In June 2024, the very first Baltic B2B marketing awards, the Golden Parrots were handed out. In the website category, there were two clear leaders: Inbank and Native Localization—both projects by the Latvian agency White Label. In the end, the results of the first outweighed arguments in favour of the second.
Region: Latvia / Western Europe
Award category: Golden Parrot for Website (2024)
Background
Inbank is an embedded finance company operating in five markets, with ambitions to expand into Western Europe. Specialising in consumer lending and B2B partnerships, the company provides “buy now, pay later” and leasing products through a vast network of stores and services. While Inbank has established itself in its home markets, its expansion goals come with significant challenges—particularly in terms of brand positioning and communication consistency.
Inbank faced three critical issues:
Fragmented brand identity: The company lacked a clear, unified positioning across its markets. Each region had developed different, non-cohesive marketing materials, resulting in diluted brand recognition.
Regulatory constraints: Financial advertising in the Baltic region is highly regulated, with differing rules across countries. This made it difficult to create streamlined, effective communication strategies.
Complex brand architecture: Inbank’s multiple sub-brands and product categories led to internal confusion and an unclear external image, making it harder to acquire new partners and establish itself as an industry leader.
The Goal
Clear Positioning in the Market
Develop a strong, unified brand identity that clearly communicates Inbank’s value as a leader in financing solutions for both consumers and businesses.
Internal Clarity for Communication & Partner Acquisition
Establish consistent brand guidelines and communication materials to ensure a cohesive message across all markets, making it easier to attract and onboard new B2B partners.
Expansion into Western Europe
Use the new brand positioning and communication framework to support Inbank’s growth into Western European markets, strengthening its competitive edge and increasing market share.
The Strategy
Smart Choice – Inbank
Inbank’s strategic approach centred on the idea of smart decision-making—a universal concept that resonates with both businesses and consumers. The brand positioned itself as a next-generation embedded finance platform, offering seamless integrations that enhance B2B sales while maintaining an accessible and thoughtful approach for B2C customers. The core messaging was structured around the themes of “Shop Smart” and “Pay Smart” for consumers and “Sell Smart” for business partners, ensuring clarity across all audience segments.
The creative concept evolved from this strategic foundation, with the tagline “Smart Move” serving as a unifying message across employer branding, investor communications, and partnerships.
A Structured Methodology
To refine Inbank’s brand positioning and website, White Label followed a structured methodology, beginning with three in-depth workshops that brought together key stakeholders from different business units, including product teams, C-level executives, and the marketing department. This extensive collaboration ensured that the strategy reflected the priorities of all business areas.
"Since this was a pan-Baltic case, we also included representatives from all the countries involved. We conducted three large workshops with everyone who needed to be heard,” said Elvi Kustavus, Strategy Director at White Label.
For consumer insights, the team conducted interviews and street surveys in Tallinn, exploring public perceptions of consumer loans. However, for the B2B aspect, they relied primarily on internal expertise, as the primary focus was on creating an umbrella concept that covered multiple audience segments rather than targeting B2B in isolation.
“With the positioning of ‘smart choice,’ we were able to cover both B2B and B2C under one framework,” Elvi noted.
Following this research phase, White Label moved into the ideation stage, during which they developed multiple creative concepts. The first proposal was deemed too radical for the brand, leading to a second iteration that better aligned with Inbank’s corporate vision.
We always try to push the most interesting and daring ideas first because you can always tone things down later.
Design & Visual Identity
To differentiate Inbank from traditional banks, White Label took a bolder approach with the visual identity. While major competitors like SEB and Swedbank rely on standardised corporate colour schemes, Inbank’s branding avoided existing industry codes and instead used custom-made illustrations and professional photography.
“The market is filled with stock imagery. Many financial brands rely on generic stock illustrations that look horrible. We worked with a photographer and all the illustrations were custom-made by our illustrator. It makes the brand feel more human and approachable,” Elvi explained.
Additionally, White Label ensured consistency in the tone of voice, collaborating closely with Inbank’s SEO copywriter to refine messaging across all touch points.
Ultimately, the rebranding and website redesign successfully unified Inbank’s B2B and B2C positioning, creating a structured yet flexible brand identity that speaks to both audiences under a single strategic framework.
Results
Inbank expanded its network from 4,600 partners in 2021 to 5,800 in 2023—a 26% increase.
As 80% of Inbank’s sales originate from partner channels, the 26.2% growth in the loan and rental portfolio highlights the direct impact of the newly established brand identity and websites in accelerating business performance.
A key metric for evaluating website success is the bounce rate, which indicates how engaged visitors are with the content. Compared to the financial services industry benchmark of ~50%, Inbank’s websites significantly outperform the industry standard:
Lessons
With Inbank, the results are very clear. I'm leaning more towards them only because of the clarity that they have in the submission: how the website update has affected the website metrics only.
— Golden Parrot Awards 2024 jury member
Ensure Clear Focus on B2B
That was my main concern as well, because looking at the entry, I could not really determine whether the website is somehow B2B focused, and what exactly is B2B specific in this website. To be honest, I was not considering them at all, because it looks like B2C very much.
— Golden Parrot Awards 2024 jury member
A critical lesson from Inbank's entry to the Golden Parrot Awards was the need to clearly communicate the B2B aspect of their strategy. While Inbank's project was largely focused on serving business partners, especially merchants, some members of the jury were initially unclear on whether Inbank’s website redesign was targeting B2B clients or B2C customers.
The jury noted that while Inbank worked with merchants as its primary B2B clients, this was not immediately evident from the submission. It was only after further clarification that the B2B focus became clearer.
When presenting a B2B case, it’s important to demonstrate exactly how the strategy aligns with business clients' needs to avoid any confusion and strengthen the case.
Credentials
White Label
Elvi Kustavus, Strategy Director
Oskars Toms Lībers, Strategy Director
Kristaps Siliņš, Head of Strategy
Overpriced
Aigars Mamis, Head of Art
Elza Kārkliņa, Brand Designer
Jānis Klaučs, Brand Designer
McCann Rīga
Valters Jonats, Creative Director
Anneli Hermanson, Account Director
Ieva Danieljana, Business Director
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