You can learn more about the event and request an invitation here:

September 23rd

San Francisco, CA

On June 22, LendingClub became Happen Bank. Mark Elliot, Chief Customer Officer, ran point on it.

He joined the company 3 years ago and asked Scott Sanborn about the name in his very first conversation. The business had already moved from peer-to-peer lending marketplace to multi-product digital bank. The name hadn't caught up.

If you're a performance marketer who's never sat on the front lines of a rebrand, this one's for you. 

What we get into

1. How the naming process actually worked. Over 100 candidates, cut down by trademark and domain availability, then narrowed to 6 finalists through research with existing customers and the motivated middle segment. Respondents saw the names in print only. No logos, no colors.

2. Why "bank" stayed in the name. The research came back at 100% on this one, and some of their own customers didn't know LendingClub was a bank.

3. How they de-risked distribution. They tested the new color palette and new brand language under the old LendingClub name before the switch, seeded the market months in advance, and still run "Happen Bank, formerly LendingClub" across their touchpoints today. Mark explains what he'd tell any digital lender about working with affiliates and marketplaces through the transition.

4. The 6-month build. What started January 2 and shipped in June, including the move from NYSE to Nasdaq, a 1-month marketing freeze with an escalation process, and the asset audit that turned into spring cleaning.

5. The line item they underestimated: email. Deposit servicing, debit card servicing, applications in flight. AI capabilities improved fast enough during the project to absorb the overage and keep the budget intact.

6. What Mark's watching now. Daily search volume crossover between the old and new brand, plus a custom quarterly brand health survey built for the motivated middle instead of gen pop.

7. And the advice for any CMO convinced the name is what's broken. Mark's answer starts with GEICO.

*****

Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!?

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

101 seats are now filled. 48 seats left!

Learn more and request an invitation:

events.thefreetoaster.com

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Please Support Our Sponsors!

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=aug

Bulldog Media Group:

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)

Nicky Senyard, CEO and Founder of Fintel Connect, has been doing digital acquisition since 2002. Her read on this wave: affiliate marketing is still a bottom of funnel conversion tactic. On today’s show, we discuss everything sitting above it.

We get into:

Plus a big question underneath all of it: what happens to financial discernment for the people who never had to build it?

*****

Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!?

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

101 seats are now filled. 49 seats left!

Learn more and request an invitation:

events.thefreetoaster.com

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Please Support Our Sponsors!

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=aug

Bulldog Media Group:

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)

Carlos & Nick add color to the most recent article on The Free Toaster Newsletter.

They discuss NerdWallet's pivot towards insurance and the top 5 takeaways for card & personal loan marketers.

*****

Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!?

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

88 seats are now spoken for. 62 seats left!

Learn more and request an invitation:

events.thefreetoaster.com

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Please Support Our Sponsors!

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=aug

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Bulldog Media Group:

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)

Today, Carlos comments on the future of distribution in lending, how long it will take to get there, the key blockers along the way, and what CMOs can do now to prepare.

*****

Are you an affiliate marketing leader at a consumer lender or publisher!?

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, EXL, and ICS

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

88 seats are now spoken for. 62 seats left!

Learn more and request an invitation:

events.thefreetoaster.com

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Please Support Our Sponsors!

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Bulldog Media Group:

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)

Recently, Carlos sat on the LendAPI Podcast with Tim Li to discuss the Summit he's organizing on September 23rd in San Francisco.

*****

The Affiliate Marketing Summit For Lenders & Publishers

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, Prism Data, Tare.io, and EXL

San Francisco - September 23rd & 24th

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1

Search is often just 10% of a lender's marketing mix — but Ross Cohen makes the case that it's the most powerful channel for experimentation and the best "shock absorber" when direct mail or affiliates come up short.

Ross, an advisory partner at Arica Consulting with 20+ years running search across Capital One, New York Life, FrontPoint, and Greenlight, has evaluated search agencies from every angle — client, operator, founder, and agency owner. In this deep-dive with Carlos, he shares the exact questions a non-technical CMO can ask to separate the pros from the pretenders.

We cover:

This conversation is practical, in-the-weeds, and refreshingly honest.

Find Ross at recohen.com or on LinkedIn

******

Come meet Carlos in San Francisco!

Sponsored by Experian, Engine by Gen, and Prism Data

The Exploratorium

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Bulldog Media Group:

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=july

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)

Carlos sits with Megan Bauer, Head Of Customer Success at Spinwheel, to discuss affiliate marketing & business lessons learned playing poker.

Nick and Carlos discuss an Editorial piece recently published in The Free Toaster Newsletter

The premise of the conversation -- an LLM-based personal finance tool is going to be the most effective/useful way for consumers to shop for cards and lending products.

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Bulldog Media Group:

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)

Most lenders underestimate how long it takes to get onto a major affiliate platform. The honest answer is 6 to 12 months. Sometimes 18. If one of these channels is on your 2027 roadmap, you need to start now.

In this solo episode, Carlos breaks down the five phases that explain the timeline:

Add it up and you're waiting 6 to 12 months for a single lead.

Plan accordingly!

*****

150-person, curated room

Early bird tickets ($999) end August 1

*****

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

The Free Toaster Newsletter ships every Wednesday at www.thefreetoaster.com, curating the biggest stories at the intersection of consumer lending, marketing, and technology.

Fintel Connect

Drive thousands of new accounts and billions in deposits with the only partner marketing solution built for fintech and banking – your all-in-one affiliate platform, partner network, agency, and marketing compliance engine.

https://partner.fintelconnect.com/get-to-know-fintel-connect?utm_campaign=13897733-2025%20Partners&utm_source=The%20Free%20Toaster&utm_medium=podcast

Bulldog Media Group:

Spinwheel:

Reduce friction in your lending application with just two fields—phone number and birthdate. Spinwheel’s APIs boost application rates by 20-30% while also providing real-time credit data and seamless payment processing. Want to see it in action? Connect with their Head of Growth for a demo!

https://spinwheel.io/partner/?utm_source=freetoaster&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=june

New Market Growth (Carlos’ agency)