About this episode
Banking is one of the hardest categories in marketing.
Trust is fragile. Customer expectations are shaped by every app on their phone, not just other banks. And every interaction has the potential to redefine the relationship.
In this episode of That’s What I Call Marketing, Conor Byrne sits down with Laura Lynch, CMO of Bank of Ireland, to explore what it actually means to build a modern banking brand in 2026.
Laura takes us inside Bank of Ireland’s recent brand transformation, including the thinking behind the new “Right With You” platform, the role of customer experience in shaping strategy, and why the bank deliberately avoided category clichés in its latest advertising work.
The conversation also explores:
Why Laura stepped out of traditional marketing roles before becoming CMO
How customer trust is rebuilt after the banking crisis
The balance between AI, personalisation and human connection
Why marketers can become too focused on attribution and performance metrics
The challenge of creating distinctive advertising in regulated categories
How Bank of Ireland uses customer insight, segmentation and CX to shape growth
The role of leadership, resilience and timing in building a marketing career
Laura also shares the inside story behind Bank of Ireland’s latest campaigns, including the strategic use of humour, movie references, and why every line, casting decision and creative choice was intentionally designed to create distinction.
For marketers working in financial services, regulated industries, or legacy brands navigating change, this is a fascinating look at how modern brand building actually works inside one of Ireland’s most important organisations.
Timestamps:
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Chapters
- 00:00Why trust in banking has to be earned every day
- 02:00Laura Lynch’s path to becoming CMO of Bank of Ireland
- 06:30Leaving traditional marketing to build customer experience capability
- 10:00Going “all in” to land the CMO role
- 13:00Leadership, intensity and avoiding groupthink
- 16:30The reality of leading marketing inside a major bank
- 18:00Rebuilding customer trust after the banking crisis
- 20:00Why banking competition has fundamentally changed
- 21:30Inside Bank of Ireland’s new brand strategy
- 24:00Building “Right With You” with customers and colleagues
- 27:00Why the strategy had to stretch the organisation
- 29:00The making of the new Bank of Ireland advertising
- 32:00Using humour to talk about fraud and financial confidence
- 35:00Creating distinctive work in a regulated category
- 37:00AI, personalisation and the future of marketing teams
- 39:00Why performance marketing alone is not enough