Harnessing the Power of Category Creation with Dr. Christine Bailey

With a storied career at Hewlett Packard and Cisco Systems, and the acclaim of being a TEDx speaker, Dr. Christine Bailey is a beacon of knowledge in the Fintech industry. Now, as CMO of Passfort, a SaaS RegTech provider whose platform automates anti-financial crime and compliance processes, Dr. Bailey is one of the premier influencers in the B2B Fintech marketing space.

In her presentation as part of B2B Fintech Marketing Day, A Fintech Marketing Success from Unknown to Acquired, Dr. Bailey describes Passfort's rapid ascent from unknown to being acquired by Moody’s Analytics in just eight months.

You can watch the full session here.  

The quick rise of Passfort

Passfort was born in April 2015, and by October 2015, they had their first customer. Fast forward a few years to the end of March 2021, and Passfort was really motivated to accelerate their marketing journey. By August, they got series A funding — and y the end of November, Passfort was acquired by Moody's Analytics. So Passfort went from being relatively unknown in March to being acquired in November.

In this session, Dr. Bailey explains exactly how Passfort achieved this rapid success. This journey wasn't just about marketing a product; it was about creating a brand new market category, establishing a unique point of view, and crafting a scalable revenue marketing engine.

Key Takeaways

Creating a new product category

Passfort helps companies deliver digital Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) workflows, automating financial crime and compliance processes. Dr. Bailey emphasized the importance of having a crystal-clear category and purpose in marketing. This clarity is the cornerstone of effective brand communication.

“Companies are really bad at saying who they are, what category are they in, who they want to be. So, bearing that in mind, where do you start about when you want to create a new category? Who are you? That's what category creation is all about.”

CEO advocacy and brand perception

Overcoming the challenges of changing brand perception is pivotal, and as Dr. Bailey points out, CEO advocacy plays a critical role in this journey.

“You've got to have advocacy from your CEO. Our CEO was just amazing. He didn’t just stand behind anything that had gone before: he embraced it. He learned it. He evangelised the new messaging to employees and investors and customers and to the outside world. So his advocacy was absolutely crucial.”

We've only scratched the surface here. If you want to learn more about category creation, differentiation, and successfully scaling a Fintech company, we highly encourage you to watch the full session.