Bank Iowa Wins Seven Prestigious Marketing and Communication Awards
December 21, 2021 | Bank Iowa
Five PRIME Awards and two Merit Awards were earned in campaign and tactic categories of the 2021 PRSA Central Iowa PRIME Awards competition
Bank Iowa’s marketing team was recently honored with seven marketing awards during the virtual 2021 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Central Iowa PRIME Awards ceremony. The annual event recognizes marketing and communication excellence among brands across Iowa in various businesses and industries.
The second-largest family-owned bank in Iowa was named first-place PRIME Award winners in five categories: Annual Report, Newsletter, Social Media, Community Champion and Internal Communications. The team also received second-place Merit Awards in the Multimedia and Reputation/Brand Management categories.
“I am proud of the marketing department’s hard work in developing these winning campaigns, and we are humbled by this acknowledgement,” said Josh Fleming, Bank Iowa VP of marketing. “The awards symbolize the impact the entire 275 team members strive to make across the 23 communities we serve. We are most successful when we stay true to our brand focus on team, clients and community.”
Bank Iowa’s first place awards for Newsletter and Internal Communications recognized the Bank Iowa internal newsletter, Spotlight. The team aimed to boost engagement by leveraging the bank’s common purpose, vision and values through content like team member spotlights, community events and client testimonials. The July rollout saw an increase in company open rates to 91 percent.
The bank’s statewide virtual Easter Egg Hunt was recognized again in 2021 with a first-place Social Media award. The annual activity, which began in 2020 as a stand-in for traditional in-person egg hunts, concluded with flower bouquet prizes from local Bank Iowa client shops.
The bank’s magazine-esque Annual Report took first place after exceeding impressions and organic page view goals by more than 100 percent. The report featured a unique cover design and highlighted the $25,000 Bank Iowa pledge to build an ag-industrial technology center in the New Hampton school district among other full-page stories. The report also spoke to the bank’s record-breaking financials and company-wide community involvement.
The first-place Community Champion award was a nod to the partnership between Bank Iowa and Des Moines-based non-profit, Can Do Cancer. For this campaign, the bank captured attention for the cause by temporarily changing its logo colors to pink. Trading donations for likes and follows, they saw triple-digit increases in post link clicks and impressions and reached more than 20,000 people.
Bank Iowa’s Merit Award for Multimedia and Reputation/Brand Management each honored a video Bank Iowa created to promote its long-time Spirit of Chandy scholarship program. While the program involved a multi-pronged strategy, including a press release, social campaign, high school toolkit and in-branch signage to expand scholarship awareness and increase applications, the video played a central role. Narrated by Chandy’s son, who spoke of the family’s role in founding and sustaining Bank Iowa, the video also featured photos and videos of the scholarship program’s namesake Chandy Barr Clanton. The video contributed to a year-over-year doubling of applications. The video can be found on the bank’s YouTube channel.
About Bank Iowa
With more than $1.7 billion in assets, Bank Iowa ranks as one of the leading independent ag banks and the second-largest family owned bank in the state. Farmers, families and businesses access Bank Iowa’s products and services through 26 locations in 23 communities, as well as online and on mobile devices. To learn more, visit bankiowa.bank. Member FDIC.