Peoples Trust & Savings Bank has experienced exceptional growth. And though they’ve grown to the fast-paced western suburbs of Des Moines, they’ve never lost sight of their rurul Iowa roots. Everything they do is wrapped up with their mission people first banking. That’s why banking decisions are made at the local level, why you’ll always talk to a real person during business hours, and why they give back to their communities. But how to communicate this in a marketplace heavily cluttered with “bank advertising”? When Westergaard approached Peoples in the fall of 2007, the question was just that. Grow the commuter business in the western suburbs while supporting the rural branches as well.

Westergaard began with the assets. In a space dominated by vague and undescriptive brand names (just scramble up First, National, Federal, United, and Bank and you’ll probably get a real bank name). Peoples Trust & Savings Bank — or Peoples Bank — is not only descriptive but it reinforces their core message of putting people first. We also broke out the core benefits of people first banking outlined above and made them key tent poles of their message strategy. All of roads kept coming back to people. Rather than focusing on the people at the bank (the ‘friendliest tellers’ route), Westergaard opted to take the Peoples experience from the people that matter most — the customers.

The campaign creative took this concept literally and build a series of people first stories phrased as “I want” and “I need” statements such as “I want my teller to know my name” and “I want my banking decisions made locally.” All of these statements were wrapped up with an answer that served as a campaign theme …

This line, which is plain spoken like the bank itself, would be our closer on all ads. Our campaign creative consisted of  online and print applications …

In addition to radio that reached not only the Des Moines area but the bank’s rural communities as well.

New customers were targeted using personalized, direct mail.

Tying it all together were in-bank promotionals such as bannerstands and teller envelopes.

The final result has been a campaign that has increased brand awareness for Peoples Trust & Savings Bank in the high growth new markets while reinforcing the brand in their current locations. Sometimes the best branding solution comes down to sharpening current attributes and assets into key positioning points. That’s what we do. We put the brand first.