As soon as it closed its acquisition of the Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. (CBT), Berkshire Hills Bancorp began pursuing Geno Auriemma.
The bank named Auriemma to its board of directors late last month. It also announced Auriemma would be the bank’s new spokesman.
Berkshire Bank’s tagline is “America’s Most Exciting Bank,” and the $4 billion, Springfiled-based institution wanted to make a splash in its newest market. And when it comes to splashy, there’s virtually no one in Connecticut who can compare with Luigi “Geno” Auriemma.
The longtime University of Connecticut women’s head basketball coach is known as brash, instinctual and entrepreneurial. He has led the Huskies to seven national championships. In addition to making a salary of about $2 million – one of the very highest paid employees of the State of Connecticut – he also pushes his own lines of spaghetti sauce and wine. He publishes inspirational books.
He is nearly ubiquitous. And the attitude local residents take toward him could at times be described as worship.
‘Go Big Or Go Home’
“[Auriemma] is involved in a tremendous amount of business, and he’s had relationships with some of the key people at CBT for years,” Sean Gray, Berkshire’s executive vice president of retail banking, told Banker & Tradesman. “Immediately after we closed the CBT deal, we wanted to start to pursue Geno. When we go into any market, we want to be the predominant player.”
With this latest deal, Auriemma joins UConn men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun in the bank marketing game. Calhoun – himself a three-time championship winning coach – is a longtime spokesman for $17 billion, Waterbury, Conn.-based Webster Bank.
“We are pleased with our longstanding relationship with [Calhoun],” Sarah Barr, a Webster spokesman, said. Calhoun is not a member of Webster’s board of directors.
Auriemma is currently coaching the United States women’s basketball team that will compete later this summer in the London Olympics and could not be reached for comment.
Berkshire is busy putting together an all-out promotional blitz it plans to unveil in coming months. It will include both media spots and public appearances by Auriemma, Gray said.
As a member of Berkshire’s board, Auriemma will be compensated like any other board member, Grey said.
Last year, Berkshire’s 11 directors were paid between $13,750 and $57,000 in cash. Most got between $33,000 and $42,000. Directors also got $20,000 in stock awards and a bit more than $1,200 in “other” compensation.
“With our brand, it’s engaging the right people, the right attitude and competing,” Gray said. “Geno appreciates that, and we’ve had that mantra here, and he really believes in ‘go big or go home.’”
Brand Alignment
The Pittsfield-based bank’s first quarter profit jumped to $5.8 million from $2.8 million in the previous quarter.
And a lot of that jump was the result of Berkshire’s aggressive acquisition strategy.
Before the CBT buy, Berkshire had acquired New York-based Rome Bancorp almost exactly a year earlier, in April 2011, and Vermont-based Legacy Bancorp just three months later.
In early May, Berkshire closed the acquisition of Needham, Mass.-based Greenpark Mortgage Corp.
The work for a bank, or any brand, in selecting a spokesman is in “defining what they represent” and making sure it matches well with the institution, said Paul Pita, CEO and executive creative director at the Pita Group, a Hartford-area marketing firm.
Perhaps the best example of that alignment is the relationship between Nike and Michael Jordan.
“Geno is a national icon in women’s basketball, leadership, mentoring. It’s a certain brand his name comes with,” Pita said. “If it’s leveraged correctly (by Berkshire) it should create excitement. If there’s an alignment between the integrity, values and authenticity of the bank and Geno’s integrity, values and authenticity, it should work for the bank.”
Julie Hall, executive vice president and partner at Schneider Associates, a marketing firm in Boston, said the right athlete – or coach – can be a boon for a bank brand.
Berkshire, she told Banker & Tradesman, “is trying to get a foothold in the Connecticut market where he is so admired.”
There are risks, though.
“Look at Tiger Woods,” Hall said. “It also depends on who you’re trying to market to. When I was at Fleet, we had a program called the Fleet Youth All Starts. We had Rebecca Lobo, Mo Vaughn… It was great for the bank’s image, and it was great for the athletes because they were seen as doing good.”
Still, “any good marketer is going to look at the worst-case scenario. You have to be prepared. You have to have a disaster plan and a breakup plan.”
Hall noted that certain brands dumped Woods immediately after his personal infidelities became a scandal, while others stuck with him.
But Milford, Conn.-based sandwich chain Subway stuck with olympic swimmer Michael Phelps after he was seen smoking marijuana.
