How BUNTIN and CFP Board are Elevating Financial Messaging With High-Impact Formats from Magnite

Looking to stand out as consumers think about their financial futures, BUNTIN and the Certified Financial Planner Board (CFP Board) leveraged Magnite’s high-impact tiles and pause ad formats across a premium publisher mix. For CFP Board – a nonprofit focused on promoting the value of working with a Certified Financial Planner professional – this marked a step into more engaging ad experiences. We spoke with Kristen Held, VP, Channel Engagement and Activation at BUNTIN, about their strategy, execution, and lessons learned for new ad formats.

This was the first time CFP Board leveraged tiles and pause ads. What drew BUNTIN and CFP Board to leverage tiles and pause ads?

Financial services is especially competitive during tax season. Traditional display still plays a role, but on its own it’s often not enough to truly break through. What drew us to tiles and pause formats was the ability to create more intentional engagement. CFP Board’s mission is rooted in trust and education, so we needed to create space for their message to land. Tiles and pause ads help deliver a considered and less interruptive, visually high-impact experience aligned with how consumers think about their finances in these moments.

Financial services brands can sometimes be cautious about adopting new formats. What gave you the confidence to test something different here?

Our relationship with Magnite gave us assurance in both the quality of supply and the execution of these formats across premium publishers. That environment was critical for CFP Board to show up alongside trusted, high-quality content, which reinforces credibility.

At the same time, we’re always looking to evolve beyond standard approaches. This was a strategic recommendation from our team, and CFP Board was open to testing something new. Innovation is key in this category – you have to be willing to test and learn in a controlled way.

What were CFP Board’s primary objectives for this campaign, and how did the high-impact formats and premium publisher mix help bring those goals to life?

The primary goal was to build trust and awareness of the value of working with a certified financial planner, particularly during tax season, when consumers are actively seeking guidance. The premium publisher mix ensures that the message appears in trusted, contextually relevant environments, thereby strengthening its reception, while the high-impact tiles and pause ad formats create deliberate moments of attention. Rather than being easily overlooked, the message had space to be absorbed.

Consistency was also key. Maintaining a strong presence over time ensures the CFP Board stays top of mind during these critical decision-making moments in a way that is both impactful and credible at every stage.

When testing new formats, how important are transparency, control, and consistent delivery — particularly for a nonprofit brand like CFP Board?

They’re absolutely critical – especially for a nonprofit like CFP Board, where every impression needs to work harder and align with a mission built on trust. Transparency gives us confidence in where and how the ads are running, control ensures the message is delivered in the right environments, and consistent delivery helps reinforce that message over time. Those fundamentals make it easier to innovate while protecting brand integrity.

In a crowded tax season media environment, how are new formats helping to capture consumer attention?

Capturing attention during tax season is critical. It’s a moment when consumers are highly engaged with their finances, but also when the category is most saturated. High-impact formats help meet consumers in that mindset with messaging that’s more visible and memorable. They create more deliberate moments of attention, rather than blending into the background. Using formats like tiles and pause ads helps CFP Board break through the noise and deliver its message in a way that feels fresh, relevant, and aligned with the importance of the moment.

How has this campaign influenced your approach to future investment? Are you exploring additional areas for innovation as a result?

This campaign reinforced our innovation-first, test-and-learn mindset, showing how thoughtful testing can drive stronger engagement and differentiation. We’re always looking at how we can continuously evolve, building on what works and refining as we go. It’s also opened the door to exploring additional areas, like live sports, where you have highly engaged audiences and unique opportunities to connect in the moment. Ultimately, it comes back to partnership. Working closely with partners like Magnite allows us to keep pushing into new areas while ensuring we’re doing it in a way that’s strategic, measurable, and aligned with our clients’ goals.