Brand | SEO | Web Content | Social Media
In mid-2008, I opened my agency’s final pitch for the advertising account of an as yet unnamed online bank with a throwaway line I’d scribbled earlier on a cocktail napkin by saying, “The world doesn’t need another bank, but it could sure use a better one.” The bank went on to become Ally, and my throwaway opening line became adopted as the new bank’s rallying cry as shorthand for its mission to Talk Straight, Do Right, and Be Obviously Better.
iCrossing became Ally’s Digital Agency of Record, and as part of our duties we managed search, social media marketing, and content creation for the brand. Here’s a small selection of the work we produced, which was recognized with multiple awards, including a Groundswell Award from Forrester Research, judged by Forrester analysts to represent the best in social media marketing.
Fast forward to today, and nearly 16 years after I first uttered it, Ally’s President was recently quoted restating my throwaway opening line in an interview with Fortune magazine. Ally is now firmly established as the world’s largest online-only bank. Helping launch it from the depths of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression remains one of my happiest memories and proudest accomplishments.
In this Financial Etiquette series, Randy Cohen, the New York Times Ethicist, asks and answers some of life’s bigger questions. This is one of dozens of video vignettes we used to invite social media users into a conversation about money with Ally.