Our work with Fifth Third’s community relations and foundation team spans many publications and communications channels—from the annual community report (issued in multiple markets with content customized for each) to an innovative interactive experience that saved thousands in printing costs, we’ve developed deep relationships that enable us to creatively problem-solve for our client’s specific needs.
Fifth Third came to us with a unique challenge: create a cohesive, coherent, and flexible system of three complementary yet unique pieces to share the story of how Fifth Third is building a better tomorrow through philanthropy, community investment, and financial literacy. Adding to the complexity was the need to customize the materials and information to each of the 18 different market Fifth Third serves – critical to support their positioning strategy, which at that time was “your hometown bank” rather than a large regional player.
We began by creating a modular, versatile three folder system with detail pieces on each of Fifth Third’s program components so that each region could customize the materials to reflect their work in local communities and regions.
Though the program began as a modular print-based system, we’ve brought it into the digital realm as well – and taken it well beyond the traditional downloadable PDF. Generating excitement and interest were key objectives, but cutting costs for production of a major print piece was also a need. The vision was to make the website the primary experience, and print a limited quantity of the book, which users could request through an online form. A printed postcard would drive traffic to the site, where users could request a hard copy as well as experience the online version. Total printing costs saved in this project were signficant.
The catch was that we still wanted the online experience of the text-heavy content to be like the experience of the printed piece, without long scrolling text or standard navigation – but with an excellent, intuitive user experience. We knew we had to fit the experience into what’s comfortable for the user to look at on the screen, which isn’t a clean transition from print. We considered Flash, but wanted a highly search-friendly site that met accessibility standards as well. Another complication was the hosting and technical environment where the site would live – many restrictions and limits on technology and security.
The resulting solution, built in jQuery, allows the user to focus on a single page while still having awareness of the other pages in the document – similar to a book, but without the added tools and navigation of a standard web implementation. The navigation mechanism is clearly visible and moves with the user, creating the illusion of the eye moving to focus on a different part of the document.
This innovative, engaging, and highly usable interface is easily indexable by search engine spiders, and meets accessibility standards – an ever-growing critical requirement for online content. The report won two distinguished MarCom Platinum Awards, and was noted by Fifth Third’s Chief Marketing Officer as having “aptly illustrated the Bank’s progress in empowering individuals to help achieve the goals we share to strengthen the communities in which we live and work.”