AUSTIN, Texas and ATLANTA, Feb. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trust and authenticity have always been essential in financial content, especially when audiences are making decisions that affect their livelihoods. Self Financial, Inc., in partnership with influencer marketing agency The Shelf, demonstrated how authenticity can scale when creators are empowered to communicate financial education in ways that are true to their own voice, format, and relationship with their audience.

The companies earned a Platinum MarCom Award in Online Advertising & Marketing for a creator-led campaign that transformed the intimidating topic of credit-building into content audiences actively chose to watch, save, share, and discuss. Rather than relying on traditional personal finance messaging, the campaign leaned into humor, relatability, and creators audiences already trusted, driving both cultural relevance and measurable business impact.

To bring the strategy to life, Self and The Shelf executed a year-long creator program spanning over 40 creators and 150+ pieces of content across TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, designed to test, learn, and scale what truly resonated with audiences.

Within the broader program, the Platinum MarCom-winning Q2 activation focused on a curated group of creators, selected for storytelling ability and audience alignment rather than follower count alone. Selection was informed by upfront audience analysis, mapping the language, behaviors, and motivations shaping how people engage with financial content. The Shelf paired entertainment-driven creators built for scale with trusted mid- and micro-tier voices embedded in lifestyle, family, and finance-adjacent communities. Creators delivered content within their proven formats from character skits and routines to listicles and everyday financial moments ensuring authenticity across platforms.

What set the campaign apart was not just creator selection, but how the work evolved in real time. Each creator activation was evaluated as it launched, with early performance insights shaping creative refinements, reinvestment decisions, and platform-specific shifts. Rather than waiting for end-of-quarter reporting, Self and The Shelf applied learnings forward, allowing performance to compound with each activation.

The program’s impact registered within Self’s existing mixed media model (MMM), validating creator-led influence against the same performance standards used to evaluate other growth channels. What began as a structured test quickly evolved into a scalable growth lever, as consistent performance signals and MMM validation gave senior leadership confidence to move beyond experimentation. Rather than locking into a fixed plan, the teams treated the campaign as a living system, applying feedback and performance signals continuously to guide what scaled next.

During the Platinum MarCom–winning Q2 activation, the campaign delivered scale, efficiency, and intent-driven engagement:

• 3.3M+ impressions (5× campaign goal)
• 183.5K+ engagements (4× benchmark)
• 13.5K+ shares and 6K+ saves, signaling high-intent interest
• 82% positive sentiment across campaign comments
• +15% QoQ and +17% YoY lift in Google searches for “Self Financial”
• +41% YoY increase in brand mentions during campaign pulses

Beyond in-platform performance, creator content drove sustained discovery. Videos surfaced within Google’s Short Videos search experience under both branded and intent-based credit-building queries, extending visibility beyond paid flighting and reinforcing influencer content as a durable discovery engine. As this content continued to be indexed across search and AI-powered discovery environments, the program also increased Self’s visibility within emerging large language model (LLM) experiences.

“Financial education works best when it feels authentic and meets people where they are,” said Brett Billick, Chief Marketing Officer at Self Financial. “By partnering with creators who could tell real stories in their own voice, we saw meaningful engagement and demand. When we evaluated the program through our MMM framework, it demonstrated incremental impact alongside our core growth channels. That validation gave us the confidence to move beyond testing and scale creator partnerships as a meaningful driver of growth.”

“This wasn’t about chasing views; it was about learning in motion,” said Atul Singh, Co-Founder and CEO of The Shelf. “By treating every post as a performance signal and feeding those learnings forward, we built an optimization flywheel that translated creator trust into intent, search lift, and durable performance.”

Over the full 12-month program, Self’s creator partnership delivered 11 million organic impressions, nearly half-a-million engagements, and double-digit gains in brand search and social chatter, reinforcing Self Financial’s position as a leading brand in credit-building. As the program evolved, select creator relationships naturally extended beyond individual activations, deepening into more community-driven engagement, including giveback initiatives and ongoing audience interaction that emerged organically from creator familiarity and genuine product use. Together, these outcomes reinforced Self’s broader shift toward relationship-led, community-first financial education and signaled a scalable model for long-term growth.

About Self Financial

Self Financial is a pioneering credit building company dedicated to helping people establish credit and a financial foundation. For over a decade, Self has empowered more than 4 million individuals with limited or no credit history with accessible tools to support their finances. Self is the Official Credit Building App of the San Antonio Spurs. Find it at Self.inc, on the Apple App Store (280,000+ reviews and an average 4.9 rating) and on Google Play.

About The Shelf

The Shelf is a performance-first influencer marketing agency built at the intersection of culture, data science, and creative strategy. The agency specializes in creator-led programs designed to drive scalable, full-funnel performance across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. With hundreds of campaigns executed across retail, CPG, fashion, and financial services, The Shelf applies a disciplined, insight-led approach to creator marketing. The Shelf is an official TikTok Marketing Partner.

To learn more, visit https://www.theshelf.com/

COMPANY The Shelf
EMAIL media@theshelf.com
WEB https://www.theshelf.com/