Wise Spotlights The Consequences of Unwise Banking

The work is the next phase of its 'Be Smart. Get Wise.' platform by Ace of Hearts

By Creative Salon

21 April 2026

A ce of Hearts and Wise have launched the next phase of the brand’s “Be Smart. Get Wise.” creative platform in the UK with a new film campaign, bringing the brand’s proposition to life through a series of deadpan films.

Following the OOH launch earlier this month, Ace of Hearts’ work moves to the screen with three spots that dramatise the consequences of choosing the “unwise” way to manage your money, both at home and abroad. Mirroring the exaggerated use of language in the OOH, the films use absurd scenarios to highlight the real-world frustrations of managing money globally.

Set across a British cul-de-sac, an overseas hair clinic, and the Australian outback, the films show what can happen when speed and cost are compromised. Created by Ben Harris, the trio of films are titled Settling In, Finding Yourself, Hair.

In Settling In, a newly arrived expat struggles to manage his life in more than one currency, while his friend, using Wise, navigates life like a seasoned local. As one wrestles with delays and complexity, the other breezes past on a penny farthing while eating fish and chips, to remind that with Wise, moving abroad is a lot more straightforward when you can manage lots of currencies with one account.

In Finding Yourself, worried-sick parents imagine their son stranded in the Australian outback, fending off a parade of deadly creatures while waiting days for money to arrive via a traditional bank. Their daughter dryly points out that with Wise, you can send money around the world in seconds.

In Hair, two men compare notes mid-transplant: one avoids hefty fees with Wise, the other doesn’t and jokingly asks for a discount. The result is brutal and brilliant, as he walks away with a full head of hair from the front, and absolutely nothing at the back proof that sticking with the wrong bank can cost you more than you think.

Directed by Harold Einstein through Packer Productions, the campaign leans into a distinctive deadpan tone typical of Harold, with scenarios that heighten the absurdity of outdated banking behaviours.

The campaign will run across linear TV, live sport, sports streaming, ethnic CTV, YouTube sports highlights, World Cup programming, as well as social platforms including Instagram and TikTok, ensuring broad reach across both mainstream and internationally-minded audiences.

The work was created with support from the Diversity Standards Collective (DSC), ensuring all cultural nuances and casting were authentically represented and meaningful to an international audience.

Matt White, Head of Strategy & Planning at Wise said, “It really is smarter to use Wise to manage your money, whether abroad or at home in the UK. We wanted to bring to life some of the absurdities there can be around managing money with traditional providers. Ace of Hearts understood that from the get-go - and with these films, we really let that absurdity do the talking. The team focused on dramatising the very real, often universal money problems faced by international audiences. They’ve taken frustrations that many simply accept as fact and turned them into something genuinely entertaining. That's not easy to do without tipping into parody, but the deadpan tone holds it all together. It makes you laugh, and then it makes you think which is exactly where we want Wise to land.”

Richard Brim, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Ace of Hearts added: “The more seriously the world behaves, the more ridiculous it becomes. These films are all about that tension. They show what happens when you stick with the ‘unwise’ option just a little too long, until it tips into absurdity. And hopefully, somewhere in there, it clicks that there’s a much smarter way to do things.”

The work plays a role in broadening understanding of Wise beyond its origins as a money transfer service. To further increase brand awareness in the UK, the campaign is designed to introduce Wise to a wider audience, showcasing it as a current account built for a global life. The films highlight key benefits of the Wise Current Account, including minimal fees when spending abroad with its card, the ability to manage multiple currencies in one account and its fast, low-cost international transfers.

This launch follows the initial OOH drop from Ace of Hearts which launched last week.

Credits:

Client: Wise

Ruth Chadwick - Global Director of Brand, Creative and Strategy

Matt White - Head of Strategy & Planning

Charlie De Grussa - Head of Creative

Alessandro Battaglia - Head of Paid Acquisition

Samara Thomas - Head of Creative Operations

Creative Company: Ace of Hearts

Polly McMorrow - Co-Founder & CEO

Rick Brim - Co-Founder & CCO

Martin Beverley - Co-Founder & CSO