Client: Harvard Federal Credit Union
What we did: Media planning and buying; digital, social, and traditional activation; and reporting and optimization
Introducing the community to a new banking option
As many small community banks continue to disappear, we were excited to launch a new one into the Greater Boston market: Harvard Federal Credit Union. Originally formed as the Harvard Employees Credit Union, the bank underwent a dramatic transformation when it was designated a federal credit union. Suddenly, the organization was free to rebrand, relaunch, and grow deposits in Cambridge, Boston, and beyond. They turned to us for help getting the word out there.
Harvard FCU’s primary goal was to raise awareness and, ultimately, attract new members. We started by researching the addressable market within two miles of one of the branches, drilling down into the population based on several factors, from occupation to housing status. We also looked at where we could leverage brand affinity to introduce Harvard FCU to prospective members who may not have known about the credit union’s transformation.
After determining our target audiences, we identified cost-effective strategies to reach them while engaged in their daily activities, and implemented a comprehensive, full-funnel approach. This included print and digital out-of-home advertising, paid social media campaigns, hyper-targeted geo-framed programmatic advertising, and a small test on LinkedIn. And we used paid search and site retargeting to connect with prospective members when they were ready to engage.
In the months following the launch, Harvard FCU experienced a 39% increase in average monthly visits to its website and a 34% increase in engagement with application and membership features on the site. To find out which combination of media channels was most effective, we conducted a media mix analysis, providing insights that will help inform the credit union’s future campaigns.
39%
INCREASE IN AVG. MONTHLY WEBSITE VISITS
34%
INCREASE IN APPLICATION ENGAGEMENT
