Integrated Campaign for COE

The Client

Enterprise Bank is an independent community bank with 18 branch offices located in the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. The bank has recorded growth and profits every quarter since it was founded by George Duncan in 1989. Enterprise Bank is widely known as a bank that creates excellent personal relationships with its customers, and for being very active in the communities it serves. Enterprise Bank is deeply committed to making a real difference in local economies of the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire and actively supports many non-profit and charitable organizations in these regions. Enterprise is also fiercely protective of its brand and its reputation.

The Celebration of Excellence, which was first held in November of 2008, was created as a perfect extension of Enterprise Bank’s founding principles of helping to create successful businesses, jobs, opportunities, wealth, and vibrant, prosperous communities. It is a mechanism for the bank to publicly reward and recognize businesses, entrepreneurs and community leaders for their accomplishments.

The inaugural Celebration of Excellence was by far, the largest single event the bank had ever undertaken. The Lowell Memorial Auditorium was filled to capacity for the Award ceremony that featured Theo Epstein, General Manager of the Boston Red Sox, as the guest speaker. Needless to say, it took a tremendous amount of effort to create and execute such an event. As well, given the amount of public exposure and the financial investment necessary to produce such an event, it was very important to the bank that the first Celebration of Excellence was an unmitigated success, on a number of levels.

Enterprise Bank selected The Discovery Communications Group as the Agency to carry out this most important task and the results we were able to achieve were, and are, remarkable. From the initial brainstorming meetings to create the overall strategy as well as the look and feel of the event, through the post event activities and publicity, The Discovery Communications Group worked in close cooperation with the marketing staff at Enterprise Bank (particularly, Matt Coggins) to create and execute every element of the campaign.

The Process

Make a Nomination:
The process began with the acceptance of nominations for awards in a number of categories. They included: The Entrepreneur of the Year, Business of the Year, Non-Profit of the Year, and Community Service Awards. According to the rules devised for this event, anybody could nominate another individual (self nominations were also accepted) in one of the above categories that they thought had merited such an award. The nominees were then invited to submit applications which were scrutinized by a panel of distinguished individuals from the fields of business and education. The panel selected a field of finalists from which the award recipients were selected.

There was a special evening cocktail reception held a few weeks prior to the main event at Stonehenge in Tyngsboro for anyone who completed an application. The guest speaker for this particular evening was, M. L. Carr, former member of the Boston Celtics and now a well known motivational speaker.

Goals and Objectives:
The goals for the first Celebration of Excellence were fairly straightforward. The Discovery Communications Group had to ensure that the event was well publicized in a fully-integrated manner, and on multiple levels, simultaneously. The goal was to encourage people to send in nominations. Of course, in order to achieve this goal, we had to make sure that people knew of the opportunity to do so. We also had to ensure that the event promoted the bank’s values and commitment to the community. We also had to start from the very beginning and make an impact that would not be forgotten, and that would lay the foundation for future events.

The Results:
The initial thinking was that if we were able to receive 100 nominations, we would have hit a home run. We received 213 nominations! It was also initially thought that if were able to get over 50 applications filled out from the field of nominees, it would be a big success. There were 106 applications completed for the first Celebration of Excellence! The actual results were more than double the beginning expectations.

For the second Celebration of Excellence, which was held in May of 2010, we converted the entire nomination and application process to an on-line function. The goals for this event were 250 nominations and 100 applications. The actual results were 356 nominations and 158 applications received. As we begin the preparations for the third Celebration of Excellence, to be held in November of 2011, it is fair to say that the first two events were unqualified successes at every conceivable level.

The Campaign

The following is a list of the items that were created by The Discovery Communications Group for the Celebration of Excellence campaign. DCG executed every aspect of this campaign, including concepts, copy writing, photography, creative for all elements, coordination of the production for every element, and final execution of all post event endeavors.

We will follow the list with descriptions of the thought process that went into creating some of the more prominent pieces. Every one of the elements was created within the guidelines of the branded look that was developed and enhanced for the overall effort. As well, everything that was created and executed fit perfectly within the overall branding considerations of Enterprise bank. This was also part of our mandate.

The Discovery Communications Group won a First Place Gold Award for Fully-Integrated Campaign in the New England Direct Marketing Association’s Awards of Excellence program in 2009.

Elements of the Campaign:

  • Logo development
  • Tag line creation
  • Print advertisements
  • Website development
  • Photo backdrop for luncheon announcements
  • Die-cut event brochure with 3 inserts
  • Dimensional mailer
  • Video production
  • Radio commercials
  • Event stationery
  • Photography
  • Nomination forms
  • Application/promotional brochure
  • In-branch displays
  • Statement stuffers
  • List purchasing
  • Direct mail letters written and mailed
  • Flyers
  • 6’ x 18’ banners to frame the stage
  • Registration banners
  • 3’ x 6’ printed foam core boards of the finalists
  • Event brochure:
    6 color – 24 page plus cover – oblong event brochure with spot gloss and dull aqueous, embossing, spot laminating, and fold-out center section
  • Personalized plaques for the Stonehenge event
  • Name badges for the Stonehenge event
  • Stonehenge invitations
  • Invitations for the celebration of Excellence
  • Post-event website modifications including video uploads of event speeches
  • Post-event Flickr Gallery
  • Post-event YouTube channel
  • Post event print advertisements featuring the Award Recipients
  • Post-event data base development to be used for the second Celebration of Excellence

Introduced for the 2010 Celebration of Excellence:

  • Complete re-programming of the website back end to take all nominations and applications online. Previously, everything was done on paper
  • Re-design of the website to create a fresh look and feel
  • Introduction of a fully-integrated social media aspect, including: Facebook page, Twitter page, and Blog
  • Email marketing utilizing the data base that The discovery Communications Group had been developing and maintaining
  • 8’ x 32’ banners to hang on the outside of the Lowell Memorial Auditorium

Main Campaign Elements

Logo Development

  • The logo development process in which we engaged with Enterprise Bank was as important as the logo itself. It was the area of first collaboration between our teams and it was where the foundation for an ongoing and very successfully executed branding campaign was constructed.
  • The logo for the Celebration of Excellence needed to be true to the brand image that the bank had already established, and to which they remained steadfastly committed.
  • After gathering as much information as possible as to the desired look, feel and direction of the logo, The Discovery Communications Group submitted a number of concepts for consideration. The concepts were received with a sense of excitement because we all knew that this was just the beginning.
  • The Enterprise Bank marketing committee narrowed the field to three favorites. No easy task for so many people of varying opinions working together.
  • They then selected elements from these 3 concepts that they really liked and we blended them together into the final design.

Tag Line Creation

  • Brainstorming with the entire Discovery Communications Group staff produced many possibilities. We narrowed the choices to three options and sent them to the client.
  • The tag line had to convey the Bank’s commitment to the community, the fact that they were honoring people who enjoyed significant accomplishment and success, people who would not ordinarily receive such recognition, and the fact that the Bank is dedicated to helping businesses grow and prosper.
  • We hit the nail on the head with one of our offerings.

Print Advertisements

  • The Discovery Communications Group began the image campaign by designing all print advertising for newspapers and magazines. These ads were very important because they needed to adhere to the brand standards already established by the bank but convey the look and feel of The Celebration of Excellence.
  • We needed to appeal to a select audience and get immediate attention because there was a time limit on our call to action, making a nomination, and we wanted to ensure that people would respond.
  • We also understood that these ads would set the visual tone for all event literature going forward.
  • We provided the bank with 3 concepts and wrote all of the copy for the ads. The marketing committee reviewed our submissions and a collaboration ensued that would create the basis of our entire Ad and visual program.

Die Cut Event Brochure

  • Our unique background and significant expertise in print production is another of the tangible assets we were able to bring to this campaign. Whenever we design anything that is going to be printed, we begin with the end in mind. We always design for efficiency in print production which saves our clients a lot of money.
  • The Discovery Communications Group was charged with producing a brochure that would effectively represent the bank and introduce the Celebration of Excellence while remaining faithful to the established bank and program brands.
  • The brochure also had to be unique, memorable, and able to contain a nomination form, application and contest rules sheet.
  • We decided on a special T shaped cross over with a die cut that would lock all of the pieces in place. We also decided to use the same grade of paper the bank uses in its stationery (in cover weight, of course), in order to maintain a consistent look. The paper has a linen finish which we thought would lend a feel of elegance to the final printed piece.
  • We knew that this would be a relatively short print run (only 500 produced) and that the piece needed to print in 6 colors. We wanted to make the brochure as large as possible from a pure visibility standpoint but we did not want to incur undue short run costs on a full sized press.
  • We were able to determine the largest possible size we could print on a smaller 6 color press and this became the overall size of the piece. We designed this brochure with both the aesthetic needed for such a piece and efficiency of print production in mind. Our innate understanding of the printing process allowed us to produce the most efficient piece for our client while maintaining design and campaign goal directions.

Dimensional Mailer

  • The Discovery Communications Group was charged with creating a direct mail piece that would carry the event brochure and immediately stand out from all other mail sent to the recipient, thus enticing the recipient to open it first.
  • Since this piece was going to be sent to people with whom the bank already had a relationship and had identified as a “Center of Influence”, the piece had to be “special”, elegant, classy, and impressive.
  • We decided to design a two piece set up box with an internal platform to hold the event brochure.
  • The size of the platform was a direct result of the size of the event brochure. The platform size then dictated the size of the box, which determined the size of the sheets we printed in full color on an offset press and laminated to the box.
  • It was important to design the graphics in such a way as to adhere to the branded look already established for the event and showcased in all of the print advertising.
  • The interior platform of the box was created with die cut slits to hold the brochure and we selected a colored paper that complemented all the other pieces to adhere to the platform.
  • We also provided sheets of off white translucent paper to print a personalized letter for the recipients which was inserted into the mailer prior to mailing.
  • The Discovery Communications Group designed, printed, and assembled the final mailer and delivered it to the Bank for mailing to their proprietary list.

Website Development

  • The goal of the branding campaign for the Celebration of Excellence was to inspire local area business people to nominate those individuals who have achieved significant results in either starting or growing a business.
  • In order for the print, radio and other media to be really effective we needed to create a website to serve as a clearing house for information and a place where nomination forms could be downloaded.
  • We decided on a 5 to 7 page event website that would capture people’s attention on the home page and would emulate the design and branding direction established for other media.
  • The home page was also a great place for the bank to connect to everyone who visited the site with the overall message and mission of the bank.
  • In order to have the most impact possible with the event website we decided to attach it to the bank’s main website. This would give any visitor who came to the event website access to the main website and the bank’s other services as well.
  • We included video and interactive elements into the website design as well.
  • You can view the Celebration of Excellence website at EnterpriseBanking.com/COE
  • The bank wanted to have a video of the CEO welcoming people to the event website and asking them to participate in the program.
  • The Discovery Communications Group created the overall look, feel and direction of the video. We executed the lighting, actual video shoot, the sound and conducted the interview with the bank’s CEO that served as the basis of the final product.
  • We then edited one hour of footage down to one minute of video. We added special effects, graphics and music.
  • We then placed the video on the website we created for the event.

Radio Commercial

  • The final piece that was needed to complete the branding campaign puzzle was to write and produce the radio commercial.
  • The day after the bank made the decision to incorporate radio into the mix, The Discovery Communications delivered the first script.
  • That afternoon we provided the client with sample voice selections from 5 established artists.
  • The following day everything was complete, the ad was produced and placed into the production queue.

Program Book

  • It was very important to the bank that a program book be created that could also serve as a collector’s item.
  • The book had to be classy, elegant, and clearly carry the brand of the bank as well as the Celebration of Excellence.
  • The book had to convey a message from the CEO of the bank, and feature all of the finalists and judges.
  • We wanted to use the book to highlight the sculptor who created the unique statues that were given to the Award Recipients.
  • We also wanted to bring attention to the fact that the bank was experiencing its 20th year anniversary.
  • We created a 28 page plus cover book that included all of the above. The book was an 11 x 8.5 oblong book that was printed in four color process plus 2 PMS colors, with spot gloss and dull aqueous coating.
  • The book also featured a fold out middle section depicting the 20 year timeline of the bank, and an embossed image of the Award statue that was also spot-laminated.

Campaign Materials

COE Program Books COE Website Pages

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