BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - April 1, 2010) - Communispace, the leader in generating game-changing insights via private online customer communities, congratulates its client Bank of America on winning the David Ogilvy Award and the Research Innovation Award, both presented by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). The awards recognize Bank of America's multi-faceted "Morris on Campus" and "Morris Code" initiatives, designed to increase brand favorability and engagement with high school and college students, and encourage them to open their first checking account with Bank of America. As part of that effort, Communispace created "Student Pulse," a continuous online research community of more than 300 students who provided insights for the "Morris Code" initiative.
In late 2008, after successfully launching its "Morris on Campus" campaign to college students, Bank of America realized that only 11 percent of its new student accounts were opened by high school students. In response, the company developed "Morris Code" -- an extension of "Morris on Campus" -- focused on high school students. To better understand how to reach this younger generation, Bank of America partnered with Communispace to launch the "Student Pulse" community, which helped Bank of America:
- Understand how the financial downturn affected high school students.
- Improve the "Morris on Campus" Web site.
- Get early feedback on new marketing concepts.
- Create a catchy and intriguing advertising tagline.
- Determine the optimal marketing channels for reaching high school students.
The results from "Morris Code" were compelling:
- High school sales in 2009 increased 40 percent over 2008, and the portfolio mix of high school students increased by 27 percent.
- The "Morris Code" site had as many visitors in two months as the original "Morris on Campus" site had in 11 months.
- 22 percent of site visitors were repeat visitors, coming back for more.
"Now more than ever, intelligent research is needed to guide decision making in our business and winning these Ogilvy awards illustrates our best-in-class research capabilities and expertise in leveraging customer insights," said Robert Calamari, enterprise marketing research executive, Bank of America. "And the best part about winning is that our Ogilvy-worthy efforts acknowledge the collaborative work of our bank team and all of our agency partners."
"The Communispace team congratulates Bank of America on the Ogilvy awards and the exceptional success of the 'Morris' initiatives," said Diane Hessan, CEO of Communispace. "Trying to understand how to talk to teenagers about fiscal responsibility is not an easy task. What they have created is a breakthrough platform to engage both parents and students in a critical conversation about money. We are thrilled to call them our partners in this endeavor."
About Communispace
The world's most admired brands turn to Communispace, the leader in generating game-changing insights via private online customer communities. Founded in 1999, the company has created more than 350 customer communities for industry leaders such as Kraft, Hewlett-Packard, Charles Schwab, Hallmark, Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and Hilton Hotels Corporation. Headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, the company has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, London, New York, San Francisco, as well as San Remo, Italy and Sydney, Australia. For more information, please visit: www.communispace.com.
Contact Information:
Contact info:
Jennifer Buatti
Communispace Corporation