THIRD FEDERAL SAVINGS
  CHALLENGE
 
  • America's largest S&L – with more than $8 billion in assets – was embarking on an ambitious expansion outside its historic Northeast Ohio footprint and faced its highest public profile ever.

  • Third Federal was regarded as old-fashioned and was given scant chance for expansion success.

  • Internal "need to know" culture of limited employee communication needed to be changed to allow better understanding of organizational objectives.
  APPROACH
 
  • Conducted communications audit to identify vulnerabilities; determined internal and external communication strategy for expansion phase and beyond.

  • Raised Third Federal's profile with business writers in all markets, leveraging its $2 million advertising campaign around the "Bank Smart. Live Better." theme.

  • Improved employee newsletter and created and coordinated an Associate Communications Task Force to improve internal communication culture.
  RESULTS
 
  • Third Federal became the largest mortgage lender in one of its new markets and the third largest in the other, less than a year after the expansion plan was launched.

  • The S&L was named one of Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" on its first try, remaining on the list for five years.

  • Internal survey revealed that nearly three-fourths of the workforce said the transformed employee newsletter helped them in their job and helped them better understand institutional operations.

  • Extensive news coverage reinforced the "Bank Smart. Live Better." positioning in all markets; a major article focused on the campaign itself.