By investing in internal insights and never losing a willingness to test things, Cash App feels more like a cultural institution than a bank
Some years ago, if you thought of finance or banking – and you worked in branding – you’d think: serif typefaces. You’d probably also think sedate blues, reassuringly solemn copywriting and serious if slightly abstract motifs: Brutalist-style logos, horses galloping through fields or mysterious women in dark hoods. Then, around the mid 2010s, along came a wave of new fintech businesses and there was a notable shift in the sector’s relationship with branding.
In the UK, many of us think of Monzo and its bright coral card as the forerunner of this, but Cash App had already paved the way in the US. The business launched in 2013 as Square Cash: a payment service that enabled people to send money over app or by email, and then later by text or Bluetooth.
From the get-go, the Cash App brand was doing something different. There was the introduction of ‘$Cashtags’: unique, personalised handles that let people get paid faster and leverage personal branding. There was also its bright green, minimal app interface, which was a far cry from the dinosaur-esque digital services provided by most banks at the time.