Do work that matters.
There have been only two projects in my more-than-20-year career in advertising that have made me cry. This was one of them. I should say they were tears of joy, or pride, really. It’s rare in this line of work that an opportunity to do good comes along. Mostly, we’re here to help our clients make money. For this project, our client wanted to give it away.
We’ve been working with Gorham Savings Bank, a community bank in Maine, since 2016. Early on, we held a daylong session with the bank’s leadership team to clarify and put words to the bank’s core purpose, its reason for being. We talked about the bank’s desire to support the community it serves. Each person on the leadership team told a story of how the bank has helped its customers. Through the day’s exercises, a theme emerged: belief. It became clear that the bank existed to champion its customers, to believe in them in every way a bank can. Like a loan offer to a business owner who’s been turned down by five other banks. It says, in no stronger terms, “We believe in you. We believe you’ll be successful and we’re willing to put our money on it”. At a moment of struggle or self-doubt, that can be more valuable than the loan itself. And so, a tagline was born: Banking is Believing.
“it became clear that the bank existed to champion its customers, to believe in them in every way a bank can.”
When the bank celebrated its 150th anniversary, the team knew we had an opportunity to showcase the bank’s belief in the community and do something impactful. We pitched an idea to put wish trees in every bank branch and encourage customers to make a wish for someone they believed deserved a helping hand.
Over 150 days, from June to November, customers placed more than 1,400 wishes on our wish trees. The whole community rallied. Family helped family. Friends helped friends. Neighbors helped neighbors. In the end, the bank granted $150,000 worth of wishes and, maybe more importantly, it gave the community hundreds of reasons to believe. It showed us the good we can do when we all come together.
I was proud to be a part of this one.
