They needed to put Change Wholesale on the map with mortgage brokers, and to register new brokers to sell Change mortgages. Every new broker signed can be worth millions in loans, so the ROI from this targeted campaign could be massive.
Change Wholesale is a CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution), which allows them to serve “underbanked” consumers that typically wouldn’t qualify for a traditional mortgage. These aren’t sub-prime, predatory loans either—they’re legit loans with competitive rates. Think about non-W2 folks who might be self-employed, small biz owners, owners/employees of cash businesses, retired people, gig workers, investors, recent immigrants, etc.
Change’s flagship product, The Community Mortgage, is unique and new to the market. This required education with their audience and – most importantly – they had to establish a need and motivator for this type of company and product. This integrated, full-funnel campaign built awareness, drove engagement and generated leads. And along the way disrupted a stodgy category in the best possible way.
About the client company
The Change Company is a regulated, non-bank lender focused on providing financing solutions to mortgage professionals serving underbanked homeowners and communities. It aims to empower homeowners, small businesses, and consumers to pursue their American dreams by bringing social and racial equity to banking and lending. The Change Company’s team has built businesses that have lent over $50 billion to over 250,000 borrowers and provided financial services to over two million Americans.
Strategy – broader business issues faced
The Change Company has a category-changing product, but it lacked a brand identity and meaningful way to connect with its audience: cynical mortgage brokers who are motivated by two things – closing loans and making money.
How could Agent3 use these motivators to their advantage? Well, they conducted interviews with our core mortgage broker audience to try and get inside their heads. They saw traits that we manifested into two primary broker archetypes: The calculated “big picture” broker and the fast turn, “get it done ASAP” broker. They distilled these insights into simple key benefits to represent each: “close more” and “close faster”.
Objectives of the campaign
The business objective was to win new accounts and create awareness for Change among mortgage brokers and lenders.
Change’s flagship product, The Community Mortgage, is unique and new to the market. This required education with Agent3’s audience and, most importantly, they had to establish a need and motivator for this type of company and product. Agent3 used the Closer Twins to connect on an emotional and rational level and make brokers aware of Change and their unique offering.
The target audience
The campaign targeted mortgage brokers and loan officers within brokerage/lending firms in the USA. Predominantly white males with an average age of 44 and average salary of $124,923. Mortgage brokers are highly competitive and motivated by financial success. They tend to compare themselves to their peers and strive to win.
Media, channels or techniques used
Meet the Closer Twins. A game changing hook into audience’s emotional desire to win big and be highly effective at their profession.
Keith and Kurt Closer are both highly competitive, but Keith sees the long game of ultimately closing more loans because of Change’s groundbreaking Community Mortgage and the new audience it would open up for him. While Kurt is consumed by closing loans faster, also because of the Community Mortgage and the simplified process it offers.
Agent3 found a myriad of ways to bring these scenarios to life with the Closer Twins and 2 key messages: Close More and Close Faster.
Agent3 put the Closer Twins — Keith and Kurt — in the role of exaggerated mortgage brokers, laser focused on 2 things: closing more loans and closing loans faster. This came to life in entertaining ways including a parody of MasterClass, a workout video, sales training videos, and tons of engaging social content. Their integrated, multichannel campaign tactics included:
- Online video.
- Paid and organic social (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google).
- Trade and Industry print.
- Display and programmatic.
- Native.
- Website experience/landing page.
- Event.
- Email nurture.
The Closer Twins proved to be a catalyst for Change in the mortgage category, giving them a unique brand differentiator and establishing relevance with the broker audience. Change now uses this differentiator across all customer touchpoints, from marketing to events to sales calls to onboarding and customer success. To quote Keith and Kurt Closer: “We feel you”.
This was truly an integrated, multichannel campaign designed to take the audience from initial awareness into consideration and trial with supporting content and media channels at every stage of the journey. The campaign is relatable, hitting broker insights right in the nose, and also stands out from conventional financial services marketing with its energy and humor.
Timescales of the campaign
- Research and Planning: Apr-May 2021.
- Concepting, shoot creative production: June-Aug 2021.
- Phase one launch: Aug 2021- Dec 2021.
- Reporting: bi-weekly.
Results
The paid media campaign launched in August targeting 2,000 brokerage companies (current and prospective customers). The response far exceeded business goals for the year with over a 50% increase in brokerage customers in only 5 months! Agent3 does not have brand lift numbers, but based on impressions and engagement metrics against target accounts, they created considerable awareness and pipeline in a short period of time.
- Increase brokerage accounts from 1,200 to 1,850 in the first 5 months of activity.
- 200 new marketing opt-ins.
- 50% increase in website traffic.
- 10 million impressions.
- 18k clicks.
- 32k video views.
The Closer Twins changed the game for Change Wholesale, connecting with the audience’s emotional desire to win big at work and life.
This integrated, multichannel campaign was designed to take audiences from initial awareness, through consideration and trial. The Closer Twins punched way above their weight class, delivering big results.
"The Closer Twins have been a game changer for business growth and have given us a unique way to connect with brokers and stand out from our competitors"
David Tapscott, CMO, The Change Company