North Shore Bank
Case Study
Market Strategy
Experience Design
Introducing “The Bank of You” to next generation young professionals and their families
As “The Bank of You,” North Shore Bank is about helping families thrive, businesses grow, and communities flourish. With 40+ offices throughout eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, North Shore Bank and its nearly 500 employees provide personalized service both in-person and from anywhere in the world through its online and mobile banking technology.
How we made NEW possible
NEWaukee strategically designed, produced and promoted creative activations that aimed to engage next generation young professionals and their families, increasing brand mindshare and customer leads.
How it connected
Over the course of our partnership, we collaborated on five different programs to help North Shore Bank achieve their goals:
Southside Dining Week
‘Be Kind’ Installations
ART 64 Presenting Sponsorship Kids Area Activation
‘Bank your Best Life’ Virtual Reality (VR) Van Brand Activations
Community Engagement Manager Program
Key Insights
NEWaukee hosted a series of design sessions with several North Shore Bank team members across areas of the bank, including the VP of Marketing, Marketing Manager, SVP-Head of Retail Banking, VP-Sales Manager, and Product Manager. Through these sessions, NEWaukee uncovered the following insights:
The bank is in a right-time, right-place position in being able to offer personalized service in an age of personalization.
Existing market segmentations account for age, rather than stage of life. There is an opportunity to focus on points of transition when individuals need the support of a banking partner the most.
Point of acquisition for next generation customers is much younger than expected, so strategy must account for long-term relationships with young families and their children.
Current sponsorships and community activations can be leveraged more fully to showcase the North Shore Bank brand in the community, generate leads, and build new relationships.
Engagement Challenge
North Shore Bank sought out NEWaukee to engage next generation young professionals and their families, to increase their brand mindshare among this target population, and to generate new customer leads.
Engagement Solution
NEWaukee has produced over five programs to support North Shore Bank: Southside Dining Week, ‘Be Kind’ installations, ‘Bank your Best Life’ VR van brand activations, ART 64 presenting sponsorship kids area activation, and the Community Engagement Manager Program.
“NEWaukee really understands our brand and who we’re trying to reach. Their fresh ideas and passion for community engagement have been key to our success. They push us to think differently. We’re thankful for their partnership and can’t wait to see what we achieve together in the future.”
Southside Dining Week
NEWaukee designed North Shore Bank’s Southside Dining Week, a celebration of the international cuisine in Milwaukee’s south side neighborhoods. North Shore Bank has several branches and key stakeholders on Milwaukee’s south side. The program specifically supports this community, while aligning with their goal to grow brand awareness with young professionals and families.
Production of Southside Dining Week involves management of all event logistics including communication with multiple community partners, vendors, restaurant owners and sponsors. Additionally, NEWaukee manages the event’s landing page and produces social media kits for event promotion. The week kicks off with a Southside Showcase, featuring food, drinks, live performances and a south side business showcase.
THE
RESULTS
50+
participating
restaurants
23K+
annual website page views
20M+
earned media
impressions
2K+
email
leads
‘Bank your Best Life’ Virtual Reality (VR) Van Brand Activations
To support North Shore Bank’s ‘Bank Your Best Life’ campaign, NEWaukee designed and activated a branded van featuring a custom virtual reality game at North Shore Bank’s sponsored summer events. Attendees stepped inside the van to choose and explore their version of a “best life” through immersive VR scenes, while exterior screens allowed others to watch the experience in real time. NEWaukee handled on-site staffing, event setup, attendee engagement, and game facilitation throughout the tour.
In addition to the VR experience, NEWaukee designed, produced, and managed complementary activations including oversized games, branded postcards, and custom coloring pages.
‘Be Kind’ Brand Installations
As part of North Shore Bank’s ‘Bank on Kindness®’ initiative, NEWaukee planned ‘Be Kind’ brand installations for select branches and community events.
NEWaukee worked with the bank, local municipalities, fabricators and muralists to install painted, large-scale letters with the ‘Be Kind’ message adjacent to the branch with visibility from the road.
ART 64 Presenting Sponsorship Kids Area Activation
NEWaukee produced North Shore Bank’s presenting sponsorship activation at ART 64 in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The activation took the form of a branded kids and family area in Root Common Park, designed to engage young attendees and families throughout the event.
The space featured a mix of games, interactive activities like face painting and bubbles, and other hands-on experiences, creating a welcoming and playful environment aligned with the festival atmosphere.
Community Engagement Manager Program
NEWaukee proposed a new employee training program within North Shore Bank on community engagement and acted as an implementation partner to empower and measure the impact of employees who participated.
The role of the Community Engagement Manager is to act as an ambassador for the bank in their target markets: connecting with local organizations, building key relationships, activating sponsorships, planning events, creating and maintaining contact lists, and developing processes for meaningful follow-ups with prospective customers.
NEWaukee produced a full-day orientation followed by a four-part intensive course to train seven new Community Engagement Managers in five target markets. Training included topics such as: asset mapping, market research, customer discovery, personal networking, storytelling 101, board and committee readiness, and experience design.
Following the four-part intensive, NEWaukee reconvened the Community Engagement Managers every 45 days to share wins/best practices, review their community engagement plans, feedback with marketing on progress, and provide additional training or support.
