With 330 branches across Canada, CitiFinancial® only had brand awareness of seven percent. This clearly had to change, so our client charged us with the task of positioning the brand and building awareness.
After several rounds of briefing sessions with the client and after three branch visits, it became very clear that CitiFinancial stands out from other lending institutions. What makes them different is the way they treat their customers. Where many companies tell their customers they are important, CitiFinancial demonstrates it. Once we realized that we were working with a company that holds true to its values, we knew what the keystone had to be: respect.
With that in mind, the creative team started their work on the concepts. Concurrently, the media team went to work on a media plan. A different media plan was built in four test markets, with varying media types and weight levels. Awareness levels will be tested pre- and post-campaign to help determine the optimal mix of media for future campaigns.
We saw a number of amazing concepts from the creative team, but with help from the client we narrowed it down to four that would move on to focus group testing. When the testing was done, we landed on a concept called “Common Sense.” “Common Sense” is a headline campaign in print and out of home, and three fantastic spots running on radio. The print and radio ads draw attention to the customer experience you can expect from CitiFinancial and clearly differentiate Citi from other financial institutions. Although the awareness testing isn’t in yet, the client and the branches in the test markets are thrilled with both the creative and media placement. Since Kitchener-Waterloo is one of our test markets, check out the billboards, transit shelter ads, bus boards and radio spots, and let us know what you think.
