moodboard detail
Gaining Interest In Sustainable Investments
Founded in 1927, LaSalle Bank built their brand legacy and company heritage on serving Chicago-area communities. One of the oldest and largest financial institutions in the Midwest, they are revered for their social responsibility and support of the arts.
the challenge
For decades, LaSalle’s community and environmental groups had done amazing work independently from each other and with little publicity or fanfare. So when the Bank’s Civic and Community Development Department merged with its Environmental Initiatives Team, “Civic” became “Sustainability” and Firebelly was invited to bridge the gap and help LaSalle communicate their sustainability mission to its employees and customers.
WHAT WE DID
For the first time ever, LaSalle’s 15+ individual programs and nonprofit affiliates were talking together and work collaboratively. At the same time, LaSalle’s bankers were looking to the newly merged department for ways to communicate the bank’s projects effectively and present more sustainable options to their clients.
So the task was two-fold: share the Bank’s accomplishments in a way that was transparent, honest and tangible externally and help the department explain the complexities of sustainability and the Bank’s current agenda internally.
We started our research interviewing all the senior staff members in the Community + Sustainability Development Department. We knew their personal conviction and real life stories of positive change would be infinitely more meaningful to read than a report just listing all the Bank’s accomplishments and initiatives. The conversations were amazing and provided us with humanity—the missing ingredient in previous communications—and made for credible, interesting copy development.
As we continued developing our strategic plan for the department’s messaging and branding, we knew the art direction (which would require original illustration and photography) would be met with some resistance. Not surprisingly, LaSalle Bank, a legacy financial institution, enforced some pretty strict brand standards. But using several international examples (including their Dutch parent, ABN AMRO) we demonstrated how the innovative nature of sustainability involves forward thinking and warrants a departure from the safety of traditional systems.
Our research paid off and we were green-lighted to launch into several high profile design projects including: a sculptural installation in the public corridor of LaSalle’s Chicago headquarters, a bank-sponsored report and symposium on food deserts in Detroit and as consultants for the Bank’s participation in Bruce Mau’s Massive Change exhibit at the MCA.
In the end, Firebelly’s use of honest, people-centric messaging and fresh approach to the Bank’s visual language, advanced LaSalle’s sustainable efforts and connected their community engagements with their environmental ones.
PROJECTS INCLUDED:
- 36-page sustainability report
- 36-page departmental brochure
- 16-page food desert report
- Display exhibit
- Event promotions
- Presentation materials + support