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John Ikard, a Colorado bank CEO and incoming chairman of the American Bankers Association, hopes to score a few legislative victories on behalf of bankers, who he says have spent years on the defensive.
October 20 -
Puppy Bowl fans, keep your TVs turned to Animal Planet on Sunday. FirstBank's new ad campaign was made with you in mind sort of.
January 30
AUSTIN, Texas Many millennials who came of age during the financial crisis remain wary of banks. But a Colorado bank has found a way to bond with young people over things for which they have unreserved enthusiasm: free snowboards and smartphone-assisted treasure hunts.
For two years running, the Lakewood, Colo.-based FirstBank Holding Company has offered locals the chance to win snow-sport equipment with a promotion that merges the physical and digital worlds. The bank's
"People ask me, how many new accounts did [Capture the Cube] generate?" FirstBank president and chief executive John Ikard said at American Banker's Retail Banking 2015 conference in Austin on Wednesday. "I don't know. But it gives you great brand awareness. People think, 'Hey, FirstBank is pretty cool.'"
The company's social-media promotions for the competition, including a
"Now, when was the last time I needed to put cash in an ATM?" he said. "Never. But it's cool that they offer that. Sometimes brand awareness-type commercials can give you a good feel, especially with millennials."
The $14 billion-asset FirstBank, which has 122 branches in Colorado, Arizona and California, has also found that its philanthropic efforts are a hit with the socially conscious younger generation.
"We're the largest philanthropic giver in the state of Colorado," Ikard said. "That's an image thing; we're giving back to our community. Millennials like that. And since we have a good income, we can do that."
FirstBank is also trying to win young people over with advertising that emphasizes how its technology can solve their problems. One of the bank's commercials seeks to demonstrate the usefulness of its mobile alerts. In the
"The idea is that we can send red-flag alerts to customers, saying 'hey, your account balance has fallen below a certain amount or your check is going to bounce,'" Ikard said. "If we can send those alerts out to customers and let them know about it in a humorous way, that might be something they can adapt and actually start to use."
"We try to wrap all those things together," Ikard said later, "and get millennials' business with cool technology, giving away snowboards, and making sure people perceive you as a bank that really cares about the community."