When Wainwright Bank Makes a Promise to the Community, Wainwright Bank Keeps That Promise

The ANGLE e-Newsletter

May 2002

If you're busy relying on brand awareness as the key indicator of your success in the marketplace, you may be heading down the wrong path.

Instead of focusing on just general brand awareness (which can be bought with any large amount of money, by any of your competitors), focus on controlling how people perceive your brand, or your image.

As you know, awareness is the percentage of people who have heard your company's name. Brand image, on the other hand, is the expression of your brand position-it's the way your positioning works to give an audience a taste of not just who you are, but also what you stand for. It can be a powerful tool to bolster sales goals, create lasting relationships and retain employees. As a rule, your positioning should always work to enforce the same image, so that you maintain a consistent and long-term presence in the marketplace.

A good example of a company that has an excellent image is Wainwright Bank. Their positioning line, "Banking on Values," comes alive in the marketplace via several initiatives that have won them accolades from the press and the local business community.

Some examples of the initiatives that help bolster their image as an organization with a commitment to values are:

* "Casual for a Cause" Fridays, on which employees donate money to their favorite charities.
* Free Web sites for nonprofits at communityroom.net. The Web sites also allow visitors to make online donations.
* 24-hour Community Rooms that are available to nonprofit clients in bank branches throughout Boston.
* Donations of over $12 million from Wainwright's loan portfolio to housing for people living with HIV/AIDS.

These initiatives have created positive results for the charities that Wainwright supports. Coincidentally, they have also helped people to recognize that when Wainwright Bank makes a promise to the community, Wainwright Bank keeps that promise.

This image, for many consumers, is a competitive tiebreaker. Since a checking account is a checking account, and there are not many key service differentiators among banks, Wainwright's image helps create an unbeatable emotional appeal.

As evidence of the powerful effect that image can have, Wainwright recently opened a new branch in Davis Square, bought two new buildings that adjoin their corporate headquarters, and they were recognized for outstanding business practices at the 15th Annual Corporate Conscience Awards. This is a clear example of how the right image can impact a business. Read below for other points to consider:

* As with all effective marketing strategies, creating the right image begins with an intimate knowledge of your target audience and the factors that drive their buying decision.
* Creating the right image helps audience members to better understand who your company is, and thus creates a more emotive response to your brand and your products and services.
* Creating image involves thinking beyond the traditional messages that audiences associate with your industry. Truly differentiating from competitors and creating a unique image involves creative messaging. Sure your company is customer-centric; yes, you are trustworthy; and of course, you have expertise. But so does everybody else. Those attributes are just price of entry. One example of a company that used creative messaging to break through a crowded marketplace is Janus. At a time when the financial services industry was saturated with mutual fund offerings (and each company stressing financial strength), Janus strove to enforce their positioning as the company that spends the most time conducting top-to-bottom research. This research remains for Janus the primary source of information used to reach investment decisions.

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