Are You Ready?

The Context: On June 12, BB&T and SunTrust was announcing the new name for their new, merged company: Truist. The combination of these two iconic franchises (SunTrust & BB&T) would create the sixth-largest U.S. bank, with over $440B in assets and 275 years of history serving clients and communities in some of the best markets in the country.
The announcement was to be made through a video in front of a live audience of hundreds of employees in Charlotte, NC, and then sent to tens of thousands of internal and external stakeholders, including employees, media, clients, and general consumers.
The Challenge: This video needed to inform and inspire stakeholders, helping to drive a positive narrative around Truist and create excitement about additional news to come about this exciting new financial entity … The challenge was we had no brand assets, no brand identity (logo / colors); we only had the name. It was critical that the creative did not make implications about the final brand identity and assets.
Core Message: From a messaging point of view, we needed to convey that Truist would stand for a better future for clients, employees, and the community together.
The Idea: We leveraged the style of a movie trailer and used the call “Are You Ready?” to build anticipation and excitement with the audience. We used a tracking shot of genuine, main street community intersections in unique ways to build to the crescendo of the Truist name reveal at the end.
The Results: It worked. The video was shown to hundreds of people in the live audience who gave it a standing ovation at the end; they were fired up about what was to come as they evolved to become Truist. The other employees, media, clients, and general consumers that saw it also said it energized and built anticipation about what’s next. According to Truist Vice President, Marketing Creative, Mark Benedict, the video “generated a ton of enthusiasm and energy. The movie trailer-style form the video took is something I’ve never seen before in a corporate setting, it worked beautifully.”