NatWest Drives 23% Brand Lift Using Targeted Programmatic Video for SME Banking

NatWest has successfully deployed a programmatic video campaign to drive significant brand lift for its business banking division and the Mettle app. By utilizing postcode-level data and premium inventory, the bank has demonstrated how fintech brands can efficiently reach the traditionally elusive B2B decision-maker audience across England and Wales while maintaining rigorous measurement standards.

What was announced

The campaign was designed to address the specific challenge of reaching small business owners and primary decision-makers at scale. NatWest identified a two-part requirement: building awareness for its core NatWest Business Bank accounts and introducing Mettle, the bank’s dedicated app for new business owners. To execute this, NatWest’s agency, Initiative, collaborated with OpenX to build a programmatic video strategy focused on three specific pillars: precise data, premium supply, and rigorous measurement.

The technical execution relied on OpenXSelect™, which allowed the team to ingest Acxiom data directly. This integration enabled postcode-level targeting across regions with high industry density, ensuring the campaign reached the intended B2B audience without the "wasted spend" often associated with broad-reach digital advertising. To ensure the environment remained brand-safe, the partnership utilized quality scoring to keep delivery focused on premium inventory throughout the campaign lifecycle.

The results, verified through two independent brand lift studies for Mettle and NatWest, showed a marked impact on audience perception. The campaign achieved a 23% increase in prompted brand awareness among primary decision-makers. Furthermore, for the A35+ demographic, there was a 25% lift in brand favourability and consideration, alongside a 21% uplift in brand trust. Among those actively in-market for business accounts, the campaign saw a 72% positive reception and strong action rates, significantly outperforming the 58.4% industry benchmark.

"This campaign shows how precision data, premium supply and strong measurement work together to deliver real brand impact. Partnering with OpenX meant we could activate efficiently at the supply side while still achieving strong brand lift across key business audiences"

Kate Swanson, Client Partner at Initiative.

The companies involved

NatWest is one of the United Kingdom’s largest retail and commercial banks, maintaining a dominant position in the business banking sector. The bank has increasingly focused on digital-first solutions for entrepreneurs, most notably through Mettle, its standalone mobile banking app designed specifically for contractors, freelancers, and small business owners. NatWest’s presence in the fintech ecosystem is extensive, with a history of integrating advanced technology into legacy banking frameworks to better serve the SME market.

OpenX is a major player in the programmatic advertising industry, providing an independent supply-side platform (SSP) that connects publishers with advertisers. The company’s OpenXSelect™ tool is designed to provide more transparent and data-driven access to premium inventory, which was a central component of the NatWest campaign. Initiative, the agency responsible for the strategy, is a global media communications network. In this partnership, Initiative acted as the bridge between NatWest’s brand objectives and the technical capabilities of the OpenX platform, focusing on the "precision data" approach to reach high-value B2B targets in specific geographic locations across England and Wales.

What FF News has reported before

NatWest has been a frequent subject of coverage, reflecting its active role in the evolving UK financial landscape. Recently, FF News reported on how Final Rentals Secures Wales' First NatWest IP-Backed Loan to Fuel AI Expansion, highlighting the bank's willingness to support high-growth tech firms through non-traditional lending structures. The bank has also been active in the merchant services space; we covered how Tyl by NatWest and KuulSeats Partner to Tackle £17.6bn Hospitality No-Show Crisis, demonstrating a focus on solving specific vertical challenges for small businesses.

Furthermore, NatWest’s commitment to technological modernization was evident when NatWest and Endava Partner to Revolutionize Merchant Payments with AI-Native Technology. This focus on backend infrastructure is often paired with performance benchmarking, as seen when Icon Solutions and MongoDB Benchmark Hits 6,000 TPS for Instant Payments, a project that showcased the scale at which modern payment systems must now operate.

What this means

The success of this campaign signals a shift in how major financial institutions approach B2B marketing. For years, "business banking" was marketed through broad, often inefficient channels. By moving toward postcode-level programmatic video, NatWest is acknowledging that the modern business owner is better reached through the same sophisticated data sets used in consumer retail. This puts significant pressure on smaller fintech challengers who may have the technology but lack the massive data sets or the budget to compete for premium, brand-safe inventory at this scale. The industry is moving toward a model where "reach" is secondary to "relevance," and the ability to prove brand lift through hard data rather than just clicks is becoming the new standard for fintech marketing success.