American Bank Center’s Campaign Capitalizes On Style

Needing a refresh before the full launch of their new brand identity in the fall of 2021, American Bank Center leveraged their signature style with their “Right Place, Right Time” multipronged video campaign.

With ads targeted to get customers and potential customers to appreciate the full suite of products that American delivers for both personal and business banking, the video campaign builds off the core idea from their 2020 approach of “no-nonsense” banking. The multimedia approach incorporated digital programmatic ads, out-of-home advertising and television spots to reach people where they are.

Prior to the much-anticipated rebrand launch later in 2021, American wanted to refresh existing creative assets for the first half of the year as a cost-effective and updated approach. With the rebrand to come, American needed to seamlessly adapt their actionable takeaways and ladder them toward the new brand positioning to meet their goal of increasing deposits and opening new accounts in American’s service markets – especially in key areas of Bismarck and Mandan. 

Powerful Visuals

For its 2021 ads, American wanted the market to know that the bank is available to customers through a set of innovative digital tools and advisory services. With a digital-first focus in 2021, the bank’s “Advisor Anywhere” approach demonstrates their commitment to the customer – delivered with their unique blend of technology like a big bank, but with the community involvement of a small bank.

The multimedia mix reaching people where they are mirrors the kind of convenience highlighted in the content of messaging of the advertising itself, reaffirming American Bank Center’s Right Place, Right Time value. Television ads ran in the Bismarck market area during early morning, primetime and evening news dayparts and incorporated broadcast channels via cable television packages.

Creative Assets

Partnering with Adrenaline, the campaign employs a variety of visuals plugged into the “Right Place, Right Time” conceptual framework, showcasing the full range of banking, trust, and insurance services that map to customer needs states and life stages. Spotlighting how convenient it is to bank with American, the ads employ colorful imagery and footage combined with superimposed type to present banking in a fun yet relatable way. Breathing life into the existing brand campaign, the new ads embrace lifestyle photography that is being effectively deployed via the brand’s social and web platforms.

Audience Matters

American’s primary audience is the people and businesses of North Dakota – from cities to towns to rural communities. Culturally, the brand identifies as more Western with a focus on the independent-minded pioneer spirit. The audience is divided between those who skew a little older and more traditional and a younger generation that is grounded and practical, but more innovation-focused. To strike a balance between these two seemingly disparate audiences, creative needs to effectively speak to both audiences with a no-nonsense approach that has become synonymous with the bank’s style.

Video with Impact

In just six months, American Bank Center ended the second quarter with hundreds of net new accounts halfway through the year. Based on performance to date, the bank is on track to nearly double is year-end goal, even exceeding its stretch goal new account openings. Across their service area, the bank is experience double-digit checking account openings in June.

For financial institutions needing advice and expertise in customized programmatic and digital advertising campaigns, contact us at info@adrenalinex.com. Interested in amplifying your marketing strategy during Covid and beyond? Download a marketing playbook from Believe in Banking, our mission-oriented brand that features insights, conversations, and expertise to empower the financial industry. 

Adrenaline is an experience design agency that creates and implements end-to-end branded experiences through creative and environmental design. We enhance our clients’ customer experiences across digital and physical channels, from their branding and advertising to design and technology in their spaces. After transforming an organization’s brand, Adrenaline extends it across all touchpoints — from employees to the market to in-store environments. And, we focus on serving industries that sell human experiences including financial, healthcare, sports and entertainment.