Manchester’s millennial buy now, pay later finance firm, Payl8r, is building a new in-house creative team and has appointed Stephen Bagshaw as creative director and Chris Pullan as head of marketing to help take the business to the next level, and reach its ambitious growth plans of being a £1bn turnover fintech business in the next five years.
Bagshaw, who honed his skills at advertising agencies such as JWT, MAP and Refinery during his 25 year-long career, has been given a blank canvas at Payl8r to bring in big creative changes. Having worked within the fashion, leisure and tech sectors for brands such as Alton Towers, Umbro and Deloitte his vast experience of Payl8r’s target millennial market, along with his creative ideas and strategic acumen, prompted Payl8r to hire him on the spot.
He said: “Joining Payl8r was a no brainer for me, as I’ve been given total autonomy to take the brand forward by a brilliant senior management team who trust in me. I already know where we need to go and am in the process of making big changes; the impact I could make on the business was too good to turn down.”
Chris Pullan has also been appointed by Payl8r as head of marketing after working for a mix of large FMCG, e-commerce and most recently as a consultant and Non-Executive Director for large domestic companies, including FTSE 100 companies. A digital expert with years of f-tech experience, Chris and Stephen will lead the growing marketing team, which currently comprises seven experts in their fields.
“I’m absolutely delighted to have joined Payl8r at the beginning of an exciting period of growth and expansion. Coming from a fin-tech background, I hope to make a big contribution to Payl8r’s plans to be the go-to brand go to for buy now, pay later finance,” comments Chris.
In August, Payl8r announced its first institutional funding line with Conister Bank, an achievement that will boost the award-winning business’s expansion plans. The funding will enable further growth by helping Payl8r grow its customer base, partner with larger brands, move into new sectors, and bring new products to markets.
Payl8r’s managing director, Sam Fogerty said: “Our aim is to become the number one brand for retail finance and talent like Stephen and Chris will play a major role in helping this happen. I hope that building an inhouse creative department underlines our commitment to growing rapidly in the sector and also our confidence that we’ll achieve this.”