Traditionally, the consumer journey for financial services and insurance was marked by major life milestones: Landing a first job, getting married, buying a house. These discrete inflection points, however, are no longer enough for financial services and insurance brands to engage Gen Zs and millennial customers. To connect with these valuable audiences, it’s more effective for brands to play a consistent part in their daily moments — big and small.

Reaching Gen Zs and millennials with financial advertising now is an imperative for today’s financial services providers (FSPs) to sustain future growth. These generations have yet to hit peak profitability (that’ll happen in the 2030s for millennials, and around 2050 for Gen Z¹), but the oldest millennials are already almost 40 years old, well into their earning and child-raising years. They have and will use many financial products as their needs continue to mature.

And yet, only 57% of millennials in the US are financially literate,² as many feel unsure how to achieve their financial goals. For instance, half of millennials want to invest in the market but don’t know where to start, compared with 32% of Gen X and less than 20% of Baby Boomers.³ Similarly, Gen Zs still have a lot to learn despite taking control of their finances at an earlier age than other generations. In fact, 72% stress about finances.⁴

Although they need guidance on how to best pay off student loans, budget for everyday expenses, secure the right insurance coverage, manage banking accounts, investment strategies, and how to save for retirement, Gen Zs and millennials tend to distrust financial institutions.³ Millennials, in particular, remember how difficult it was to find work after graduating college during the Great Recession and know their lower starting salaries mean reduced lifetime income.

As digital natives, Gen Zs and millennials are used to instant information — so they’re more discerning consumers at a time when there’s more choice of FSPs and switching is easy. When it comes to financial and insurance products, they seek digital-first solutions that allow for maximum convenience, flexibility, speed, and personalization.

What it means for your financial services advertising plans

To connect with Gen Zs and millennials in the right moments — not just major life milestones, but also their daily routines — your financial services advertisements need to meet them where they are. Specifically: on mobile-first online platforms as they engage with content that matters to them. As Gen Zs and millennials lead the way in cord-cutting, Spotify can help brands drive incremental reach to connect with otherwise hard-to-reach audiences. Our audio marketing platform can help you connect with your target audience, leading to increased as performance and ROI (return on investment).

With nearly two-thirds of Spotify’s Free audience made up of listeners ages 16-34,⁵ Spotify is at the center of their lives — multi-device users stream for 2+ hours a day.⁶ This high engagement powers our Streaming Intelligence: first-party, contextual data that reveals moods, mindsets, habits, and tastes in the moment.

Plus, audio has a unique presence in daily moments that other platforms can’t reach. In these screenless moments — like cooking, working out, and studying — listeners turn to Spotify to soundtrack their lives with the podcasts and playlists they love. As a result, we’re a platform they trust: over two-thirds of users consider Spotify a trustworthy and credible brand,⁷ which is crucial when it comes to connecting with this audience through financial services advertising.

Beyond our Streaming Intelligence and trusted platform, partnering with Spotify also can give your brand the creative chops you need to create inspiring, differentiated creative financial services ads in the market. With our unique insights, targeting tools, and engaging media formats, your message can cut through the clutter with compelling, memorable ads for financial services that communicate the value of your product.

For instance, just last year we drove a 22 point lift in ad recall for Nationwide in a multi-format campaign targeting 25-49 year-olds. In particular, younger millennials (ages 24-34) outperformed for attribute rating (associating Nationwide with protection) and favorability.

As your audience takes each step on their financial journey — from day-to-day budgeting to long-term planning — Spotify can help you be there. Download our full infographic to understand the streaming opportunity for your business, and get in touch to learn more about developing an always-on financial services advertising strategy for Gen Zs and millennials with Spotify.