branding / new product development / promotions / direct / strategy
SPARK. The evolution of a new small business credit card
With the small business segment expanding at a rapid rate, Capital One decided to launch “Spark”, a small business credit card to tap this market. The issue, what should the brand voice be? Entrepreneurial and free spirited, or the same voice as other Capital One product segments using the Visigoths? My focus was to explore, along with my writer and creative partner, the entrepreneurial and free spirited approach to help senior management with this decision. Ideas were formatted like print ads so senior management could see and experience the brand message quickly. What appears here is a sampling of what was presented along with a mock up video. Ultimately, senior management decided to stay with the overall brand voice using the Visigoths for the new Spark segment but were very intrigued by the alternatives that were developed and the opportunities that they presented.
SPARK small business celebrity spokesperson promotion
Capital One wanted to create preference for its new Small Business card, “Spark”. The creative team and I felt that helping small business bring in more customers to their business would help achieve this goal and immediately went to work developing ideas / strategies towards that end. The Strategy? Create an event or competition. The prize? The winner gets Steve Carell or Jimmy Fallon to be their spokesperson for an entire year!. This would mean lots of media publicity for the winning business. Small business owners and fans of local businesses nominate their favorite business through the Spark Facebook page. Capital One will choose winners in different regions based on number of votes.
Contest announcement
…. And the winner is
Marketing the winner
The VENTURE travelers manifesto
The travel industry today is broken. Long lines, delays and endless frustration. There is an opportunity to start a conversation, cultivate a community of travelers that support travelers with Venture at the center. I recommended positioning Venture as an advocate for travelers using the current card offerings and features as “proof” or track record as to why this position is believable. The Capital One Venture card has a proven legacy of making travelers lives easier (compelling value made easy) and will use this as the launching point to build a forum aimed at making the traveler experience better. The vehicle myself and my writer partner proposed to begin building advocacy is called “The Venture Travelers Bill of rights. ” Using traditional media, digital, posters and handheld signs at airports to get the word out, travelers go to the site and support, share, amend. Each amendment is automatically shared with friends on facebook creating a compounding effect building a large community through which Capital One can nurture, support and assist.
Launch: On location push at airport terminals in key regions using posters and handheld signs that are smart phone enabled. Traditional media, as well as digital, all lead to the “Bill Of Rights” Website
Landing page: The “Bill Of Rights” landing page features a continuous scroll feature allowing amendments and suggestions to be added at the base along with an offer to become an “official” member by applying for the Venture Card thereby taking advantage of the “rights” featured. Also, with a “Like” to Facebook, each amendment added is posted to friends.
The VENTURE welcome package for new customers
Capital One has a large direct mail component of which the “Welcome package” for new customers is an integral part of the fulfillment strategy. The brochure that I produced below was part of the “Venture for business” initiative and the pre-cursor to the Spark card for small business.
