Business First Bank was a Louisiana-based commercial bank primarily catering to small- to medium-sized businesses. In support of Business First Bank ‘s acquisition of American Gateway Bank, Animaré was called upon to reposition and reimage the commercial-account-focused bank away from its historically stodgy feel to one more attuned to today’s modern banking consumer. The newly combined bank wanted to emphasize high-touch service and become more actively involved the local communities.
Merging the two banks also provided the opportunity to recast Business First Bank’s brand, positioning it away from its stodgy, corporate feel to one more in tune with today’s consumer. The new brand was called b1BANK. The brand refresh provided a measurable ROI.
We recast the new brand in a simple aesthetic and refreshingly un-bank-like voice. One that imbued a “simple” vs. “complex” experience, and a “pleasurable” vs. “stodgy” disposition. Whether an everyday consumer transaction or a critical business decision, b1BANK promised to simplify the complex without overly complicated financial language, and we wanted that sentiment to manifest in a new brand identity.
In addition to the significant brand identity overhaul, we also introduced the bank’s first-ever integrated advertising campaign. The objective of our marketing effort was to drive awareness among small- to medium-sized business owners and influencers to ultimately generate commercial leads.
Our campaign was born from the insight that the engine of America is small-to-midsized businesses–the doers, the go-getters, and the ones who get it done. With our display ads, we achieved an average $7.15 cost per click (20% lower than industry averages for B2B campaign) and a 25% conversion rate. The videos were seen more than one million times at a 69% video completion rate (VCR)–a strong indicator for awareness. Our dedicated emails campaign achieved 35% open rates (200% above average open rates for list rentals) with an average 2.5% click-through rates and $1.61 cost per click. Our paid search campaign generated 10,000 clicks to the website, a 1.5% CTR and a 10% conversion rate. In addition, by optimizing toward high-performing keywords there was a 26% drop in cost per acquisition.
The campaign can be viewed here.
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Animaré was founded in 1994 as an advanced practices unit inside one of the largest agencies in America. Our initial charge was to formulate new and better ways to connect the essence of a brand to the soul of the consumer. Over the last 29 years, Animaré has helped transform more than 100 brands in every business category using innovative strategies and compelling advertising campaigns for a proven marketing ROI. Let's get your brand purpose to the forefront and ensure it is really resonating with your core audience. Contact us to get started.
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