July Leslie, an Anchorage realtor came to us because she wanted to try something different. She had an idea for a financial app called OpShop, which was designed to help consumers curb frivolous shopping and save for retirement. The philosophy is to empower women take control of their finances. We loved the concept immediately and couldn’t wait to start brainstorming ideas.
The Marketing Challenge
To make sure OpShop launched with a splash, we needed to create a brand that conveyed these concepts to her target audience, namely, women in their 30s and 40s. The logo, icons, colors, and fonts needed to be versatile enough to brand the various aspects of a smartphone app, as well as all the associated social media accounts and marketing collateral, without losing their punch.
How We Got Results
As soon as you start thinking about saving money, the image of a piggy bank jumps into your mind. We took that concept and ran with it! Most illustrations represent the piggy bank from the side, but we decided to show her face on to grab attention…. and Penny the Pig was born. For the app icon, we placed the piggy bank in white over a playful, turquoise and light green gradient to represent the fun of using technology to save money. We created ten icons to represent ten of the most popular areas of spending for our target audience, such as coffee, clothing, makeup, travel, and dining.
To take the brand above and beyond, we made the piggy bank OpShop’s mascot, “Penny the Pig,” and purchased a little piggy stuffed animal that we donned in a green t-shirt to keep her in brand.
The brand was implemented on a variety of fronts. Not only is the app fully-branded with the logo, colors, and fonts of OpShop, but Penny followed July to all of her speaking events and presentations to promote the app. We created OpShop branded PowerPoint templates, business cards, and an email signature for July to use at these events. Our social media strategy for OpShop stayed on brand and pulled in Penny as a light-hearted financial educator and encourager.
OpShop quickly gained traction amongst the target audience, both online and at events. Penny the Pig especially received a very positive response. The light-hearted nature of the brand made saving for retirement suddenly seem approachable… and even fun! Using a fun and silly mascot, we were able to talk about mindfulness over financial matters in an encouraging way, not one that made people feel worse about purchase decisions that were perhaps already weighing on their conscience.
We were able to market to the lifestyle of OpShop’s target audience creatively and effectively. One quiz ad we ran on social media achieved 18,980 impressions, a reach of 12,307, and 1,415 clicks on a budget of $350. The cost per click (CPC) was $0.26, which is 93.1% less than the national average of $3.77 for the finance and insurance industry. The click through rate (CTR) was 6.79%, which is 91.8% higher than the national average of 0.56% for the finance and insurance industry.
“I have worked with Beacon Media + Marketing for almost three years now, and these guys are great to work with! Everyone there is so professional and so on top of their game. They have fair prices and their up-to-date knowledge and expertise is worth every penny!”
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