable, too. Each offers valuable lessons that will enrich your marketing expertise.
Refresh the experience surrounding your content
SoftBank Investment Advisers: Sōzō content program
SoftBank Investment Advisers (SBIA) established a singular mission for its Sōzō Insights editorial platform when it launched in 2022: provide insights that help startup leaders and their investors make better business decisions.
Though that mission hasn’t changed, conditions across the global economy have. For example, recent concerns about high interest rates, stock market volatility, and the impact of tariffs have made businesses more cost-conscious and risk-averse about new avenues for growth.
The increasingly complex media landscape also drives this audience to seek trustworthy insights quickly contextualized on demand.
In response to these shifts, SBIA reengineered its program under a campaign approach that made its content more immersive, navigable, and discoverable.
The upgrade started with a visual refresh of the Sōzō Insights hub to create more intuitive content pathways and elevate the platform’s premium feel. The introduction of a content flywheel and multimedia features complemented the new look and enhanced consistency and atomization.
For example, SBIA repackaged its exclusive survey data into nimble Q-and-A videos and visual content for easier cross-channel distribution. In addition, the brand developed quick-turn data analyses, an interactive Sōzō Pulse tool (shown above), and a first-of-its-kind CEO Survey highlights video to provide more entry points into the available insights.
According to award entry materials submitted by agency partner Message Lab @ Orchestra, these upgrades made Sōzō Insights more engaging and impactful. An agency representative reports all-time highs in traffic, engagement, and subscriber growth. They also note that its audience now reposts content features more frequently, and journalists have begun to cite the work.
SBIA’s efforts also earned praise from another discerning audience: Content Marketing Award judges. The program won the top prize in three categories: Best Content-Driven Website, Best Overall Editorial, and Best Overall Design.
Focus on your audience’s personal priorities
Ally Financial: Ally Stories on Conversationally
Most financial services businesses offer their customers general advice on making smarter spending and investment decisions or creating a budget for essential needs. But teaching them how to save for the bigger things they want requires more personalized guidance.
Ally Bank developed its “buckets” savings tool to deliver that. First launched in 2020, the tool enables consumers to divide their savings into designated categories, set target amounts, and allocate deposits automatically.
To increase usage of the buckets tool among account holders, Ally used novel storytelling that blended data-driven insights and customers’ real-life experiences.
The bank’s 2024 research identified three popular savings priorities of its audience — weddings, pets, and holidays. The marketing team interviewed customers to learn about their experiences and gather their tips.
The qualitative and quantitative research approach led Ally to craft stories for the award-winning Conversationally content hub. It published three stories illustrating how its buckets tool helped customers achieve their savings goals for weddings, pets, and holidays.
One article shared the experience of an animal lover whose savings efforts with Ally gave him financial peace of mind when he unexpectedly adopted two stray cats. In another, a bride described how Ally helped her save for her dream wedding without incurring debt.
According to the firm’s Content Marketing Award entry, Ally distributed the content “across customer dashboards to target existing account holders who hadn’t yet adopted the buckets feature, as well as through social media targeting to reach broader audiences.”
Illustrating the value of its buckets tool through heartfelt customer storytelling also increased the impact of Ally's content. As noted in their entry, performance highlights included an average time on site of 2.5 minutes and a conversion rate 30% higher than its benchmark. These milestones also helped the campaign win the 2025 Content Marketing Award for Best Series of Articles.
Combine education and tools for regional implementation
Intuit QuickBooks: Localized Business Management Ecosystem
Entrepreneurs and small business owners don’t necessarily have fewer obligations or work responsibilities than their enterprise counterparts. But they have fewer hands to manage those business obligations.
That includes staying updated on the complex landscape of regional tax codes, business regulations, and payroll requirements. Compliance rules vary widely, leaving inexperienced business owners confused and at risk of making costly mistakes.
To help close that knowledge gap and increase customer confidence, Intuit QuickBooks developed a series of search-friendly content tools and resources tailored to each U.S. state. The strategically structured experience puts reliable financial guidance at business owners’ fingertips — and empowers them to implement it.
The program includes:
Interactive tools that automatically calculate regulatory requirements like sales tax, self-employment tax, and payroll processing for each state.
State-centric landing pages designed to help the content rank well on search for "[state] small business" and other geo-intent terms.
Profiles of trusted regional accountants whom QuickBooks customers can tap.
Over 100 articles that answer common small business questions, share helpful tips, and link into QuickBooks’ calculator and accountant ecosystem.
Intuit QuickBooks affirmed its role as a trusted service provider and partner in small business success by breaking down dense topics into clear guidance and hands-on assistance. It’s also positioned its content to achieve significant growth: According to projections shared in the brand’s Content Marketing Award submission, the state-specific approach is expected to deliver over 28 million impressions and 800,000-plus clicks in 2025.
For its efforts, the brand was named a finalist for Best Content Marketing Program in Financial Services for the 2025 Content Marketing Awards.
Deliver influential expertise with sound value
Investec: How a Bank Became a Broadcast Boss
As global markets grow more volatile and investment options more complex, credible guidance remains in short supply. In South Africa, residents’ struggles compound these conditions when deciding how to grow and protect their wealth. That problem is acute for busy professionals who typically lack the time to sift through high volumes of data.
Investec launched Focus Radio SA in 2018 to transform the bank's intellectual capital into accessible, actionable audio content. The podcast platform strategically targets time-poor, information-hungry professionals and high-net-worth individuals on the go.
What sets this content initiative apart is its commitment to long-form, expert-led storytelling that prioritizes audience value over promotional messaging. Also notable, Investec produces the shows in-house and typically features influential broadcasters as hosts.
The platform's shows serve a range of informational needs. For example, No Ordinary Wednesday delivers bi-weekly macroeconomic deep-dives; Everything Counts focuses on personal finance every other week; and Macro Monday provides weekly market updates.
According to its Content Marketing Award submission, Investec's multifocal podcasting consistently performs well and continues to grow its audience and marketing value. The platform regularly ranks in the top 10 of Apple Podcasts South Africa’s investing and business charts, and Focus Radio has been named Africa’s No. 1 investing podcast. It has also increased its following on Apple Podcasts by 71% year over year, with an increase across all distribution platforms of 43%.
Adding to that growing list of achievements, the platform won the 2025 Content Marketing Award for Best Content Marketing Program in Financial Services. More importantly, Investec proves that empowering audiences with valuable education can create more meaningful and lasting connections than conventional marketing campaigns.
Show a desirable future — and how you help shape it
EY Generations
Growing concerns about trade wars, a tighter economy, and rising costs aren’t just shifting consumers’ needs — they’re reshaping business decision-making. For example, business leaders are increasingly pressured to prioritize company profitability over global sustainability and environmental responsibility goals.
Although EY isn’t technically a financial services company, a large division of its business focuses on advising clients in this sector. The company puts its broad banking, wealth, and asset management experience to good use in Shaping the Future for Generations To Come. The campaign demonstrates how strategically crafted storytelling can drive satisfying gains.
At the center of this effort lies an emotionally resonant film (above), which breaks from traditional B2B storytelling. One artfully rendered distinction is the voices EY chose for its messaging: children of diverse backgrounds and abilities.
The generations of tomorrow issue a critical reminder: Today’s leaders shape the world they’ll inherit. As the children express their hopes and dreams, they implore those leaders to place them at the heart of their business decisions.
The film premiered at the World Economic Forum in Davos and is prominently featured on the EY website. There, it’s complemented by a data-rich platform. Original research quantifies challenges raised in the film, while thoughtful analyses and eye-catching visualizations contextualize their urgency and business relevance.
The effort connects EY’s brand purpose of "building a better working world" to actionable business leadership. Not only did the content resonate with its audience, but it also reinforced EY’s market positioning.
As reported in its Content Marketing Award submission, an Ipsos tracking study showed a seven-point lift in brand favorability among global C-suite audiences, and 79% of respondents who saw the film agreed it positions EY as more distinctive versus competitors.
The effort was named as a 2025 Content Marketing Awards finalist in the Best B2B Branded Content category.
Drive financial services success — no matter how it’s defined
As these Content Marketing Awards-recognized examples prove, the more responsive your content is to the latest shifts in economic conditions and customer needs, the more your financial services brand will gain. Beyond the potential to grow your business and increase the value of its offerings, you’ll earn the trust of your audience — a benefit that will pay dividends long after your campaign.
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Content Marketing Awards Winners and Finalists
