MEET THE SPEAKER: ALISTAIR ROSS – CREATIVE PARTNER AT LOGICLOGICMAGIC ON CREATIVITY, BRAND TRUST AND STANDING OUT IN FINTECH

Speaker Name

Alistair Ross

What's one thing you hope attendees take away from your session?

Making more imaginative creative choices can help grow FinTech brand awareness and trust faster through Demand Generation programmes, without necessarily investing in a separate stream of 'brand activity'.

In one sentence, what do you do and what is your role?

Creative Partner @ LogicLogicMagic. I help technology brands become remembered before buyers are ready to choose, through Competitive Creativity®.

What's the biggest challenge facing the industry in this area?

Technology companies have an intrinsic engineering mindset. This approach prioritises efficiency and designs out anything that appears superfluous or unnecessary. A systematic, reductive approach that creates very efficient UX and product design, but very ineffective advertising and communications. It's this engineering approach to creativity and branding that I believe has led to homogeneity across the category. Brands that look and sound the same, with little distinctive personality. Trust sits at the core of most financial service brands. We don't trust who we are not familiar with. The fastest way to grow familiarity in an economical manner is to adopt more imaginative creative devices into your branding and marketing. Adding interest, rather than removing it, to cut through in the competitive environment. Efficiency asks what we can remove. Creativity sometimes asks what we're missing. The challenge is to help those in charge of branding and marketing break from the reductive herd mentality to build brands that capture the imagination faster and more economically.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to someone working in fintech today?

The financial services industry is built on trust. The default is to a visual and verbal conservatism. Yet we trust people who are memorable and likeable. Those who make us feel welcomed. Look dispassionately at your brand and appraise what there is there to remember, like and trust. Don't be afraid to stand out from the crowd in a meaningful way.

What book, podcast, newsletter, or resource would you recommend to our audience?

Two books, one author - Orlando Wood. 'Lemon' and 'Look Out' are fascinating, logical exposés of how and why the magic, and with it the effectiveness, went out of advertising. Together with a clear path of how to get it back.

What topic will you be speaking about at FinTech Connect 2026?

How making more imaginative creative choices through your Demand Generation campaigns can move brand awareness, trust and NPS scores, without necessarily investing in a separate marketing stream for brand.

Just for fun: if you could have dinner with any person, past or present, who would it be and why?

George Lucas. For capturing the imagination of generations with his film characters and worlds, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones. So many questions.

What industry trend are you watching most closely?

The adoption of LLMs in how we all make choices.

Why is this topic particularly important right now?

We humans love a short cut. LLMs are just that. Ask them a question, they do the research and provide you with an answer. Critical thinking has never been so important, but equally so has understanding of how the LLMs reach their conclusions. Marketing needs to understand that there's a new, disproportionate influencer in town.

What's one prediction you have for the next 3-5 years?

Humans will continue to be the brake on progress.