From the pains of financial desperation
To complete and total financial control.
CHALLENGE
Earnest faced a category-wide trust crisis. Student lending had become synonymous with exploitation and anxiety. And fintech, once a beacon of innovation, now carried its own skepticism. Caught between Wall Street and Silicon Valley, Earnest needed to reclaim its meaning and prove that technology and humanity don’t have to be opposites.
STRATEGY
Our insight was simple but seismic: people don’t need another fintech company, they need a human one. In a world of algorithms, automation, and anxiety, we positioned Earnest as the brand that puts empathy and expertise on equal footing. The strategy centered around transparency, candor, and real emotional connection — showing borrowers that there’s no shame in debt, only power in taking control of it.
CREATIVE SOLUTION
To bring that human-fintech idea to life, we created “This Is The Moment.” A platform built on optimism, action, and a wry sense of relief, transforming the decision to refinance into something personal, empowering, and funny.
The tone was self-aware, emotionally grounded, and allergic to financial jargon. Visually, the campaign leaned into simplicity and confidence. Bold typography, a mint-and-navy color system, and real human moments that made the complex feel clear.
By keeping the idea elastic, “This Is The Moment” extended seamlessly across products, from student loan refinance to co-signing and more. Thus proving that a single, powerful creative idea could unite the entire brand.
