Change for the better, sits at the core of Yell’s values, so we were delighted to see an example of just that in the Fifth Third Bank’s recent ‘Brand of you’ campaign.
‘Brand of you’ centres on the core issue affecting thousands of recent US graduates who are struggling to find employment since they left education. At its heart, the campaign offers $1m worth of employment training and support to recent graduates, but the execution of the campaign makes it feel much more than offering a simple training program.
‘Brand of you’ asks recent graduates to tweet why they deserve one to one job search coaching, with the best 1,000 responses wining support provided by Fifth Third Bank.
What we like about ‘Brand of you’ is that firstly its one of those rare things, the truly integrated campaign, leveraging television, radio, digital, PR and social media – and doing it well.
The campaign operates from the hub, www.53.com/BrandOfYou, where the essence of the campaign comes to life and the best submissions will be featured. The campaign also utilises seeded video and pre-roll as well as flash and rich media banners across high-profile websites, networks, and social media, including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
So truly integrated? You bet, but that’s not what really spoke to us, it’s the execution that’s really excited the team at Yell. Fifth Third bank, which is known as the ‘Curious bank’ in the US, has built a brand around trying to better understand their customers’ needs and this campaign aligns really well that core aim.
The campaign execution seems to deliver that brand message, without ever overtly referencing Fifth Third Bank (which some may see as a weakness in the campaign – but that I love). It’s also interesting that at no point is there a reference to a product – banking or otherwise.
Other highlights for us are that the campaign is:
Targeted – Identifying a specific demographic with an identifiable need enables the campaign to deliver clear messaging, a targeted solution and an appealing incentive
Relevant – the graduate unemployment situation on the US is a serious social issue and this campaign addresses that issue head-on – albeit for 1,000 of the many thousands struggling to find meaningful employment.
Speaks its audiences’ language – the tone used is humorous, but not patronising, it’s on-brand and gets to the heart of the problem clearly and distinctly.
Makes commercial sense – Fifth Third Bank knows that statistically graduates have much higher earning potential than high school grads. If they can capture the graduate market, by building a brand association, there’s going to be long-term benefits.
It’s only weakness is the harsh reality of heading to Fifth Third’s main online channel at www.53.com, which is a pretty awful (but unfortunately relatively standard) banking website. It’s pretty jarring to see the quality of the ‘Brand of you’ campaign execution and then be faced with the mess that is their main site…
Why don’t you check out the campaign for yourself at www.53.com/BrandOfYou
