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+64%
increase in new account acquisition.
1 million+
new customers
Moving EVERYONE forward...
"We have no idea how you're going to fix this.
To be honest, we really don't think it can be fixed!"
That's the Regions Bank CMO, along with her 'second-in-command.'
I totally understand their frustration and doubt. As the most recent addition to the team, I have arrived at my new agency to find the whole situation...well...fractured!
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Customer attrition: Regions suffers from traditional churn rates - nothing usual about that. But the bank simply isn't replacing customers as quickly as they are losing them.​
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Internal criticism: This lack of performance results in a lot of finger-pointing, with business units across the bank complaining that Regions' Marketing Department is not delivering them enough support.
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​Declining trust: Adding to this noise, and with mounting budget pressure, Regions' executive management team has begun to doubt the abilities of their new CMO. Without proof that the department's efforts are effective - and along with the criticism from the business units - the reputations of the Marketing team and the new CMO are at risk.
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​A complete lack of cohesion: Worst of all, Regions' Marketing leaders can't fix any of these things until it curbs the constant infighting that plagues its multiple agencies.
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For me, the solution is pretty clear: This is all about rebuilding relationships in order to drive performance!
STEP #1: REBUILD RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE AD AGENCIES
The interagency culture is absolutely toxic! When the client's multiple firms aren't trying to steal each other's budget, they're busy scheduling secret client meetings and actively campaigning against each other. Sadly, my own agency is one of the worst offenders.
To fix this, we will adopt three (3) basic leadership principles to be our guide.
1) Recruit the right people with the right mindset. Working with Regions, we form a leadership group among the ad agencies - then pack it with people who are willing to put the client's needs first. I am joined by fantastic account management partners Tripp Durant and Brian Conley (Luckie & Co.), the excellent media team of Joe Waugh and Monica Olivio-Crane (Harmelin Media), and digital strategy guru David Jacobson (Sapient). In the process, we identify all the politicians, schemers, and backstabbers and remove them from the planning and decision-making processes. Of course, this ruffles some feathers...but it's necessary.
2) Create barriers that will prevent toxic politics in the future. From that point on, no agency operates on its own. Instead, they are all governed by (and answerable to) the centralized advertising leadership group. We are going to be one team with one mission! ​Thanks to client support, it quickly becomes apparent that any agency trying skip proper channels will meet a dead end. Again, this ruffles some feathers, but it also reveals who really wants to boost the client's business...versus who just wants to boost their own agenda.
3) Ensure that loyalty is always a two-way street. Rule #1 in successful leadership: 'Always lead by example.' Since these new relationships are still shaky, I look for chances to support the other agencies - advocating for their strategies, celebrating their skills, and even helping to protect their budgets.
RESULT: Each opportunity to collaborate, cooperate - and even defend each other - now vastly improves trust, interdependency, and teamwork.
STEP #2: BUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH BANK SHOPPERS
Conducting immersive research across several Regions markets (Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Orlando, Tampa, etc.), we stumble across some pretty shocking news.
100%
Research participants who have switched banks within the past 2 years.
79%
Percentage of these bank shoppers who have positive impressions of Regions bank.
Zero!
The number of these shoppers who actually consider Regions bank when they switch.
Wait...what? With such positive feelings, no one even considers switching to Regions???
The reason we hear most often: "I don't know what Regions Bank actually offers."
We learn that when consumers think about Regions, three things consistently come to mind:
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The color green
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"La-la" music
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Bicycles
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You see, several years earlier - during a time when Regions' products were underdeveloped and less competitive - the client and the agency default to a campaign that is heavy on 'feels' but light on substance: "A bank that's as easy as riding a bike!" Since then, using bright green bicycles and a cute jingle, the agencies have done a phenomenal job of reinforcing that message.
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But things are different now.​
Times have changed...
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Following the economic meltdown of 2008, consumer trust in financial institutions has plummeted. As a result, 'fluff' means 'fake.' If they are going to consider Regions, they want more than just clever metaphors and catchy music. They demand specific, detailed, and transparent information about the bank's products and tools.
People have changed...
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These days, consumers are deadly serious about their financial future. More than just a laundry list of products and services, bank shoppers want to understand how those products and tools can improve their daily lives...as well as help them achieve their future goals. They want a brand that would educate and guide them, one that can help them to feel totally in control of their finances. Bank shoppers even want to see products they don't qualify for yet - just to know that Regions can (and will) be with them through all the coming phases of their lives.
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Most of all, Regions has changed...
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While Regions may not have been competitive back when the old campaign was born, these days Regions really has the goods. Online banking. Mobile banking. Digital check deposit. Virtual loan applications. An exceptional in-branch experience. And loads of other tools and resources for customers' everyday financial management and planning (advice, guidance, and education). Indeed, Regions offers everything that bank shoppers are looking for. Unfortunately, it all lay hidden behind the bicycle.
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​​​​RESULT: Today's Regions Bank has so much more to say...and our bank shoppers need to hear it!
"DON'T GIVE CUSTOMERS CLEVER METAPHORS...GIVE THEM PROVEN MANAGEMENT TOOLS"
STEP #3: WHILE REBUILDING THE BRAND - REBUILD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE BUSINESS UNITS
A top-down approach to branding/marketing will force the beleaguered business units to simply adopt messaging that serves the brand more than their unique marketing needs. And that won't be well received So, instead of the age-old practice of deductively launching a brand from the top down, we inductively rebuild the Regions brand from the bottom up - starting with the business units and working our way up to the overall brand.
The most important part: During this effort, we place the business units smack in the middle of the planning process. This gains us several advantages, including...
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Undeniable partnership: This gives them a front row seat, showing the business units how hard the Regions Marketing Department and its agencies are working for them.
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Unquestionable focus: For each business unit, our work is uniquely riveted on their targets, their strategy, their tactics, and their media - thus demonstrating how dedicated we are to their success.
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Irrefutable ownership: Finally, this approach will help protect the marketing department and ad team from unwarranted criticism. After all, when we cross the finish line, anyone from the business units who dares to complain about our efforts would actually be criticizing something that they, themselves, have created.
In the end - in each other - we find advocates, not enemies.
RESULT: Internal complaints about Regions' Marketing Department vanish!
STEP #4: SO...WHERE DO WE ALL GO FROM HERE? FORWARD!
With the agencies collaborating, with the messaging problem identified, and with the business units now part of the team, we still need to link those many business-unit ideas into one central brand direction - most importantly, a brand direction that generates results - thus helping to restore executive management's faith in the new CMO and her team.
From our detailed work with the business unites, I quickly identify a compelling insight. While target audiences across the business units are unique and diverse, they ALL have one thing in common:
These customers are all "financial works in progress!"
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The average checking customer looking to learn more, plan more, and grow more.
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Low-income folks just trying to get a handle on their finances. ​
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The small businesses owner looking for a financial edge.
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Wealth management investors seeking to squeeze every ounce of return from their portfolios.
"MOVING YOU FORWARD" is really more than a brand theme for Regions. It is the brand's WHY, it's core truth, it's reason to exist - providing the very products, services, and guidance that empower customers to move beyond the meltdown of 2008. It's the permission customers want to move ahead with their lives. Most importantly, this is the confidence our shoppers need to choose Regions as their banking partner.
RESULT: When presented with this new direction, the CMO literally weeps tears of joy.
STEP #5: DELIVER MUCH, MUCH MORE
Bank shoppers are already familiar (and firmly disinterested) in Regions. So, we know they'll automatically tune out at the first sign of the color green, "la-la" music, and bicycles. Our only way forward is to take shoppers by surprise. The advertising work has to to look and feel nothing like the traditional Regions ads consumers are familiar with.
​For the agency and client staff who have devoted so much of their time and effort to the old (bicycle) advertising, this is tough ask. Lots of hurt feelings. Lots of pushback. Still, with time, patience, and a focus on the strategy, we all work through it - ultimately delivering pervasive messages and effective engagement plans that run the gamut of new and traditional media channels.
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For example:
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"Give life the green light" - This advertising campaign is launched across multiple targeted media channels, replacing trite bicycles and la-la music with real-life challenges - all solved by Regions products, services, and people. ​
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"Next Step Project" - Through social media channels and promotions, we publish a series of real-life vignettes about Regions consumers who, when facing the next big step in their lives, use the bank's resources to get ahead.
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"Share the Good" - Similarly, this collection of stories spotlights Regions' staff going above and beyond, to help individuals and communities solve problems and reach their goals.​
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"Moving You Forward Scholarship" - This is designed to promote and boost the brand's commitment to helping students succeed as they emerge into the post-collapse economy.
STEP #6: PERFORMANCE
By the end of the fiscal year, Regions' Marketing Department tracks its success in a variety of ways...
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​TEAMWORK
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New Partnerships: The business units praise Regions' Marketing Department, for its support, ideas and collaboration.
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Better Alliances: ​The agencies have learned new ways of working together and respecting each other.
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Restored Trust: Thanks to all of this, Regions' executive leaders laud the performance of both the Marketing Department and the new CMO.
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KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
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Brand awareness, brand recall, and advertising recall, all increase by high double-digits
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YouTube engagement grows nearly +350%
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Facebook engagement increases +300%
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Regions' overall content achieves a rank of #32 in all-time Facebook video views​
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But the numbers that count the most?
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The Marketing Department's acquisition of new accounts grows by more than +64%, garnering the brand more than one million new customers.
Click above to read more.
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