Marketing Strategy

ALLEGIANT BANK

Bank merger mania had gripped St. Louis in a big way, as all the major banks seemed to be gobbling up the local independents. Allegiant Bank was one of those independents and at the time, they vowed to not be swept up via merger and knew that there were disgruntled customers out there who were turned off by losing their local connections. So we created an on-going campaign that targeted those fed up customers, beginning with print, radio and outdoor boards all touting “Relief for merger victims.” The print ads and radio commercials featured incentives to customers who would make the switch - and switch they did, garnering a 20% increase in new customers and generating more than $14 million in new deposits.

Subsequent outdoor boards continued to play off of Allegiant Bank’s fierce independence. They were shown as the little fish, escaping the big fish gobbling everything else up or the non-fat cat among all the other banks. The campaign worked … to a degree. The bank grew more profitable, making it a prime target for the mergers that they initially resisted and two years after the campaign ran, they themselves merged.

Agency: Hughes