Plains Commerce Bank
for Mabus Agency
Based in North Dakota, Plains Commerce has a grit-grind-get-it-done attitude. But what they didn't have was alignment — not on the root causes of their problems, on the future direction of the bank, or even near-term priorities.
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In our discovery meeting, the tension among stakeholders was palpable. This isn't uncommon. Branding projects are often identity crises in disguise.
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Underneath the tension, we found a lot to admire. Each and every person on the PCB side was chomping at the bit to do more for their customers. When asked to describe the bank, they gave responses like "We're a bullshit-free bank" or "We get down in the trenches with our customers."
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Coming through when it matters is second-nature to PCB. They take it personally.
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To get everyone on the same page, they needed a tagline that identified a common ground.
Rooted in Relationships
Tagline
What began as a complete rebrand became something much more special and nuanced — a deepening and focusing of an already unique brand. PCB is a family-owned bank. They didn't want to throw out all the hard work and brand equity their predecessors had built.
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From a visual perspective, the refreshed brand was still identifiable to customers. For the bank's marketing, it became infinitely more usable.
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"Rooted in Relationships" rang true from the very first pitch meeting. Like all great branding exercises, it didn't so much as bestow on them something new, but discerned the truth they were already living.
A brand fit for print
Brochures & Ads
PCB immediately put its new brand to work in ads, brochures, and on the bank's website.
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A good tagline has a flexibility to it that can accommodate a wide range of settings and occasions. "Rooted in Relationships" could slot into almost any context without feeling like a stretch or a gimmick. The more we used it, the better it felt.
Setting the tone
Brand Voice, Landing Page
To help roll out the new brand, we built an internal page that introduced the new color palette, brand elements, logo, and messaging. For their customers, we created an client-facing page that rolled out the new tagline and cemented PCB's value and promise to those customers.
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These pages helped the brand make its first impression and extend the alignment we'd established among the C-suite out to the division- and branch-level.
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I wrote all copy for both pages. Click either image above to see the live page.
New Territory
Scripting, Brochure, Product Messaging
We produced a commercial spot flexing PCB's new brand and positioning "Rooted in Relationships" as the bank's new tagline.
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I scripted, storyboarded, and sourced footage for the spot. Click the image above to see it in action.
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With the brand cemented, PCB had business goals to achieve. South Dakota is one of the friendliest places in the country for wealth management, so we created a range of print materials promoting PCB's wealth services — including its newly-formed Custody services built around cryptocurrency and digital assets. These materials had to both explain and promote the service in PCB's new brand voice.
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Unfortunately, the SEC put the brakes on this project before PCB could make real traction on it, but the work we did may yet see the light of day.
Rooted in the Future
Plains Commerce showed that anyone — no matter the size or industry — can make the choice to be innovative, to try something new, and evolve into something more unique than the monolithic institutions that tend to dominate the market.
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Their earthy, grit-grind personality has a messaging system that can help deepen roots and grow new relationships.