Umpqua is a small,
Oregon-based US bank that has made a name for itself with its
cutting-edge branches, a customer service-led sales culture and
unique marketing campaigns. Its latest initiative is typical of the
bank: an SME banking campaign based around helping children set up
lemonade stalls. Charles Davis reports
Go deeper with GlobalData
When the bank gives you lemons, make lemonade, or so the saying
goes. Ever-clever Oregon-based Umpqua Bank’s latest marketing
campaign takes small business owners back to their mom-and-pop
roots – literally.
In its How to Become a Lemonaire campaign, the small-but-growing
Umpqua set up children with lemonade stand kits, a guide to
starting a small business and $10 in start-up capital in the 96
cities in Umpqua’s three-state chain. The guide serves as an
educational tool providing suggestions on how to store cash flow,
pricing structure advice, an advertising plan, general business
tips and financial literacy lessons.
An advertising blitz accompanying the kits – complete with an
online video showing a kid’s-eye view of the lemonade business
(http://www.lemonaire.com/)
shot in a quintessentially lovely Sacramento neighbourhood –
brought applications from 2,100 children in Oregon, Washington and
northern California. The viral film takes a light-hearted look at
the troubles any small business goes through via the eyes of a
seven-year-old who sets out to start a lemonade stand.
Beginning 28 July, five applicants were randomly selected in eight
Umpqua Bank markets to borrow a deluxe Umpqua lemonade stand for
one week during the summer. The deluxe lemonade stands are
environmentally friendly and child-size, and they fold down into an
easy-to-transport wagon-style structure.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataNo business is too small
The subtle message is that no business loan is too small to be
considered. The programme materials support the print advertising
and radio spots, which are focused more directly at small business
customers. The lemonade campaign was designed to spread the word in
a competitive marketplace that Umpqua is open for business as a
small business lender in the California market.
Umpqua has made a name for itself as a risk-taking financial
marketer. When it acquires banks in new markets, for example, it
often sends employees to travel around neighbourhoods delivering
ice cream or mowing lawns to get acquainted with customers. At
Umpqua branches, which it calls stores, customers and non-customers
can surf the internet, drink Umpqua-branded coffee, download music
from local artists, attend poetry readings, or view exhibits by
local artists.
Umpqua has quickly established itself in California, acquiring
Humboldt Bancorp and Western Sierra Bancorp, among other banks,
over the past several years. Today, nearly half of Umpqua’s 144
branches are in California. It’s an incredibly competitive market,
in which Umpqua routinely squares off with Bank of America, Wells
Fargo and a host of small institutions courting the small business
market.
The $8.1 billion-asset Umpqua is hoping that the nostalgia of a
lemonade stand might just be the hook to attract new customers in a
largely rural California footprint, while reinforcing the down-home
appeal of Umpqua’s brand.
A knack for the unusual
To develop the Lemonaire concept, Umpqua turned to Creature, a
Seattle-based ad agency with a knack for the unusual. After only
five years, Creature has built a reputation as an agency that
operates beyond traditional thinking – creating a mix of films,
theatrical productions, cups on cars, imaginary political
movements, viral web ideas, TV spots, print ads and whatever else
can be used to invite people to experience a brand’s story in
multiple connected ways.
The lemonade campaign is part of Umpqua’s Main Street programme,
which includes a MySpace-style website for small businesses to help
them network with potential customers and incentives for Umpqua
customers to do business with small businesses. The goal is
low-cost organic deposits, the Holy Grail of small business
banking.
The Main Street campaign aims to generate $100 million of business
deposits, Umpqua officials said. The summer-long programme will be
promoted through viral film, radio, direct mail and point of sale
at all Umpqua Bank stores.
Umpqua recently rolled out a merchant-funded programme in its
Washington and Oregon markets that gives customers cash back for
shopping at local businesses using their Umpqua debit cards. The
programme is set to expand to California in August. Umpqua gets
interchange income through the debit programme, but its main
objective is to make customers of the companies whose business the
programme is steering its way.
In 20 of its markets, Umpqua has started holding what it calls
Business Therapy workshops where small businesses can network and
get tips on running their companies.
A good metaphor
Jim Haven, creative director for Creature, said of the Lemonaire
campaign: “While the lemonade stand is a good metaphor for small
business banking, it is also a way for Umpqua to build new
relationships in the community by helping kids start their first
business.
“Umpqua’s brand makes it possible for banking to be about more than
just suits and handshakes. Unless those handshakes are small, and
sticky.”
Talking about his bank’s general approach to marketing and
advertising, Ray Davis, CEO of Umpqua, speaking at Retail
Banker International’s banking forum in London last November,
said: “If our ads look anything at all like our competitors, we’ve
failed.”
He said they engage consumers from a completely different angle
than is usual for banking – there are no product pitches. “It is a
soft sell, and it works,” he said.
