With ambitious plans to form the business, obtain FCA authorisation and launch to market, the founders of The Mortgage Lender recognised a need for an experienced strategic marketing consultant with a deep understanding of the intermediary mortgage market.
Whitecap was brought in to support The Mortgage Lender’s launch as their senior marketing resource, managing market analysis, marketing content and propositions and skilled marketing resources. Whitecap worked with the founders from the very start, supporting the formation of key elements of their strategy – including the development of proposition, distribution, and product.
Whitecap led the creation of the brand and marketing strategy, including designing and managing a pitch process to appoint a brand development and web design agency. Once this process was completed, Whitecap was responsible for the management of these resources on behalf of The Mortgage Lender.
Whitecap provided support to the development of the product and distribution strategy – engaging directly with the intermediary market, to gain feedback and insight to help inform the design of the product range. This involved meeting and liaising with major distributors – including networks, mortgage clubs, and specialist distributors. Additionally, we provided guidance on the resources that would be required within The Mortgage Lender’s marketing function moving forward, which would require a mixture of marketing, digital and product development and management skills.
“It was incredibly beneficial to have an experienced and confident external resource take control and lead the marketing process. Whitecap showed consistency all the way through from idea generation to launch, in executing an effective marketing plan and providing us with support across numerous other areas of our business”
Pete Thomson, Sales & Marketing Director, The Mortgage Lender
As part of supporting the launch process, Whitecap developed various elements of the commercial infrastructure, including production of monthly reports, analysing various competitors and documenting market trends.
“Having a strong background in the financial sector and particularly mortgages, we were able to confidently support various elements of TML’s launch project over a period of 18 months between the business being formed and successfully launching into the specialist residential mortgage market.”
Julian Wells, Director, Whitecap Consulting
The Mortgage Lender was established by a team of highly experienced mortgage professionals, many of whom had previously worked together at Mortgages plc – which was founded in 1997 and went on to become one of the best known names in the specialist lending market, securitising over £7bn of mortgages. In 2004 it was acquired by Merrill Lynch. At its peak Mortgages plc achieved annual lending volumes of £2bn and its back book went on to be one of the highest performing portfolios of its peer group.
“With proven marketing expertise and a background in FCA authorised markets, Whitecap had the skills we needed to support our launch process and act as an extension of our core team. They played a fundamental role throughout the launch process, making sure that they fully understood what we needed and delivered the high quality output required.”
