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PRODUCT:
New Branch Opening
– Financial Services |
THE CHALLENGE
Introducing a new branch on a main route where 32 other financial institutions already exist in a county that has only one other HVFCU branch.
With 32 other financial institutions within a 2 miles radius of this new branch in Middletown, NY, we needed to develop a campaign that would resonate with area residents and capture their interest. People are reluctant to change banks once they have all their accounts established therefore we needed to focus on solving specific problems and then motivating the audience to action.
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THE SOLUTION
Craft a highly targeted and informative multi-media advertising campaign that differentiates HVFCU from their competition and then conclude the campaign with a large scale grand opening event.
Our strategic process included…Visiting all 32 competing branches to understand the competitive landscape.
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We then determined that the market was predominately a downscale (lower affluent) market with a high concentration of younger consumers. We also determined that the market was culturally diverse with a high concentration of Hispanic and African Americans. We then established those products that the group would have the highest propensity for (checking/ATM cards, etc).
In order to establish interest leading up to the branch opening, we established a teaser campaign with the theme - “189,000 people in the Hudson Valley Already Love Us… soon Middletown will love us too” Included in the teaser was a web address – “finally in Middletown.com.” As part of the teaser we indicated that we would be giving away a Nintendo Wii a week for 5 weeks. This was done to stir the interest of the young audience we were attempting to attract.
The teaser campaign ran in newspaper, radio, TV and print for 2 weeks and anyone who visited the website could register online to win a Wii. The teaser campaign was designed to peak interest but not reveal that it was a credit union. It required you come back to the site to find out more about the Wii® giveaway. It generated over 7,000 visitors.
The teaser campaign then progressed into a full blown campaign that continued the “189,000 People Already Love Us” theme. We continued with TV, radio and print advertising, this time adding direct mail and the placement of door hangers on over 2,000 homes. Door hangers were placed on all town homes and apartments within the two zip codes of Middletown and postcards were sent to arrive within a week of the grand opening event.
The campaign itself was a series of messages that resonated with the audience based on the psycho-demographic study we performed. Those messages included extended hours for single mothers or families, free checking, free ATM’s, etc.
Once the campaign evolved (when the branch physically opened) we gave comprehensive details of all the benefits of credit union membership and how they were different than a traditional bank. We also heavily promoted the Grand Opening event where the winner of the first of 5 Nintendo Wii’s would be announced.
The Grand Opening event itself was spectacular. It included a live radio broadcast on K-104 radio station (the station identified by Arbitron rankers as the most popular among this audience), a live band, hamburgers being served by the restaurant “Cheeseburger in Paradise” next door, ice cream, hot dogs and popcorn. There were also face-painting, clowns, a bounce house and a magician to keep children occupied while parents opened new accounts. We hired a customized Segway (2 wheel Scooter) with the campaign theme painted on it and had it parade around the parking lot and plaza, attracting interest for the event.
THE RESULTS
This branch opening was the most successful in HVFCU history. This Middletown branch actually had a 300% increase in business volume from any past branch opening. Within 4 weeks this new branch were outpacing existing branches that had been open for longer than a year. They also continue to have the most foot traffic thru the doors than their highest producing current branch. |
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845.896.1010
1793 Route 52, Fishkill, NY 12524
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