Creative Execution
When one of your customers scans a recent brochure trumpeting online banking services or picks through the retirement planning mailing they received, chances are pretty good they don’t give a hoot about how that particular “piece” or campaign was conceived and executed. Every creative element—from graphic imagery, to font size and style, to layout composition, to the writing itself—should appear to be in its proper place, a seamless tapestry of information designed to elicit a favorable call-to-action.
Bank marketers understand the work behind creating such a piece. From large-scale marketing campaigns, like a high-level re-branding or new product launch, to a simple resizing of a logo that appears on your bank’s letterhead, every decision requires some thought—not to mention blood, sweat and the occasional tear—regarding creative execution.
Sure, some decisions are pretty simple … except when they’re not. If you’re fortunate enough to have someone on staff who can quickly—and expertly—desaturate the image of your loan officer that appears on your customer-facing Web site (thereby avoiding that “just fell asleep for three days under a sun lamp” look), then you’re probably ahead of the game. But if you don’t have someone on staff with that particular skill set (or software), and the outside design agency you work with on big-scale projects charges a lofty hourly rate, what do you do?
IN-SOURCE, OUT-SOURCE, RED HORSE, BLUE HORSE
If you have the luxury of rethinking your staffing model, begin there. But that’s not so easy. Every bank marketing staff is, in a sense, unlike any other. This much we know. Staffing requirements are particularly idiosyncratic, and, like any other in-sourced function, stitched together through an evolutionary process based around—simply stated—the work that needs to be done.
Personal experience or the preference of top management, of course, factors heavily. To wit: when marketing heads are assembling or reassembling their staff, chances are good they’ll go back to the well of previous success or steer clear of the staffing model that tanked.
In terms of creative execution, some marketing managers have had more success developing everything in-house, in the hopes of ensuring some measure of quality control and continuity, while avoiding agency-related up-charges, endless project bids and potential knowledge gaps. Others swear by farming all design work to outside firms or freelancers who know their stuff, have all the latest software, and carry a high level of accountability and professionalism. Still others use a blending of both or other approaches.
Bottom line is there’s no right or wrong here...right?
Like most marketing decisions to be made, there is no magic bullet, particularly when it comes to the sourcing of the very technical and specialized work of graphic design. But there are plenty of solutions that work, and some might be the right fit for your particular situation. Let’s take a closer look at four different approaches currently in practice: in-house, outside agency, freelance, and the combination. See which one makes the most sense for you.
THE IN-HOUSE APPROACH
Paula Barron
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
VIST Financial
Wyomissing, Pa.
Asset Size: $1.2 Billion
Having worked in the financial services industry for 20 years, Barron has seen creative approaches work many different ways. While Barron appreciates the merits of working with an outside agency--“given their experience and knowledge gained from the other people with which they work”—she believes a talented and seasoned internal team combined with strong strategic direction from the top more than compensates.
Fortunately for her, she has such a team in place. Her five-person team has veterans with up to 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, as well as varying skill sets fit to do the work. Barron oversees as chief marketing officer; her staff handles product development, advertising placement and creative, public relations, Web site management and training. The work itself ranges from retail ads for core deposits; billboards, newspaper and radio spots for certificates of deposit; postcards, mailings and list purchasing for their insurance division seminars; targeted direct marketing; corporate communications via their Web site and more.
While in-sourcing the creative work means Barron needs to stay on top of training and software upgrades, she knows her team is talented and trained sufficiently to pitch in and tweak existing designs when needed. More importantly, she knows she can rely on the expertise of her team on all things VIST: “It’s much easier to execute creative projects internally because we know the strategy, we understand the direction—we live and breathe it every day.”
THE OUTSIDE AGENCY APPROACH
Kelly McArdle
Marketing and Training Coordinator
American Federal Savings Bank
Helena, Mont.
Asset Size: $280 Million
It makes sense that McArdle works exclusively with an outside agency given the size of her staff, which includes McArdle and…well, that’s it. Not only does McArdle run marketing, she’s also the training coordinator as well. “Some days I could use extra administrative assistance,” she muses.
While the marketing focus in the past wasn’t as defined, the brand is now well-established, prompting the birth of multiple marketing programs in its wake. To handle the load, McArdle has worked for a couple of years with a small, local ad agency on newspaper ads, radio and TV spots, as well as recent brand identification guidelines and logo changes. Though she’s worked with agencies on retainer in the past, she was “frustrated” by that experience and now pays an hourly rate on a project-by-project basis. In turn, the agency’s response times are much faster, she says.
For direct marketing projects, McArdle employs two different agencies for distinct programs. One firm focuses on checking-account acquisition mailings, while the other works on a variety of monthly campaigns built around targeting customer households through segmentation and market data. When either firm creates their own designs, they always work closely with the ad agency to ensure brand standards are maintained. With so many mailings in play—including one every six weeks to about 20,000 households—McArdle has a full plate. To help balance the load, McArdle employs interns from a local university.
Despite or because of the number of balls in the air, McArdle knows that outsourcing the work is the only way to go: “For our size, we certainly couldn’t afford all of that individual talent. We wouldn’t get the quality and efficiency we’re getting right now. Knowing we don’t have to reinvent the wheel because we already have a team on each program means we get quick service as well as the benefit of all that expertise.”
THE FREELANCE APPROACH
Leanne Kassab, CFMP
AVP/Marketing
CNB Bank
Clearfield, Pa.
Asset Size: $1 Billion
With a small crew of three people on staff, including the vice president of marketing and sales who runs the team, the assistant vice president of marketing who oversees all advertising and public relations, and the marketing specialist who looks after special events and marketing research, Kassab employs an outside freelancer for nearly all things creative. The strong relationship has lasted for over eight years and Kassab considers her freelancer to be “almost an employee of the bank.”
While they’ve used outside agencies in the past for checking-acquisition programs and other specialties (like sweepstakes contests and direct mail), the “customized products” that were promised by these firms were not delivered. “We ended up getting a lot of canned promotions.” Kassab also points out that “some agencies want to sit and talk about strategic goals, our market, and our marketing plan for hours before taking on a simple project—we don’t have time for that on a project-by-project basis. Using a freelancer is the quickest, most efficient way to get things done.”
Though they in-source all of their media buys, list acquisitions and ad scheduling, the freelancer handles all the creative to the point where she has heavily influenced their brand image. “We’re very happy with the design and creative, particularly in terms of message consistency, flexibility, quick turnaround times, and the ease of the relationship we have.” If there is a downside, Kassab notes, it’s that the freelancer works from home, which can lead to the occasional work interruption.
Overall, though, the plusses outweigh the minuses. “We’ve tried to spread our wings a bit and hire a second freelancer, but we haven’t been as happy with the quality of the work or the price. We’ve even considered hiring someone internally but want to keep the flexibility. In the past, we did all the design in-house, with no art or design background.” But, Kassab is quick to point out, “We don’t do that anymore.”
THE COMBINATION APPROACH
John Hatfield
Director of Marketing
Chemical Bank
Midland, Mich.
Asset Size: $3.79 Billion
When it comes to large-scale creative projects, few are bigger than a brand image update for a 90-year-old bank. While looking to reach out to a younger, newer customers, the bank’s hope was to not lose sight of the brand-equity built up with the existing clientele.
Fortunately, Hatfield was able to find an outside agency who could “take them out of their comfort zone” while still retaining that brand equity. After working with an agency that primarily handled campaign-related tasks, the new agency provided them with a fresh look at who they were targeting and how they could get them. According to Hatfield, “It’s worked well.”
With the ad agency handling the overall branding initiatives and other large-scale projects, and a market research firm leading the effort on data gathering, Hatfield’s in-house staff oversees the day-to-day work that includes developing smaller-scale, in-sourced graphic design and writing pieces (e.g., direct mailings and ad hoc projects) as well as managing the production process for all customer communications and customer-facing materials. Overall, Hatfield points out, this combination approach provides a “very good balance of what we do internally and externally.”
Finding the right balance between the creative work that needs to be done, the skills and experience you need to get that work done, and any of a number variables ranging from budget to work space to available talent to past experiences, and you have a pretty good understanding of the challenges facing any bank marketing manager. But as the managers in the examples above attest, when it comes to creative execution, there’s always a way to make it work. The key is to find the approach that works best for you and your team. Even if it requires a little blood, sweat, and, yes, the occasional tear.
Sharon Bending is the president/creative director of Bending Design, Inc., a strategic graphic design firm in East Dundee, Illinois. Email: sharon@bendingdesign.com.
