BREAKING THROUGH With Bank Marketing

Northwestern Financial Review, Oct 15-Oct 31, 2005 by Telschow, Tony

Bank marketers in the Midwest are bringing billboards and buses, fruit pies and fiberglass farm animals to bear on branding, branch openings, customer service and community relations. Several of their creative campaigns were recognized recently at the 33rd annual American Bankers Association Marketing Network Advertising Awards.

Judges considered about 400 entries in categories defined by asset size, so that banks with $250 million or less in assets competed against their peers. Entries were spilt about evenly among the various asset-size categories, and "we did get a lot of interest in the smaller banks," said Maggie Kelly, a director of marketing for the ABA.

"We found that the community banks are so creative with their budgets. It's a pleasure to see the work, because of the way they can stretch the dollars with a very creative approach," Kelly said.

New centuries locations and tag lines

First National Bank of River Falls, Wis., entered its annual report, an historical calendar and an events flyer, winning a Certificate of Excellence for its work. (See example on page 19.)

The materials supported a yearlong centennial celebration that included several events tied to the bank's history. The calendar showcased archival photos and covered about a decade of history per month. Sue Langer, vice president of marketing, said an agency helped design the calendar, and a freelance researcher checked historical facts, but the bank coordinated all the events and created the flyer and annual report.

The flyer highlighted bank history and touted upcoming events, including one last fall that featured games for kids, a picnic and a band. The event attracted 3,000 people.

Langer said the bank started planning for the centennial campaign a year in advance, when it established a committee led by a director who is also a member of the Smith family, which owns the bank. "That tied in our directors, it tied in our shareholders, it tied in the ownership," Langer said. "It also helped with budget issues."

A separate budget for the centennial campaign left the bank's two-person marketing team more or less free to continue its usual marketing, which includes direct mail, newspaper and radio advertising, a couple of customer-appreciation events per year and programs that target specific business segments, such as breakfasts with guest speakers for commercial clients.

Employee support was another key to great execution, Langer said. "It was in our individual goals that you put so many hours into one or other of the events...All employees got involved during the year," she said.

BankCherokee, a St. Paul, Minn.-based community bank with about $250 million in assets, also emphasized its longevity when it opened a new branch in a suburb south of Minneapolis. Its direct mail campaign drew a Certificate of Excellence from the ABA.

Jane Oslund, the bank's creative marketing and brand manager, said BankCherokee announced its arrival in Savage, Minn., with two mailings to businesses and three to consumers. It also arranged a cross-promotion with an area restaurant, so that customers who redeemed the bank's mailing and opened new accounts could receive free, fresh-baked pies. (see example on page 21.)

Oslund worked with Minneapolis-based ED Advertising on the campaign, which prominently features the bank's president. "The brand of BankCherokee is really centered around the fact that it's community focused, it's personal banking, and that is represented through Heidi Gesell, the president...she is the face of BankCherokee," said Devin Davies, a partner at ED Advertising.

Oslund said the agency also helped the bank update other marketing materials and drive the name change from Cherokee Bank to BankCherokee after drafting the tag line "BankBetter. BankCherokee."

"They've given us a great identity and brand," Oslund said.

An updated tag line also figured in the outdoor advertising of Rosemont, Ill.-based MB Financial Bank, which received a Certificate of Excellence for its "mb. my bank." billboards and transit signs.

Karen Perlman, a senior vice president and director of marketing for MB Financial, said the bank replaced its old tag line "experience, the difference." early in 2004.

"Our awareness study in the fall of 2004 showed that 'my bank' was taking hold in the market in a very short time period and generated more awareness than the previous tag line had in almost three years," Perlman said. (See above.)

Class appeal, mass appeal

Columbia, Mo.-based Boone County National Bank had already opened a conversation with well-to-do arts patrons by advertising in programs for symphony concerts, operas and musicals put on by the University of Missouri. But when the bank wanted to highlight the "nontraditional financial services aspect of our business...brokerage accounts and investment management and financial planning," it decided that a more conspicuous approach was in order, said Mary Wilkerson, the bank's vice president of marketing.

"We wanted to stand out fairly significantly, other than the picture-of-a-cello ad that's usually in a fine arts program," Wilkerson said.