How Molly Shannon became LendingTree's new spokeswoman—plus a Q&A with the former 'SNL' star

As inflation seeps further into the everyday expenses of Americans, research from LendingTree found that 83% have noticed pressure on their budgets, leading to a higher demand for financing to make ends meet. The same survey reported that rising mortgage interest rates have caused mortgages to rise, on average, $250 per month this year, which equates to more than $100,000 in a loan’s lifetime.

In its first celebrity-led campaign, the fintech brand that allows borrowers to evaluate multiple lenders at once seeks to build trust and comfort with those seeking financial assistance—in the form of comedian and actress Molly Shannon, plus a tightened tagline and revamped customer experience.

“​​I feel like after what we've been through with COVID and, oh my gosh, and so many desks, and just all the people unable to work, there's just been massive change with all the financial uncertainty that people face today,” Shannon told Ad Age, adding that she was excited to partner with LendingTree because “they make it easy for people to look and compare multiple offers, which is certainly what I do as a mom.”

Keep reading for a Q&A with Shannon.

The campaign created with agency Mekanism features two 30-second spots, marking the first work LendingTree will air on broadcast TV in over three years. In each, Shannon plays the role of Linda, who flaunts her financial ease because she didn’t have to do any of the work—“The lenders came to Linda.”

The “SNL” alum finds quick banter in each video with a slew of rhyming dialogue, almost like a non-musical jingle. Over a diner table, Linda tells a woman seeking a mortgage loan that she used LendingTree to finance her “hacienda—it’s magenta.”

“Would you recommenda?” asks the woman. “Well it’s better to choose your own lenda from the list they send ya,” Linda replies, “And you don’t have to be a big spenda like some fancy one percenta.” A waiter comes to take their order: “How’s the chicken?” askes Linda. “Tenda?”

The ad ends with LendingTree’s traditional tagline, “When banks compete, you win,” which animates to zip into its new, simplified tagline: “You win.”

“In America, we are not trusting brands and corporations the way we once did, we're not trusting each other the way we once did…and when it comes to money, we're even more worried and even more suspicious on who to pay attention to and who to trust,” said Shiv Singh, LendingTree’s chief marketing officer. “In an environment like this, using a celebrity, but specifically someone like Molly Shannon, who has that approachability, who people like, who has a lot of built-in trust and connection with consumers—does a lot to draw greater attention to our brand and help folks really get that LendingTree is like Molly Shannon in some ways.”

The process of creating Linda was a collaboration between LendingTree’s internal creative team and Mekanism’s, led by Katie Jensen and David Horowitz, said Jason Harris, Mekanism’s CEO. Collaboratively, the team workshopped many different ideas until they had down Linda’s “cadence of the way she talks and the rhyming and the rhythm of it,” which was engineered to be “memorable and sticky” like a song that gets stuck in one’s head, said Harris.

Shannon said she brought Linda further to life based on one of her real-life friends. “[Linda] is loosely based on someone I know,” said Shannon. “I don't want to say who, but it's a woman who people go to for advice. Like, she's just somebody who's really kind but knows the best deal, so you would always ask this person—she does happen to live in New York City—and she just knows.”

Shannon added that she was able to provide full input on “what I think she looks like and how she talks and what kind of jeans she wears, how she does her nails and her hair” to Singh and the LendingTree creative team.

Singh joined LendingTree in January with a resume of brand marketing experience for major companies such as Expedia, Visa and PepsiCo. Joining LendingTree was like “walking into a Michelin star restaurant’s kitchen because I saw all these amazing ingredients” that weren’t being fully optimized, he said. “I felt there's not a moment to lose to bring it all together and, and turn it into an amazing dish.” Lendingtree is also redesigning its website and offering new features, such as personalized insurance check-ups and a customer interface that incorporates feedback in real time.

In tandem with her new starring role as LendingTree’s Linda, Shannon spoke with Ad Age on creating new characters, how to stand out and what ads work on her.

This interview has been lightly edited for space and clarity.

You're a very busy person and you don’t do a ton of brand partnerships. How do you pick what brands to partner with?

What's funny is I would always find time if it feels right, but I definitely do—because I have built my career and I take that very seriously—I do want to feel like it's the right partnership that does mean something to me and something that feels organic to me. [LendingTree] felt that way to me. I don't know, it just felt fun. I do treat everything the same way whether it's me associating myself with a brand or a movie or TV show—does it feel fun? And usually, if the answer is yes, then I want to do it. It’s kind as simple as that.

That’s interesting. Celebrity advertising can sometimes feel so mysterious.

Oh, that’s so funny. Well, I don’t want to feel like I’m lying. If it's something that I don't use, or I don't believe in, I probably will not want to do it. I mean, that’s the truth.

How is the process of working with LendingTree and creating this character with a brand similar or different from creating a character for a movie or for SNL?

It's similar because I always do want the characters to be real. I don't like if they seem too out there. I want it to be like somebody you know. So I want it to always be genuine and not feel cartoony. I'm thinking about how they walk, how they dress. What does she do? What does she look like? What kind of jeans—Is she wearing white jeans? And then it feels more authentic to me as an actress, comedian, writer.

There's such a saturation of content in general. What is Molly Shannon's advice on breaking through all of that noise and grabbing attention, whether you’re an advertiser or a teen comedian on TikTok?

If you find just one person you're comfortable with, where you feel that you can be yourself, that’s good enough. It only takes one—if you feel like you're trying to create something or have some idea, if you have this one person to understand you, that can be really great. When I was little growing up in Cleveland, I had this one friend who was like, ‘I could picture you being in the movies’ and I was like, ‘You could?’ and she was like, ‘Yeah!’ We’re just like two little kids! So then we started doing characters, and it was like an organic friendship that led to creating characters just in the friendship and kidding around that led to then further art and characters. Follow your heart and your gut.

For what it’s worth, Mary Katherine Gallagher would definitely be a viral hit on TikTok.

Oh my God, that's so funny. Nobody's ever brought that up to me and I'm not on TikTok. I don't know anything about it. That's so interesting that you would say that because I was thinking about that, if I’d never gotten “Saturday Night Live,” if I’d gotten some sitcom and I never created that character, whatever would have happened? Would I have just dropped that? I feel lucky that I got the right break that I did, but I can't imagine what that would have been like to just do it on TikTok.

What is an ad that you’ve seen recently that got your attention and made you buy something?

My friend, Laura Dern, does an ad for True Botanicals. I think Olivia Wilde also does. It makes your face look so fresh and it’s organic. I like the way Laura and Olivia put it on and it just looks like they wake up and put that on and it makes it look really good. Gwyneth Paltrow did some sort of lip gloss recently that looked really good—I was like ooh that makes me want to use it too. I like when they show how they put it on. Drew Barrymore will do lipsticks that she puts on on Instagram.

Oh! Oprah recommended for her Favorite Things these soft pajamas and they are so soft. When I ordered them I was like, “Well, if Oprah likes them, I have to have them!” and they live up to the advertising! My kids and I all tried them and we all loved them. And Sarah Jessica also put her favorite sweatpant on her Instagram and of course I ordered that too and it was fantastic.