Contact: Gillian Harvie, Public Relations Mgr.
Tel: (608) 252-8708
New ads offer insight into customers’ financial needs
MADISON – It’s been more than a decade since Madison-based AnchorBank changed its advertising campaign. It was then that Anchor’s advertising agency, Hiebing, came up with the tagline: “What will you do with your money today?” But times have changed and so have consumers. “Consumers these days really identify with a brand,” said AnchorBank’s 1st Vice President of Marketing Chris Schell. “We wanted to create a brand that would stay true to the bank’s approachable neighborhood feel, but at the same time take it a step further.”
This summer, the bank will begin to roll out its new look and new tagline: “Balance Your Best Interests”. >From strategic planning to concept validation in consumer research, it’s been a year-long process for AnchorBank’s marketing department and Hiebing. “The campaign has really hit the mark,” said Hiebing Account Executive Jaimi Brinkman. “We’ve done exactly what we set out to do.”
AnchorBank’s goal was to create a completely new ad campaign to encompass all of their products and services that could be used in all types of media. “We want to speak to the consumer, not at them,” said Brinkman. “We want to show that AnchorBank relates with their customers and shares the burden of financial decisions along with them.”
The result is a delicately “balanced” advertising campaign with striking honesty. Initial concepts for upcoming ads feature the inner confessions of a household CFO: from the wife and mother of two who admits she hates her neighbors and is secretly saving for a new home, to the businessman who confesses he has more money than time and thinks life is too short to make an extra trip to the bank. “It’s hard not to relate to the people we are featuring in our campaigns,” said Brinkman “They’re dealing with the same financial issues we all deal with.”
In the past, AnchorBank’s advertising was created on a product-by-product basis, but now all the bank’s products will have a similar look and feel. The tagline, “Balance Your Best Interests,” will also highlight the complete array of services offered from personal banking, to home loans, investment services and business banking.
“The new campaign feels much more like a retail ad than it does a financial ad,” said Schell. “That’s what we wanted. Banks don’t have to be stiff and boring. We wanted something that was more approachable, evoked more feeling and produced emotions in our customers.”
A gradual introduction of the new look and tagline means consumers may not notice the difference right away, but AnchorBank and Hiebing both agree the change will stand out.
Founded in 1919, AnchorBank is one of the state’s largest financial institutions with 61 locations throughout Wisconsin. AnchorBank, fsb is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. Anchor BanCorp’s stock is traded on the over-the-counter market under the NASDAQ symbol ABCW.
