Bank of the West has the most progressive set of environmental financing policies of any major U.S. bank. They don't finance companies involved in Arctic drilling, tar sand mining, fracking, coal fired power plants, Big Tobacco or other activities that have a negative impact on people and the environment.

Unfortunately, in 2020 we found ourselves increasingly drowned out by other banks shouting the same tired, over-used banking tropes: convenience, friendly service, and low fees. We were positioned as America's leading sustainable bank, but we needed to further increase awareness and turn it into active consideration.

With limited budgets we knew we couldn't spend our way to relevance, and we had a big job to do. Instead of selling traditional bank benefits , we needed to find a way to change what consumers expect from a bank, help consumers understand sustainable finance and give them a way to take part.

Climate action is the talk of boardrooms, conferences and finance calls around the world. In fact, when we started looking, over $31T in funds were already held in sustainable or green investments, up 34% from 2016. But, unless you had wealth or a wealth of connections, sustainable finance wasn't available at street level.

With our leading environmental stance, only Bank of the West could democratize sustainable finance, but the question remained; what was the right way to invite progressive Millennials - who overwhelmingly believe in climate change, and are deeply concerned -to get involved?

We wanted to provide a way for our customers to easily make a positive impact with their money. So instead of a campaign, we put climate action directly into wallets with a first-of-its kind product designed for climate action.

We approached 1% for the Planet, one of the most respected environmental organizations, in a co-branded effort to build an account that would give back: the 1% for the Planet Account.

Now consumers can get everything they'd expect from a typical no fee checking account, from a bank that doesn't use deposits to fuel climate change. On top of that, 1% of the bank's net revenue from the account is donated to the planet (at no cost to the customer) and we are the first in the U.S. to integrate Doconomy's innovative carbon tracker into our mobile app, to help educate consumers on their impact so they can make informed purchases.

When it comes to sustainability, messaging and promises aren't enough for progressive Millennials, they want to take action. So, we decided to walk away from traditional campaign work and instead put the Bank's message and promise into a product they could engage with.

This is a generation with strong opinions on who they will do business with and why. 91% of our Millennial target believes overwhelmingly in climate change, and are deeply concerned. It's a belief they're taking action against, with 81% expecting brands to make public declarations of corporate citizenship and 91% declaring they would switch brands to one associated with a shared cause.

Through advertising and long-form content in support of this product, we targeted like-minded Millennials and educated them on the inextricable tie between their money and the real impact it has in the world.

With limited media spend, we focused our advertising within the bank's footprint: 87% of environmentally conscious consumers live in California.

As branch location is a key consideration for switching banks and checking accounts opened at branch tend to be higher quality, we leveraged Addressable TV Zone targeting and programmatic OOH based on the Bank's branch locations to reach the most valuable consumers segments, layered with Experian audience segments to reach consumers with an eco-conscious mindset. Both offline channels had greater alignment with the digital audience for improved omni-channel targeting.

Additionally, we focused our digital tactics to meet consumers who were passionate about sustainability on platforms including Outside Magazine, The Guardian and NowThis, where we have natural editorial alignment. Our creative messaging was further enriched by custom content, micro-influencers and business clients who told their stories about switching to Bank of the West on various social channels.

Climate action is an urgent need, and should be accessible to anyone. With the 1% for the Planet Account, Bank of the West democratized sustainable finance and gave proof that where you put your money matters in a new, tangible way.

Since launch, the account made up more than 25% of all new-to-bank checking account openings. In fact, we were able to achieve 139% of our sales benchmark of +28k new accounts, a goal that was set before COVID-19 and did not account for the suppressive impact of the pandemic.

Additional results:

o Consideration for Bank of the West rose to an all-time-high of 16%, above key competitors like Ally

o Earned coverage ad equivalency value equal to 10% of our overall ad spend

o 50.6MM potential reach and 1.6MM earned engagement

o 88% increase in organic engagement

o $1.2MM media ad value

o 122MM media impressions