The Financial Brand Forum energizes with timely content and powerful speakers
Think the only excitement in Vegas happens in the casino? There was no need to risk it all on the roulette wheel when the best and brightest in the financial industry gathered on the storied Vegas strip. Between May 7-9, The Financial Brand Forum convened the largest gathering of senior-level banking and finance executives to experience three days of “ideas, insights and inspiration.” The conference featured dynamic keynote speakers like Guy Kawasaki and Randi Zuckerberg alongside real-world, best-practice and hands-on sessions representing some of the best thinking and doing in the ever-shifting financial brand landscape. This year’s conference had no shortage of both fun and fortune for attendees.
Sean Keathley, Adrenaline’s President, says “This is one of the better conferences in the financial space. I think that’s because it’s so strategically focused and representative of what financial brands are really facing in their home markets. More than 1,750 leaders attend this event, and it grows in prominence every year. This year there were three tracks – brand, physical spaces and digital. These three pillars represent the pressing needs within the financial industry and are perfectly aligned with our specialty – experience design. All three makeovers reflected these core focus areas, as well. One was a website makeover, one was a branch redesign, and the makeover event we hosted was of course the Live Brand Makeover.”
As part of the Live Brand Makeover, Adrenaline set the strategic stage, letting attendees in on what exactly a thriving brand means for financial institutions and how developing a holistic persona that is aligned with brand values is so vital to brand differentiation and value. Gina Bleedorn, Adrenaline’s Chief Experience Officer, says, “We wanted to give attendees an opportunity to see our strategic process – recognizing brand attributes which lead to an identification of an archetype – unveiled in real-time with a real client situation. This exercise is a good reminder that a brand is not a product and a brand is not a logo. A brand is actually the most valuable thing that a company has.”
AmeriCU was the recipient of the brand makeover and was presented with two branded campaign directions on stage in front of a live audience for the first time. Audience members got to vote on which concept best represented the brand, and key executives chose a direction live on stage. Since Adrenaline had never met or worked with the credit union until the makeover process, the anticipation and excitement was real, both on stage and in the audience. Gina says, “The client really felt like we nailed the strategy for their brand. Given that we had never met them and only talked to them twice, how we were able to get such a strong strategy in place that shone through both creative directions was really thanks to their strong brand proposition. What they needed was someone to help them bring it to life in a more cohesive way.”
In an upcoming perspective piece, we will sit down with Adrenaline’s creative team to discuss the creative process behind the “Made” and “Smooth” concepts for AmeriCU. If you didn’t get the opportunity to talk with one of our experts at our Financial Brand Forum booth, we’d still love to hear from you. Connect with us at info@adrenalinex.com.
