Ad industry as economic indicator

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast, where I’m welcoming back Jane Barratt, Chief Advocacy Officer at MX, to  talk about Super Bowl commercials and advertising ( and how it overlaps with data privacy, data ownership, open banking, and AI).

Fun fact: Jane had a previous career in advertising. What I didn’t know is that Jane used to go on live television and review ads from the Super Bowl the day after.

In this episode, recorded the day after Super Bowl LIX (déjà vu vu for Jane), we hand out the inaugural Fintech Takes Super Bowl Ad Awards.

Then we pivot to what the commercials (including those that were conspicuously absent) reveal about consumer sentiment, what happens when ads start showing up inside AI tools, and more.

We also dig into where U.S. open banking stands after a year of regulatory turbulence around the CFPB’s Section 1033 rule.

Highlights include:

• Why Levi's won Best Use of Money and Coinbase won Biggest Waste of Money

• Why almost no major banks and fintech companies, or consumer financial brands showed up (and what that missing marketing spend signals about the economy)

• Why ads inside AI tools are fundamentally different from ads on Instagram or Google

• Why the biggest banks keep investing in open banking even with the CFPB’s Section 1033 rule still unresolved, and why smaller banks that don’t invest in data-sharing risk asset flight to trillion-dollar institutions

This episode is brought to you by Plaid. 

Plaid helps lenders approve more creditworthy borrowers without taking on more risk, combining real-time cash flow data with behavioral insights. It’s a fast, familiar experience people trust, and that actually converts. Learn more at www.plaid.com/ftt

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Follow Jane:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janebarratt/

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson
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