Region’s banks show well in ABA marketing awards

Ten banks from the NorthWestern Financial Review readership area won first-place recognition in the ABA's annual Financial Marketing Awards, named Sept. 15.. Banks in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana and Wisconsin won awards in a range of categories, such as annual reports, community service campaigns, customer acquisition marketing, financial education, internal branding, humor and customer retention marketing.. Rockford, Ill.-based Alpine Bank won a first-place award in the humor category for its "Billy Bob" radio ad, a 60-second spot that emphasizes the benefits of local ownership and experience. A fictitious Jim Billings calls what he thinks is a local bank and in the course of the ad is repeatedly called Tim, subjected to puns on his last name and his hometown (Billings: "I think you mean Roquefort") before he exasperatedly perceives that his home financing is lost amid farm, ranch and tractor loans.. Wrapped within the gags is a competitive point: "If you're with a big-name bank in town, chances are your mortgage is handled by company headquarters—in another state." The spot ends with a seven-digit phone number—no toll-free prefix or area code, just the straightforward statement: "It's a local call.". Two other Illinois banks, Chicago-based Private Bancorp, Inc., and Hyde Park Bank, won awards in the annual report and customer retention marketing categories, respectively. Hyde Park Bank and its agency Grillo Group were also runners up for the show's top prize, the Financial Marketing Excellence Award, which went to Cleveland, Ohio-based Key Bank.. Park Bank of Madison, Wis., won a first-place award in the community service category, for marketing that supports a community credit card program, through which the bank donates a quarter from each cardholder purchase to the Road Home (formerly the Interfaith Hospitality Network). The Madison-based organization purchases and refurbishes apartment buildings for use as affordable housing.. Kelly Lietz, vice president of marketing said the bank's distinctive marketing is handled by Madison-based Knupp & Watson. A "very un-bank-like" approach carried through in the community service marketing, with headlines like "Take a swipe at homelessness" and "Earn humanity points," as well as a roof-shaped campaign icon in which credit cards form the gable. "It's kind of an under-stated approach but one that got the attention it warranted," Lietz said.. Another Wisconsin bank, Wausau-based Peoples State Bank, was one of four winners in the customer retention marketing category.. Munster, Ind.-based The Peoples Bank won an internal branding award. Missouri-based Boone County National Bank, of Columbia, and Pioneer Services, a Kansas City-based division of MidCountry Bank, Macon, Ga., won in the community service and financial education categories, respectively. Billings, Mont.-based First Interstate Bank won in the humor category.. The ABA Financial Marketing Awards were introduced in 1972. They are judged by a panel of financial services marketers and advertising executives.