How can you best tell a customer's story?
Listen first.
Listen first.
With the rebranding of Wells Fargo in 2009, one of Capital Finance's business units had to reconsider its approach to advertising. In the fall of 2010, the account manager for the business unit and I pitched a campaign I conceived about featuring the unit's customers (who are CEOs, CFOs, and Controllers) in their advertising in an effort to:
1. Tell the customers' stories and provide them (and their companies) exposure
2. Speak directly to the capabilities of the business unit as a result of the customers' successes.
I sourced a photographer (one with whom I'd worked before), created mood boards and shot lists, and worked with partners from Wells Fargo and Lippincott during a whirlwind week in March of 2011, when we shot four customers in four cities in four days. And, then, just for fun, we added a fifth photo shoot in a fifth city a month later. Working with this group of customers and a full photography crew was extremely rewarding and fun.
Then, we further shaped the stories of the customers, gathered testimonial quotations from each of them, and crafted final copy. And did all of this in a way that laddered up to Wells Fargo's overall messaging (and WF's wholesale division's messaging). It was my responsibility to manage the entire creative process.
The results: Fantastic corporate photography and meaningful storytelling that the head of the business unit said would "drive new business for us."
The advertisements have been adapted for online viewing as well (and feature more of the photography than the print ads).
Photography: Jim Purdum
Editorial and Creative Direction: Evan Graner
Copywriting: Gene Swift, Evan Graner, Marie Dennis
Art Direction for photography: Brendán Murphy, Regina Muccillo
1. Tell the customers' stories and provide them (and their companies) exposure
2. Speak directly to the capabilities of the business unit as a result of the customers' successes.
I sourced a photographer (one with whom I'd worked before), created mood boards and shot lists, and worked with partners from Wells Fargo and Lippincott during a whirlwind week in March of 2011, when we shot four customers in four cities in four days. And, then, just for fun, we added a fifth photo shoot in a fifth city a month later. Working with this group of customers and a full photography crew was extremely rewarding and fun.
Then, we further shaped the stories of the customers, gathered testimonial quotations from each of them, and crafted final copy. And did all of this in a way that laddered up to Wells Fargo's overall messaging (and WF's wholesale division's messaging). It was my responsibility to manage the entire creative process.
The results: Fantastic corporate photography and meaningful storytelling that the head of the business unit said would "drive new business for us."
The advertisements have been adapted for online viewing as well (and feature more of the photography than the print ads).
Photography: Jim Purdum
Editorial and Creative Direction: Evan Graner
Copywriting: Gene Swift, Evan Graner, Marie Dennis
Art Direction for photography: Brendán Murphy, Regina Muccillo
