E057 - Inside the Happen Bank Rebrand With Mark Elliot, Chief Customer Officer at Happen Bank

On June 22, LendingClub became Happen Bank. Mark Elliot, Chief Customer Officer, ran point on it. He joined the company 3 years ago and asked Scott Sanborn about the name in his very first conversation. The business had already moved from peer-to-peer lending marketplace to multi-product digital bank. The name hadn't caught up. If you're a performance marketer who's never sat on the front lines of a rebrand, this one's for you.  What we get into 1. How the naming process actually worked. Over 100 candidates, cut down by trademark and domain availability, then narrowed to 6 finalists through research with existing customers and the motivated middle segment. Respondents saw the names in print only. No logos, no colors. 2. Why "bank" stayed in the name. The research came back at 100% on this one, and some of their own customers didn't know LendingClub was a bank. 3. How they de-risked distribution. They tested the new color palette and new brand language under the old LendingClub name before the switch, seeded the market months in advance, and still run "Happen Bank, formerly LendingClub" across their touchpoints today. Mark explains what he'd tell any digital lender about working with affiliates and marketplaces through the transition. 4. The 6-month build. What started January 2 and shipped in June, including the move from NYSE to Nasdaq, a 1-month marketing freeze with an escalation process, and the asset audit that turned into spring cleaning. 5. The line item they underestimated: email. Deposit servicing, debit card servicing, applications in flight. AI capabilities improved fast enough during the project to absorb the overage and keep the budget intact. 6. What Mark's watching now. Daily search volume crossover between the old and new brand, plus a custom quarterly brand health survey built for the motivated middle instead of gen pop. 7. And the advice for any CMO convinced the name is what's broken. Mark's answer starts with GEICO. ***** Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!? If so, we have an event for you! The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS San Francisco - September 23rd The Exploratorium 150-person, curated room 101 seats are now filled. 48 seats left! Learn more and request an invitation:   events.thefreetoaster.com   *****   Sign Up For Our Newsletter The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology. ****** Please Support Our Sponsors!   Fintel Connect Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.   https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast   Spinwheel: Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!   https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=aug     Bulldog Media Group: Bulldog Media Group is a leading performance marketing company that specializes in online customer acquisition for clients in the financial services industry. Since 2000, they have focused on financial services digital marketing as their core niche.  https://www.bulldogmediagroup.com/   New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency) NMG focuses on building affiliate marketing programs for consumer lenders. www.newmarketgrowth.com