Goldman Sachs is betting a Bachelorette star can boost its hot new business

ABC/Matt Klitscher

• Goldman Sachs is trying to tap into America's reality television craze to pitch its new consumer loans. 
• The investment bank has partnered with JoJo Fletcher, who gained fame on ABC's Bachelorette show and will now pitch the firm's home renovation loans, the company announced on Tuesday.

"I heard that you're looking to renovate, so this is perfect for you," JoJo Fletcher told a TV presenter on 'Living Oklahoma' this week after a short repartee about home improvement.

If you've followed Fletcher's career, that might not be surprising. She was a real estate developer before she gained fame on ABC's Bachelorette show, after all. What's possibly more surprising is how she came to be on that show this week, and who she was representing. 

"When it comes to financing your home renovation, I always tell people, 'Explore all of your options,'" Fletcher said. "That's why I'm here today. I've partnered with Marcus by Goldman Sachs to share some of those tips that I've learned along the way."

Wait for that to sink in for a moment. Goldman Sachs has partnered with a star from the Bachelorette.

Goldman's hiring of Fletcher is the latest sign that the bank is trying to court Main Street borrowers, and in doing so shape a new image for itself. On Tuesday, she visited Goldman Sachs's lower Manhattan headquarters. She met with Harit Talwar, head of digital finance, took a tour of the offices, and posed for pictures with fans in the cafeteria. 

Fletcher will now represent the bank's consumer lending business Marcus in a series of promotions, ranging from nearly two dozen appearances on local television stations like 'Living Oklahoma,' radio hits, and in posts on her Facebook and Instagram feeds, where she has over 2 million followers. 

The campaign is set to target morning television viewers, many in middle America where the Goldman Sachs brand may not be as familiar, or where consumers may still hold a negative impression left over from the financial crisis. 

"She can help us reach consumers in unexpected places like consumer, lifestyle, entertainment and home publications,'' Dustin Cohn, the head of brand and marketing communications for Goldman Sachs's digital bank, said in an interview.

Led by Cohn, who joined Goldman after a career working with such well known consumer brands as Jockey, Pepsi and Gatorade, the bank is testing marketing boundaries in the usually buttoned up financial services sector. Goldman has invited journalists to comedy clubs in New York and San Francisco, and on Tuesday, hosted a trivia night in Manhattan. 

Since launching in 2016, Marcus has originated $3 billion in loans. Goldman CFO Marty Chavez has said Goldman can see a $13 billion lending opportunity with Marcus over three years. 

The bank declined to say how much it was paying Fletcher to serve as a spokeswoman for Marcus. 

Fletcher's appearances, while not explicitly commercials, will place her in situations where she's being interviewed as a home renovation expert. She'll state that she's representing Goldman Sachs and its loan offerings, and a banner at the bottom of the screen will tout the firm's brand. 

As long as that's clear, Goldman Sachs likely won't attract negative attention for the strategy, according to Brad Adgate, an independent media consultant based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Still, it's a content marketing strategy more familiar to consumer goods brands, or at least the credit card industry, than it is for more traditional financial services, he said. Last year, Early Warning, the bank-owned consortium that runs the Zelle peer-to-peer payments network, hired Hamilton actor Daveed Diggs to serve as the network's brand ambassador.

"This has become a very popular strategy for advertisers, blurring the line'' between ads and content, Adgate said. For banks, "you think of a target audience of people who are older and expect a more staid marketing strategy that might involve more traditional media.''

No word yet on what Bachelorette host Chris Harrison thinks of the new campaign.  

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