Despite over 120 years in business, Braintree Cooperative Bank (BCB) took a long hiatus from marketing, relying on word of mouth and the reputation of its internal team to drive new customer acquisitions. As customer growth slowed, particularly among the younger demographic, BCB needed to dial it up a notch and broaden its appeal with a fresh go-to-market strategy.
With recent renovations to bank branches and management’s rejuvenated marketing focus as the impetus, we directed BCB to trade up its more staid and traditional look for a more progressive identity designed to drive brand lift and resonate with the young professional audience. As Braintree’s only long-standing community bank, Braintree Cooperative was primarily perceived as a bank for an older audience, which was beginning to impact future growth among the local up and comers. Its logo and brand identity were flat and dated, and its color palette was in desperate need of a style makeover. To begin the process of changing perceptions of the BCB brand, we started by designing a new logo and creating brand standards and ad templates that reflected an updated and more relevant image. While maintaining the core of BCB’s traditional brand heritage through the use of its community name, we added blue, green, and gray tones as accents to expand upon the existing color palette, reinvigorating the brand image.
BCB’s website was also stuck in the first-generation mode and not aligned with its new brand image. Beyond aesthetics, the website needed to be overhauled with improved functionality that could properly showcase the dynamic services the bank currently offers. We rebuilt the site architecture to streamline access to the bank’s array of services and added a new community area to highlight the many ways BCB gives back to its customers and neighbors. The home page, which subtly incorporates the well-known BCB bank within the Braintree community, is sophisticated and clean, allowing customers to effortlessly navigate the online banking portal. The result is a website design serving up current-day banking functionality set in a warm user experience that captures BCB’s connection to its community and customers.
The two spots, called “Ginger” and “Fred,” play up the theme that “it’s not the same old song and dance.” The ads feature 1950s styled actors, who dance through the newly renovated main bank branch, juxtaposing BCB’s progression from years past. Both spots communicate that customers will find much more at BCB than they expect from their bank. Because the TV spots were meant to reintroduce BCB to the public, it was important to support heavy frequency in our media rotation. We achieved cost efficiencies by designing the ads as 15-second spots, which could bookend commercial breaks and drive traffic to the new website.
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