Banking in the deep American South is filled with rich “good ‘ol boys” shaking hands, making ads about rich “good ‘ol boys” shaking hands. So when Synovus, one of the most progressive banks in the South, got the opportunity to run an ad during the most male-oriented occasion of the year in the South – college football bowl games – we chose instead to tell the quiet story of one little girl who grows up among all these male stereotypes – and defies them.

We worked with our creative team on this insight, and “We’re Reading This, Too” was born. We bought 6 inserts across 9 weeks of Full Color Full Page spreads in the middle of each market’s local business journal. When you opened the financial news, you could see actual local bankers looking back at you, reading the same local business news as you.

The ads were shot in recognizable businesses in each town – local coffeeshops, diners, barbecue restaurants and town landmarks – inviting people to discuss their business needs with the banker directly.

The campaign created more than 440,000 virtual face-to-face meetings, leading to fun real-life interactions with the business influencers we needed to reach. The ads got these bankers’ phones ringing - the campaign is credited with creating over 900 new business leads throughout its markets, and a 68% increase in traffic to the website for the months it ran.