Challenge
We needed to design a marketing piece that introduced our brand to the general public. The marketing piece needed to generate a feeling within the reader that Community Savings is a helpful and friendly place to do their banking.
Strategy
According to Harvard Business Review, the stronger a person's own sense of struggling is, the greater the preference for the underdog brand. In one study they conducted, 71% of subjects chose the underdog company. As a result, instead of shying away from our small size, we turned it into a positive. We wanted to make sure that our demographic saw themselves in our brand. The intent of the small booklet was to introduce our small credit union to working-class families. The booklet needed to get past our products, rates, and fees. The booklet needed to showcase the credit union’s brand, personality, and its approach to banking.
People don't typically have a desire to read financial brochures. To encourage readership, we incorporated unique and engaging imagery and kept the writing to a minimum. The size of the book was intentionally kept small and modest to mirror the credit union's size. Thick cover-weight paper was used to tactually convey the feeling of stability and strength. The cover is a solid blue colour to convey simplicity and calm. To create curiosity, the stark cover was complemented with an unfinished sentence that posed a question (Community Savings is...). Since the credit union serves average blue-collar people, we intentionally selected photos of people that did not look like glamorous models. This helped make the credit union's brand more relatable, approachable and less intimidating.
