Clients / Contis / Solaris
Case study · Contis / Solaris
The demand engine behind 88% of Contis’ new B2B clients
A PE-backed Banking-as-a-Service platform could do almost anything for almost anyone, which meant it stood for nothing in particular. Verticalising the proposition changed what the business could win.
Julian Moore · Chief Marketing Officer · July 2019 to November 2021 · Senior leadership team
The situation
Contis had an extremely broad end-to-end payments and banking platform: accounts, cards, processing, compliance. Breadth was the product’s strength and the marketing problem. Pitched as “end-to-end payments platform” to everyone, it risked standing for nothing particularly specific in any buyer’s mind.
The brand was dated, marketing was fragmented, and inbound was weak relative to the company’s ambitions. Private equity ownership wanted faster growth and a business ready for a strategic exit, which meant winning larger, more valuable fintech clients than generic inbound could produce.
The diagnosis
Instead of broadcasting the platform, we worked backwards from the markets where it solved a valuable, identifiable problem. The proposition was broken down by vertical and use case, each with its own target accounts, content and acquisition route, because a crypto platform and a lending business do not buy banking infrastructure the same way.
Crypto stood out. Fast-growing trading and crypto businesses across Europe were struggling to find banking and payment infrastructure that understood their sector at all. That was a proposition Contis could credibly own, with named companies attached to it.
Read as “generate more enterprise leads”, this fails. The work was deciding where we could win, what specific problem we solved there, which companies mattered and how those companies actually bought.
The work
What changed
Five workstreams, all pointed at the same commercial targets rather than run as separate channels.
Vertical propositions
Turned a broad capability set into clear end-to-end propositions for priority fintech use cases: crypto and trading platforms, banking and lending propositions, and non-bank financial services. Each vertical got its own problem statement, proof and content.
Named-account ABM
For Tier 1 opportunities, built digital ABM programmes around named accounts instead of waiting for generic inbound. Marketing and sales jointly agreed which organisations mattered, then coordinated content, targeted digital activity and outreach around those accounts.
Credibility through specialist PR
For crypto in particular, specialist trade PR carried the credibility that paid media cannot buy in a regulated infrastructure sale. PR, paid social, SEO and content all supported the same targets, so every channel reinforced the same propositions.
Rebrand as repositioning
Rebranded the business, and treated it as commercial repositioning rather than a cosmetic exercise: new messaging, visual identity and market position built to match the calibre of business Contis was trying to win.
Team rebuild
Rebuilt the function with stronger B2B demand and PR capability, and moved the whole team onto measurable commercial outcomes. That team went on to source the overwhelming majority of new client wins.
Operator detail
How it worked in practice
Accounts were chosen, not hoped for
The Tier 1 pipeline was a list of named organisations agreed between marketing and sales, not a persona. That discipline decided content, events, PR angles and spend. Wins during the period included Binance, Bitpanda and NagaPay.
Credibility was the constraint, so it got its own workstream
Enterprise fintech buyers were betting their product on our infrastructure. Specialist trade PR and named client proof did more for those conversations than any volume channel, which is why PR sat inside the demand engine rather than beside it.
One scoreboard for every channel
Paid social, PR, SEO, content and outbound were held to the same commercial targets. The demand engine was measured on sourced B2B clients, and ended the period responsible for 88% of new client wins.
The rebrand followed the strategy
Repositioning came after the vertical work, so the new brand expressed propositions that already existed. Rebrands that lead the strategy tend to decorate the old problem.
Outcomes
Results
| Metric | Start | Outcome | Timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | c.£15m | £30m | during tenure |
| End-users | c.200k | c.2m | 18 months |
| Inbound leads | baseline | 3x | during tenure |
| New B2B clients sourced by the demand engine | n/a | 88% | during tenure |
Revenue
c.£15m → £30m
during tenureEnd-users
c.200k → c.2m
18 monthsInbound leads
baseline → 3x
during tenureNew B2B clients sourced by the demand engine
n/a → 88%
during tenureRevenue and end-user growth are company outcomes during my tenure that the new GTM strategy contributed to. The tripled inbound and the 88% sourcing figure are the marketing engine’s own numbers. The 200k to c.2m figure is end-users of client programmes, not Contis customers.
Contis was subsequently acquired by Solaris. The growth helped strengthen the business ahead of that acquisition, and I led PR, product marketing and GTM communications through the 2021 acquisition process. Marketing did not cause the acquisition.
Julian is a very strong marketeer and leader. We worked together in Contis. While there he built the most effective Marketing team I have worked with in my career.
What I took from it
Broad platforms do not need broader marketing, they need narrower propositions. Working backwards from verticals where the platform solved an expensive, specific problem is what made a very wide product buyable.
And for enterprise infrastructure, pick the accounts you intend to win. Generic inbound cannot carry a sale where the buyer is betting their product on you; named-account work plus sector credibility can.
About Julian Moore
Julian Moore is a growth CMO specialising in fintech and B2B SaaS. Across 20 years he has led growth in six fintech and SaaS leadership roles, from pre-seed startups through PE-backed scale-ups to listed businesses including Xero, with three company sales during his tenures (Contis to Solaris, Bullhorn’s Vista to Insight transaction, and Jillion pre-launch). He runs Marketing Momentum, a fractional CMO practice for fintech and SaaS founders.
More about Julian →Broad platform, unclear proposition?
If your product can serve almost anyone and your pipeline shows it, the work is verticalisation and account selection. I have run that play in regulated fintech infrastructure.