Revolut rewarding influencers to bring in digi-bank customers

REVOLUT has begun paying a network of social media influencers and student union presidents to promote the company and attract new customers as rival fintech firms increase their marketing budgets.

The £1.3bn British digital banking start-up has launched a “Revolut Pioneer” scheme, which rewards ambas- sadors with referral fees for convincing their friends and followers to sign up to Revolut.

So far, the scheme has signed up Youtube vloggers and Instagram stars to promote Revolut cards on social media.

An email sent to customers earlier this month said that the company wants to recruit people who have “a confident tone, a loyal audience and an enthusiasm for better money services”.

Revolut pioneers can earn up to €36 (£32) for each customer they bring to the digital bank, said Ryan Thorpe, the firm’s UK marketing manager. Mr Thorpe said the scheme currently has 300 to 400 members, and the company also plans to pay single mothers who have blogs and technology sector employees to promote the cards.

The company has deleted a blog post announcing a similar “Revolut Influencer” scheme, which it said could earn people up to £1,500 a month. It also claimed that influencers could be given tickets to events including the World Cup, the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Brit Awards.

Mr Thorpe said the blog post was a template that was “accidentally published,” and said there was no cap on monthly earnings. Revolut’s ambassadors will instead be invited to “Revrally” parties hosted by the company.

The new scheme comes as rival digital banking companies embark on extensive marketing campaigns to bring in new customers.

Monzo launched a national television advertising campaign in May, which chief executive Tom Blomfield said attracted 10,000 new customers on a single day.

Berlin-headquartered rival N26 is also running an advertising campaign on the London Underground.

The firm launched in the UK in October, and has since signed up more than 200,000 customers.

Rival digital banks are now “highly likely” to launch their own influencer schemes, said Accenture analyst Tom Merry.

Revolut’s model is “built on getting high numbers of customers and then at some point the expectation is that they’ll be able to turn that into revenue and profit”, he said.