North Shore Bank
Case Study
Market Strategy
Experience Design
How we made NEW possible
NEWaukee strategically designed, produced and promoted creative activations that aimed to engage next generation young professionals and their families, increasing brand mindshare and customer leads.
How it connected
Over the course of our partnership, we collaborated on four different programs to help North Shore Bank achieve their goals:
Southside Dining Week
‘Be Kind’ Brand Activations
Community Engagement Manager Program
Kenosha ‘Welcome Party’ and ‘Milwaukee Recess’
Introducing “The Bank of You” to next generation young professionals and their families
As “The Bank of You,” North Shore Bank is about helping families thrive, businesses grow, and communities flourish. With 40+ offices throughout eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, North Shore Bank and its nearly 500 employees provide personalized service both in-person and from anywhere in the world through its online and mobile banking technology.
Key Insights
NEWaukee hosted a series of design sessions with several North Shore Bank team members across areas of the bank, including the VP of Marketing, Marketing Manager, SVP-Head of Retail Banking, VP-Sales Manager, and Product Manager. Through these sessions, NEWaukee uncovered the following insights:
The bank is in a right-time, right-place position in being able to offer personalized service in an age of personalization.
Existing market segmentations account for age, rather than stage of life. There is an opportunity to focus on points of transition when individuals need the support of a banking partner the most.
Point of acquisition for next generation customers is much younger than expected, so strategy must account for long-term relationships with young families and their children.
Current sponsorships and community activations can be leveraged more fully to showcase the North Shore Bank brand in the community, generate leads, and build new relationships.
Engagement Challenge
North Shore Bank sought out NEWaukee to engage next generation young professionals and their families, to increase their brand mindshare among this target population, and to generate new customer leads.
Engagement Solution
NEWaukee has produced four programs to support North Shore Bank: Southside Dining Week, ‘Be Kind’ brand activations, Community Engagement Manager Program, Kenosha ‘Welcome Party’ and ‘Milwaukee Recess.
“NEWaukee really understands our brand and who we’re trying to reach. Their fresh ideas and passion for community engagement have been key to our success. They push us to think differently. We’re thankful for their partnership and can’t wait to see what we achieve together in the future.”
Southside Dining Week
NEWaukee designed North Shore Bank’s Southside Dining Week, a celebration of the international cuisine in Milwaukee’s south side neighborhoods. North Shore Bank has several branches and key stakeholders on Milwaukee’s south side. The program specifically supports this community, while aligning with their goal to grow brand awareness with young professionals and families.
Production of Southside Dining Week involves management of all event logistics including communication with multiple community partners, vendors, restaurant owners and sponsors. Additionally, NEWaukee manages the event’s landing page and produces social media kits for event promotion. The week kicks off with a Southside Showcase, featuring food, drinks, live performances and a south side business showcase.
THE
RESULTS
52
participating
restaurants
12,468
website page views
23M
earned media
impressions
878
email
leads
Creative Promotion
Social Media Video Event Recap
‘Be Kind’ Brand Activations
As part of North Shore Bank’s ‘Bank on Kindness®’ initiative, NEWaukee planned ‘Be Kind’ brand activations for select branches and community events.
NEWaukee worked with the bank, local municipalities, fabricators and muralists to install painted, large-scale letters with the ‘Be Kind’ message adjacent to the branch with visibility from the road.
Additionally, NEWaukee designed, produced and managed ‘Be Kind’ custom-branded kids activities for sponsored community events, including giant games, postcards, coloring pages and step-and-repeats for photos.
Community Engagement Manager Program
NEWaukee proposed a new employee training program within North Shore Bank on community engagement and acted as an implementation partner to empower and measure the impact of employees who participated.
The role of the Community Engagement Manager is to act as an ambassador for the bank in their target markets: connecting with local organizations, building key relationships, activating sponsorships, planning events, creating and maintaining contact lists, and developing processes for meaningful follow-ups with prospective customers.
NEWaukee produced a full-day orientation followed by a four-part intensive course to train seven new Community Engagement Managers in five target markets. Training included topics such as: asset mapping, market research, customer discovery, personal networking, storytelling 101, board and committee readiness, and experience design.
Following the four-part intensive, NEWaukee reconvened the Community Engagement Managers every 45 days to share wins/best practices, review their community engagement plans, feedback with marketing on progress, and provide additional training or support.
Kenosha ‘Welcome Party’ and ‘Milwaukee Recess’
NEWaukee produced North Shore Bank’s ‘Milwaukee Recess’ and Kenosha ‘Welcome Party’ community events as part of their strategy to build brand awareness among Millennial and Gen Z consumers. We worked with the bank, vendors and community partners to bring the events to life, and provided social media kits and assets to promote the events.
