Adrenaline’s Chief Experience Officer explores the essential role of brand & marketing in successful branch expansion and long-term growth
Thursday, September 3, 2026 – With banks opening more than 1,000 branches annually over the last three years, institutions are focused on competing in new markets and strengthening their presence in existing ones. The business case for banks is compelling, as branches drive 75% of new-to-bank customers, making physical locations a powerful engine for growth. In a new bylined article for ABA Banking Journal, Adrenaline’s Chief Experience Officer Juliet D’Ambrosio examines what this renewed branch investment means for bank marketing leaders and the essential role of marketing in ensuring branch expansion delivers on a bank’s growth goals.
Drawing on findings from the new Curinos and Adrenaline report How De Novo Expansion is Reshaping Retail Banking, Juliet makes a strong case that the branching boom represents more than a network strategy. “As one of the most tangible expressions of the brand, the branch is a local beacon and a place where a bank’s purpose is made manifest,” she writes. “That role becomes even more critical as national banks move into new markets with their big budgets and even bigger brands.” For financial institutions of all sizes, branching presents a rich opportunity to strengthen banking brands, enter new markets, and build lasting customer connections.
As customer acquisition becomes increasingly competitive, the value of the branch extends well beyond physical presence. Branch-acquired relationships tend to be more profitable and durable, with higher balances and greater retention than accounts opened through digital channels. But capturing that value requires banks to think beyond simply adding locations. “Marketing should have a meaningful voice in shaping each location’s role in the market and ensuring the brand promise carries through to the customer experience,” according to Juliet in the ABA Banking Journal article.
Dive Deeper into Branch Strategies for Growth
Download the report: How De Novo Expansion is Reshaping Retail Banking
For branching to be successful, banks must do three things exceptionally well: bring marketing into network strategy early, clearly define the purpose and market role of each location, and connect the physical experience with the institution’s larger brand promise. “A branch can introduce a bank to a new market, make an established brand more visible, demonstrate community commitment, and create a setting for the human interactions that deepen relationships,” Juliet writes. “But customers do not distinguish between the brand and the branch experience.”
Given the landscape, bank marketers must play a larger part in shaping how branch investment supports a broader growth strategy. By bringing marketing into network planning early, banks can build awareness before entering a market, create experiences tailored to the communities, and ensure each location connects back to a meaningful brand. Maximizing the branch means being intentional about what each new location is designed to accomplish. “As financial institutions make their next round of network investments, the most important question isn’t simply where the next branch should go, but what the brand wants that branch to say.”
Read Juliet’s full article, “Bank Marketing’s Essential Role in Successful Branch Expansion,” in ABA Banking Journal. The flagship magazine of the American Bankers Association, the ABA Banking Journal provides timely news, analysis, insight, and inspiration for banks of all sizes through a bimonthly print edition and digital publication channel.
For strategies to leverage your bank and credit union branches for growth, contact us today.
Adrenaline is an end-to-end brand experience company serving the financial industry. We move brands and businesses ahead by delivering on every aspect of their experience across digital and physical channels, from strategy through implementation. Our multi-disciplinary team works with leadership to advise on purpose, position, culture, and retail growth strategies. We create brands people love and engage audiences from employees to customers with story-led design and insights-driven marketing; and we design and build transformative brand experiences across branch networks, leading the construction and implementation of physical spaces that drive business advantage and make the brand experience real.
