The “Hard-Working Bank” series offered through Fairfield-based Sprowl & Assoc. is among the ready-made ad campaigns marketed to banks with less than $500 million in assets.
Connecticut-based banks are responding to the recent shakeups in the banking world – the merger of FleetBoston Financial and Bank of America and the formation of NewAlliance Bank out of three smaller Connecticut institutions – by gearing up on advertising. They hope that customers who experience problems when the merging banks are changing over their systems will look for a smaller, friendlier and more local bank.
The advertising wave is already evident with People’s Bank’s “Switch to People’s” minimalist-style billboards gracing highways across the state. But for smaller banks, finding the money for advertising can be tough, said Charles Sprowl, president of the Fairfield-based advertising agency Sprowl & Assoc.
That’s why Sprowl and his company last week launched a Web site, affordablebankads.com, that offers ready-made ad campaigns geared toward banks with less than $500 million in assets.
“What we’re trying to do is find a way for [banks] not to spend [their] whole budget on creating this,” he said.
Paying for advertising is difficult for smaller banks, said Lynn Viesti, assistant treasurer and marketing director for The Milford Bank. Her bank has about $275 million in assets.
“The larger banks are always going to have an advantage,” she said.
Because larger banks can order in bulk advertising staples such as brochures, they often get a discount, while smaller banks usually don’t have the budget or the necessity to order in bulk.
The Milford Bank advertises in newspapers and magazines and also has its own magazine in Milford, Viesti said. The bank probably already has a well-established brand and works with an advertising agency, so it probably wouldn’t be interested in the ready-made ads, Viesti said. But some banks would, she said.
“Certainly, there’s a market for that,” Viesti said.
Cost ‘Dilemma’
Another hurdle for small banks is the cost of advertising in the region.
“In the Northeast, one of the dilemmas that happen is that media happens to be expensive,” said Philip Chase, creative director at Fairfield-based Riggs Graphics, the sister company of Sprowl & Assoc. “We took a look at that dilemma.”
And when small banks are hurting financially, advertising is one of the first things to suffer, Chase said.
“They’re stretched pretty thin,” he said.
The climate in the banking world now is perfect for smaller banks to pick up more customers and increase their business, Sprowl said. When the “big guys are eating each other” and the “little guys” are coming up in the vacuum that creates, it can be a big opportunity for smaller banks, he said.
“The small, local guys are harder- and harder-pressed to compete at all levels,” Chase said.
So the ready-made advertising aims to help the small banks fill that vacuum. The ad agency has come up with seven different campaigns that banks can buy for about $6,500, Sprowl said. The campaigns each have at least six different advertisements, all with the same theme, that are geared toward banks with different ideals.
One campaign, the “Hard-Working Bank” campaign, features ads with photos of dogs in various poses that make them look faithful to their owners. One ad, which announces the opening of a new branch, shows a couple’s jeans-clad legs with a Labrador retriever standing between them. The ad reads, “We wanted to get a little closer.” Text at the bottom of the ad can be changed to say when and where the new branch is opening.
Another campaign, designed for banks that want to emphasize the fact that they are local, features playful illustrations. One of the seven ads in the campaign is for savings accounts and shows a happy-looking pink pig with coins being dropped into the slot on his back. The pig’s body is divided into parts, like a slab of meat, with words like “wedding” and “education” written on them. The ad states, “When it comes to savings, we’re a cut above.”
Each of the ads in all seven campaigns has a photo or illustration and text. Individual banks can modify the text and put their own logos on the ad. The campaigns and the ads are highly defined, Sprowl said. The campaigns feature specific ads for checking accounts, savings accounts, mortgages and loans, new branches, rates and small-business banking.
Sprowl’s agency also ensures that no two banks in the same region will have the same campaign. When a bank buys a campaign, they have the rights to it for one year in their region. No other banks in that area can buy the same campaign. When the year is up, the bank can renew for a discounted rate or can give up the rights to the campaign.
Banks that buy the ads can either have a local ad agency or newspaper manipulate the ads to suit their needs, or they can have Riggs Graphics do it for a discounted rate, he said.
“Basically, they don’t have to do anything but drop their logo in,” Sprowl said.
The ads are all available in Quark Xpress and can be purchased from the company’s Web site. Banks can use the ads for newspapers, magazines, posters, brochures or other purposes.
Sprowl and his coworkers are experienced in advertising for banks, which was part of the reason they decided to offer the ads. They have done advertising for New Haven Savings Bank, which is now part of NewAlliance Bank, and for the Savings Bank of Danbury.
Sprowl decided to start offering ready-made ads for banks when he noticed all the mergers and acquisitions going on in the banking world, he said.
“I was trying to think of a way to expand our business and I talked to little banks,” he said. “The whole idea was to find a way to fit into this niche where there’s a need.”
Ready-made advertising is not a new idea, Chase said, but not many ad agencies provide such specific ads for banks.
The company is targeting banks nationwide and earlier this week sent out brochures to any bank with fewer than 150 employees, about 8,000 banks in all, Sprowl said.
