Regions Bank - "Green Light"

Publicis Sapient

Publicis Sapient Boston, United States

11076

Brand: Regions Bank
Country: United States

Advertiser: Regions Financial Corporation

Title	Green Light
Agency	Publicis Sapient
Campaign	Green Light
Advertiser	Regions Financial Corporation
Brand	Regions Bank
Date of First Broadcast/Publication	2014 / 1
Business Sector	Banking, Finance, Law & Insurance
Philosophy	Among the nations’ top 15 banks based on market share, only Regions had seen its overall domestic deposits shrink from 2010 to 2013. Coming out of the financial crisis and recession of the past few years, customers were building their deposits with the larger national banks, despite continued industry dissatisfaction. The communications challenge was to increase brand relevance and consideration driving account acquisition and deposit growth among the segment of lowest existing penetration – millenials.
Problem	Brand tracking had indicated that Regions was losing relevancy especially among younger consumers. Regions had not been seen as having “innovative products and services.” Even though Regions had the same products as larger, national banks, this had not been communicated effectively. For millenials, growing up with technology has led to heightened expectations. It was a clear insight that we had to match the right banking tools with the dimension of living that really matter.
Result	Our objectives include both improving the effectiveness of marketing and business goals. We looked to grow overall households for Regions by 2% and drive deposit volume growth. We planned on doing so by increasing the number of younger households (18-49) banking with Regions, and reverse declining brand attributes. By improving brand perception and relevance among younger segments we could increase ad effectiveness and consideration among younger audiences. Finally, we worked towards increasing interactive/online engagement via online video and rich media. Leveraging key insights from our target audience and their emotions when it comes to banking, we came up with our big idea: Banking is static, but life is always moving forward. To bring the idea to life, we created brand relevancy by developing a three-step strategy. First, to change brand perception, we wanted our younger demographic to notjust see Regions as a functional place to put money, but as a brand that cared about the things that mattered most to them - such as getting their first paycheck, finding out that they’re pregnant or going on a dream vacation. We stopped using the tag line, “It’s Time to Expect More” and instead, we did not introduce a new line, but started using the language that resonated with our target – like “helping to move their lives forward.” Secondly, we created an ecosystem that was matching the right content to the right audience at the right time in the right channel. We had prioritized the “innovative products and services” that had appealed to our younger demographic. Each interaction led to another, facilitating deeper brand engagement on owned platforms, driving closer to conversion. Lastly, we’d create awareness and drive conversion-brand awareness through TV, Print, Radio, Digital and OOH. A key part of the strategy had been increasing use of interactive media, including digital banners, search, rich media and online video to create deeper engagement and drive prospects to dynamic landing pages. From here prospects had been directed to sign up for an account and non-converting prospects had been intelligently re-targeted. As for results, we’re on pace to exceed the 2% new account acquisition goal and continue to increase deposits. Regions acquired three times the number of younger households (18-49) compared to 50+ households. We achieved our goal of greater penetration among the younger segment. Digital creative saw significant engagement, increasing brand relevancy. Our target audience interacted and engaged with rich media and online video at a high rate (high dwell times, content engagement and ad completions), creating more relevancy and increasing consideration. The digital creative outperformed financial industry benchmarks for interaction rate by 84% and saw a click through rate 100% higher than industry benchmarks.
Media Type	Case Study
Length	121 seconds
Creative Director	Reed Coss
Strategy	david jacobs
Worldwide Chief Creative Officer	Gaston Legorburu
Account Director	Gloria Samayoa
Senior Copywriter	Peter Wagoner
Associate Creative Director	Steve Laing
Executive Creative Director	John McHale
Executive Creative Director	Bill Pauls
Editor	Javier Urquiza
North American Chief Creative Officer	Gary Koepke
Senior Copywriter	Peter Wagoner
Associate Creative Director	Steve Laing
Account Director	Chanel Abislaiman
Agency Producer	Monica Alameda
Agency Producer	Jose Acosta