How Nubank is Averting Canine Credit Card Catastrophe

Brazil-based Nubank is a colossal global fintech platform, with 40 million users across the world, and in 2021 was the only Brazilian company to be listed in Time’s 2021 list of the 100 Most Influential Companies. As such, they have access to a wealth of data to help them improve their customer’s experience – and one surprising pain point that they’ve unearthed is that after loss and theft, one of the biggest reasons for clients requesting a new credit card is that they’ve been destroyed by dogs.

That’s why Nubank teamed up with Latin America’s biggest pet toy brand Zee.Dog, to design and make a credit card especially for dogs. It’s both an ingenious branding opportunity but also a great way to distract your canine chums so they don’t destroy your real wallet. The toys are available to buy at Zee.Dog https://www.zeedog.com.br/ and on Nubank’s website lojinha.nubank.com.br – and the team also took the chance to create some super cute social media content too.

Nubank's customer engagement director, Paulo Vendramini, tells us more about this unusual brand collaboration.

LBB> How did you identify dog destruction as a pain point for clients?

Paulo> We have identified both through new card requests raised to our customer service team (called Xpeers) and social media posts, where with our customers posting  videos and pictures of their Nubank credit cards completely destroyed by their dogs. To date, there have been more than 6,600 cases of chewed up cards. We took that truth and turned it into an unexpected product. And  since the announcement people have been really excited to have their own Nudog to safely entertain their pets and save their cards.

LBB> And from there how did you get to the idea of creating a toy for dogs?

Paulo> We are always thinking of ways to enchant and delight our customers beyond their banking needs, so our creative team started a conversation with Zee.Dog, known for their fantastic design and high quality in developing pet products - a partner as obsessed with their customers as we are with ours. We shared with them all the complaints we've been receiving from our customers and after a few brainstorming sessions the idea was born: the first credit card made to be destroyed by dogs.

LBB> How does this playfulness fit into the brand’s personality from a strategic perspective?

Paulo> This kind of initiative tackles two Nubank's core values:

We are completely obsessed with our customers and we always try to find new ways to make them love us back.

Nubank was born to fight the complexity, most people suffer with traditional banks. Making things simple is our mission. Nudog is also a way to make our clients’ lives easier.

LBB> What was the design and development process like? What sort of input did you have from dog experts at Zee.Dog?

Paulo> Zee.Dog has all the know-how to develop products for pets and after our brainstorming sessions they were in charge of making the product happen with the best design and technology for this process. From the shape of the product itself to the package, everything was well-thought out, having our cute friends in mind and also to deliver the best experience to the humans interested in having Nudog.

LBB> Where I am, in the UK we’ve seen a huge surge in puppy ownership with so many people working from home in lockdown. Has there been a similar phenomenon in Brazil? I’m curious whether this has played into the idea at all?

Paulo> The pandemic made us closer than ever to our pets. We also know the lockdown limited all the daily walks with dogs, so this might be a situation where brands can also offer some sort of comfort and distraction for dogs and their owners.