K Bank

It's not easy being a small community bank in a nation dominated by mega-banks. Baltimore's K Bank, for instance, had just eight branches when it asked MGH to help it attract more customers. Our solution?

Don't act like a small bank. Act like a big one. We surveyed the advertising efforts of other community banks in town, and found they mostly stuck to a mundane, "good neighbor" strategy that wasn't at all differentiating. We figured people knew K Bank was local, so we didn't need to tell them. Instead, we positioned it as the "little bank that could."

The truth is, K Bank offered a surprising number of powerful services, particularly in the construction lending area. It offered the services of the bigger, more national banks — but was much more flexible and easy to work with.

Our campaign theme, dubbed the "Power of K," featured a simple graphic approach that combined a sense of power with a personality that people found likable. A long-running radio campaign has complemented our high-profile outdoor boards.

The results have stunned even K Bank. It can directly correlate a number of new construction lending clients with specific commercials that brought these clients in. The advertising, literally, paid for itself.