On the Money

With clever marketing and high-wattage partners, payments platform Cash App has inserted itself into the cultural conversation.

- KC IFEANYI

Rapper Kendrick Lamar sits between come dian ExavierTV and billionaire investor Ray Dalio. The strange trio is discussing a problem: Exavier lost money in a dice game to a friend, torpedoing his plans to grow his barbershop—a fact we (most of us) know only by way of Lamar’s effortlessly translating Exavier’s slang-heavy rant. Dalio offers a jargonfilled assessment of Exavier’s situation that Lamar distills into something decipherable: Avoid risky dice games and invest in yourself.

The clever scene, made by Lamar’s creative collective pgLang, was a recent ad from financial service platform Cash App. It’s just one of many savvy campaigns that’s made Cash App, which is owned by Block, an unlikely buzzy brand given that its main function is utilitarian: You send money. You get money. End of transaction.

Cash App has broken through thanks to a series of partnerships with blockbuster talent such as Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion, and Serena Williams. The company selected these individuals to help position the app as a resource for understanding money and making it “universally accessible,” according to Catherine Ferdon, Cash App’s head of marketing and brand. And they’ve made the app a lot cooler. That most of these campaigns feature prominent Black artists and athletes is no coincidence. Cash App has been leaning into its organic brand awareness among Black users as it broadens its offerings to include bank accounts, debit cards, and stock and Bitcoin trading services. The endgame, says Ferdon, is to weave the platform into users’ lives in unexpected ways.