When Glenn and Bernie Drake came to us about a year ago, the purpose of their company was clear:
Give agents a way to send earnest money deposits, commissions and other funds to their broker, securely and fast. They wanted to eliminate drive time and checks altogether around this whole process and relationship.
With a clear purpose and a fully developed mobile app, we set out to give them a name, brand story, new logo, full visual identity and website. The intent was to lay them a foundation upon which they could build effective marketing today and tomorrow.
The first brick
As anyone in this industry knows, agent adoption is a tough mountain for any new vendor to climb. We needed the name, story and identity to convey simplicity, trust and ease of use.
We needed to focus on the end benefit, while being clear about the use case, which we knew every Realtor could relate to: sitting in traffic at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday trying to get an earnest money deposit on the books in time.
We eventually landed on the name Bank Shot, which conveys movement, familiarity and a touch of cleverness.
As we moved into design of the company’s logo, we took a mobile-first approach, just like their product. This new identity needed to fit among the sea of apps on an agent’s smartphone. The wordmark and colors would need to stand on their own and convey that simplicity, trust and ease of use I mentioned earlier.
We could’ve easily taken the path paved with dollar signs, piggy banks, checkmarks or houses. But we knew that wasn’t the right direction in this case. What Glenn and Bernie built is a solid solution to an all-too-common problem for agents and their brokers. We wanted that authenticity to show. And wanted their familiarity with the real estate business to also shine. (Glenn and Bernie are broker-owners of Drake Realty in Atlanta.)
Where we ended up:
The rhino symbolizes longevity, stability, grounding and a break with convention. The wing carries a check safely where it needs to go.
The story
Rather than weigh down Bank Shot’s marketing message with feature-laden software speak, we went the opposite direction and focused on the reason why this app exists and stayed true to its simplicity. Mobile banking no doubt has saved countless hours for consumers everywhere. That’s the appeal. So we knew that saving time and hassle were at the heart of Bank Shot’s story for the very same reason.
This is also a brand whose origin story greatly influences the marketing message. The app was built by agents for agents, which carries a different sensibility than one created by an outsider trying to solve a problem they may have never personally experienced. We kept that in mind with every word.
Bank Shot recently launched its new website, which we also designed. We kept the design simple, colorful and brand-focused – again, keeping in mind that this is a mobile-first solution, we approached this more like a single landing page than full kitchen-sink style of site.
The result has been a successful launch of the brand.
Bank Shot is just getting started, but they’re on a roll. While the product was designed to work with any vendor or bank, the founders have so far inked partnerships with Bank of America, Chase and US Bank to make it even easier for real estate agents to deposit checks securely using their mobile phones.
It’s been a great pleasure working with the Drakes. We expect to see a lot more from them in the coming year.
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