Patelco, one of the country’s largest credit unions and a long time client of ours, celebrated their SF branch grand re-opening last Wednesday and an early morning line of 100+ people eagerly waited to get a look at the brand new interior. Or maybe they were there to collect the $75 being awarded to the first 75 people through the doors. This was just one of the offers we cooked up this summer to promote the branch and its move.

At the end of July, Patelco closed their current SF main branch doors and moved on up the street to 124 Second. With this new branch location opening just 75 yards away from the old, the goal was to make existing members aware of the move, so daily banking routines weren’t disrupted, as well as bring in potential members.

In July, we targeted existing members with a direct mail flyer notifying them of the branch move and promoting the “First 75 in, take $75 out” offer with a QR code. Upon scanning the code, members were taken to the sitelet we developed earlier in the year for the Patelco Pays Your Way campaign. And a pop up prompted visitors to enter their information to receive a voucher and chance to win the $75. Additionally, visitors had the opportunity to take a look around and learn how Patelco celebrated their anniversary by giving back to the community.

We also created a series of bold, eye-catching posters for the new branch windows directing anyone passing by to visit the site. All patelcopays.org visitors during the promotional period, not just current members, were eligible to redeem the voucher.

This month, with the launch of sanctuaryws.com, we completed our latest financial services Web site. The clean, minimal design – which features bold, high-contrast black and white photography, contrasted with an elegant color palette and minimal typography – is intended to invoke a feeling of calm amid these troubled economic times. While the overall design lends the site a distinguished tone, the embedded Flash components bring a sense of sophistication and interactivity.

In its first week the new site brought record numbers of visitors for Sanctuary and continues to form the foundation of their marketing outreach efforts. We look forward to working more closely with the Sanctuary team in the coming months.

• Find out more about our financial services work

Our challenge was to craft a story that reflects the single-minded, client-centric focus of the bank, while simultaneously appealing to the diverse needs of their high-net-worth clients. The result? A straight-talking, business-like brochure that relies on the strength of the message and the integrity of the brand, rather than any linguistic or graphic gadgetry. In uncertain economic times, it’s a little bit of what we all need.

• Take a look at our other financial services work

Straight after its launch, Astia CEO Sharon Vosmek emailed us to express her delight with the video’s reception, “Let me start with how amazing the response has been to the piece you created. People LOVE it. Thank you so very much! We are thrilled!”

• Read more abut the Astia it Conference branding project

This is our second Web project for TWP and it continues our excellent relationship with the firm and the wider financial industry.

• View the new site here
• Read more about our financial services work

The Paine & Partners site was built using a combination of PHP, Javascript, Flash and CSS, to deliver a seamless brand experience. The new site is a welcome addition to our work in the industry and we are proud to add Paine & Partners to our growing list of financial services clients, including: Thomas Weisel Partners, Blueprint Ventures, Trident Capital, Institutional Venture Partners and Astia.

• Visit the Paine & Partners site
• Read more about the brand redesign

Gary Snoman: Viral Phenomenon from Iron Creative on Vimeo.

In today’s fast-paced world, there are a lot of things competing for our attention. We’ve got IM windows open, a screaming email inbox and the phone ringing off the hook. Which is exactly why it is so important to use humor to connect with our consumers – even for just a few minutes.

Even hard-nosed business types are embracing the power of a little levity to help get their name out and reconnect with former clients. Take this rough cut of a holiday message we developed for Trident Capital as an example. It’s done in a traditional style, but is very much at the cutting-edge of corporate communication.

• Read more about our viral success stories
• Read more about our financial services work

Astia Venture Conferences Promo from Iron Creative on Vimeo.

As a resource for fast-growing, women-led enterprises, Astia has built a network of advisors and VC’s like no other. And while their offering is truly exceptional, they were having trouble articulating it in a hip, cool way that matched their organization’s culture. So with the “It Conference” (their annual showcase) around the corner, they established a partnership with Iron. The goal? Tighten the core Astia message and build a sub-brand around the conference. Oh, and do it in two weeks.

Luckily, we don’t believe in spending months and months toiling over a strategic positioning. Why? Because Iron is an agency run by Creative Directors. We’ve spent our lives winning awards for successfully framing offerings in terms that connect and grab peoples’ imagination. So as we dig into a company’s inner workings, we recognize the building blocks for that process at a speed no left-brained type can.

Suffice to say, ten days later, Astia had a slick new identity for the conference, along with the language they’d need to more effectively sell the conference (and Astia as a whole) to their myriad targets.

• Breaking News: check out the it conference viral email

The ‘addition’ symbol in the logo alludes to the company’s position which we determined during an extensive strategic process carried out earlier this year. Essentially, Paine & Partners’ unique approach allows the firm to identify opportunities other firms do not or cannot see. And it is this hidden component that is artfully reflected in the logo, while the ‘addition’ symbol alludes to added value.

A local VC firm with a small budget wanted to make a big splash. Who’d have thought an irreverent animated short about a self-made, self-satisfied snowman would, well, snowball!

The Challenge: Blueprint Ventures is a technology investment firm, which had done very little marketing in the past. In December of 2005, the firm contracted Iron to produce an online animated short, in hopes of gaining some brand awareness in the industry.

The End Result: The Gary Snoman series has become a viral phenomenon, spreading from viewer to viewer all over the world. Viewings over the last three years have numbered in the hundreds of thousands and mentions in the San Francisco Chronicle and a wide array of online publications have elevated it to one of the most anticipated annual holiday entertainment events in the Private Equity world. The ultimate result: the Blueprint brand is now known throughout the industry.