Why MrBeast is betting on financial services CX
While I’m clearly not the target audience, I’ve always been put off by MrBeast. Every thumbnail that shows up on YouTube seems to depict him contending with oversized items.
Watch him as he tries on the world’s biggest pair of shoes! See how he eats the world’s biggest slice of pizza! The content creator’s acquisition of a financial services app called Step, however, may represent his biggest stunt to date.
Last month Beast Industries – the Greenville, N.C. business operated by the man otherwise known as Jimmy Donaldson – said Step will expand its reach beyond videos into offering spending, savings and investment accounts, among other services. Its secured card can also help young people build their credit rating, which may be why it has attracted more than seven million users.
Compared to YouTube, banking is a very different beast
This is much different than Beat Industries’ previous forays into areas like fast casual dining, where Donaldson and his team learned first-hand how difficult it can be to offer a satisfying customer experience.
Acquiring Step is a way for MrBeast to be positioned less as an influencer or entertainer but more like a trusted advisor in one of life’s most challenging areas: money management.
Unlike a traditional bank or credit union, MrBeast’s unprecedented level of online popularity means he already has a positive relationship with large numbers of potential Step customers.
More significantly, those potential customers represent the next generation of people who will likely seek out products and services from leading banks and credit unions as they get older.
In that sense, whatever MrBeast does to promote Step and support the young people who use it will directly shape and influence the future expectations of financial services customer experiences (CX).
This will ideally mean improved financial literacy for Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids who may be inheriting a global economy with ongoing uncertainty and unexpected fluctuations.
If Step’s services are offered in a streamlined, friendly fashion with quick access to expert support, Mr. Beast will be setting the standard for excellence for first-rate financial services CX, digital or otherwise.
The cost of making mistakes
There’s always a lot that can go wrong, of course. MrBeast supports crypto as an investment class, and there have been questions about his financial acumen given how much of his net worth is tied up in Beast Industries.
If Step harms rather than enhances young people’s financial wellness, traditional banks may have an opportunity to differentiate based on a more traditional but trusted experience.
Financial management isn’t a game, and the choices you make can have much greater consequences than picking which YouTube clips to watch. MrBeast’s challenge is no longer just making content go viral. It’s demonstrating that his approach to saving and investing at an early age is right on the money.
