River Valley Bank is a very successful, growing, community bank offering personal and business banking services in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In late 2015—after acquiring additional branches and reviewing the organization’s internal practices—they reviewed their position in the marketplace and renewed their focus on customer service. As part of this process they developed and adopted the ICE (Incredible Customer Experience) initiative and pledged to make ICE a central part of their culture.
River Valley came to Insight Creative with a mission to craft a multi-media campaign to communicate their leading service position and ICE commitment to their customers and potential customers. Additionally, they wanted to make it clear that they are a different type of financial institution, with a unique ethos, refreshing attitude and sense of humor. River Valley wanted to stand out from the crowd and strongly state that their employees will truly do whatever it takes to provide an Incredible Customer Experience.
A committed WOW! Insight Creative came up with a unique concept that featured River Valley employees graphically demonstrating their robust commitment to the Bank and, by association, commitment to the central mission of providing amazing customer service through ICE. The arresting visuals are accompanied by a consistent message connecting the visual to the superior service customers receive at River Valley.
The staff was more than enthusiastic to flaunt their River Valley commitment and pose for billboards, print ads, online ads, website graphics and much more. All pieces feature the hashtag #RiverValleyExperience—a solicitation to tag photos that capture River Valley’s ICE commitment when posting to social media. All tagged images flow onto a special landing page on the River Valley Bank website for easy public viewing.
Eventually the campaign reached beyond employees and showcased how committed customers are by their use of the River Valley logo in a variety of extreme circumstances.
According to Jan Hogan, River Valley market president in Middleton, Wisconsin, “From print to outdoor to social, the campaign has set us apart in the competitive Madison financial services market and has aided us in surpassing our year-to-date goals.”
Specifically, social media engagement has substantially improved, loans are 20% ahead of goal and an offshoot of the original campaign very successfully launched the bank’s new mobile app—far surpassing the industry usage average in just three weeks!
Needless to say, River Valley is thrilled with the results—and committed to working with Insight Creative as we move forward together. Jan Hogan adds, “It’s been terrific to receive customer feedback on this unique campaign and I’m confident that the ongoing, evolving creative will continue to lead us in our branding efforts!”
