One of the region’s largest banks is celebrating the five-year anniversary of its Branch Out campaign, which was launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic.
Central Bank of Boone County president Ed Scavone tells 939 the Eagle that the campaign was created to highlight “hidden gems” in Boone County and surrounding communities. He says these small businesses and nonprofits often lack resources for extensive marketing:
“We service them, their banking needs of course. But how can we help them more broadly by helping expose them to the community and their services. We thought it added tremendous value to them,” Mr. Scavone says.
Mr. Scavone says Branch Out is about creating visibility for those who work to improve our community. The bank has produced more than 70 Branch Out videos. Bank senior vice president of marketing Mary Wilkerson says the COVID pandemic helped prompt Central Bank to help these small businesses and nonprofits out:
“You know we were kind of racking our brains thinking well what can we do for our small businesses that are really getting hurt by this. And so this was kind of a creative way to do that,” she says.
Mary Wilkerson says the response has been overwhelmingly positive for the grassroots nonprofits and small businesses like bakeries and bookstores being featured in videos and social media posts.
Central Bank of Boone County president Scavone describes their “Branch Out” campaign as a powerful platform for community support. He tells 939 the Eagle that they wanted to go beyond what people typically expect from a bank:
“They may see a sign on the road when they’re passing by but they don’t know the individuals. So we were really for a way to spotlight, to humanize these businesses so people knew the individuals. You know the American dream so to speak of these people every day trying to improve their lives in the community,” Mr. Scavone says.
He says his institution aims to be a true supporter of the communities it serves.
