OBERLAND and Doublespace Capture Life’s Quirky Opportunities in Campaign for Union Savings Bank

A young woman gets hitched – to a cool-looking, streamlined trailer, not to a partner – as she embarks on a new phase of her life, armed with the financial guidance, insight, and coaching from Union Savings Bank’s FutureTrack, in a new 15-second spot from OBERLAND, the purpose-driven agency. 

Working in partnership with NYC-based brand agency Doublespace and its client Union Savings Bank (USB), OBERLAND collaborated to create an integrated campaign that includes TV spots, social media ads, and digital units promoting how FutureTrack coaches can provide USB’s customers with personalized financial guidance that corresponds to different milestones in their lives. 

The work is expressed with a lightly comedic touch and built on visual puns and gentle double entendres. In a second spot in the campaign, we see a young couple making funny faces and mugging as the voiceover explains how FutureTrack can help them prepare for their first kid as the camera pulls back to reveal they’re oohing and aahing over their new ‘kid,’ actually a cuddly baby goat. The commercials were directed by Zack Grant of Greencard Pictures.

The social media ads take a similar cheeky approach: in one, a couple is seen rappelling down the side of a cliff to the headline, ‘Tie the knot,’ while in another a scuba diver is surrounded by tropical fish with the headline, ‘Go back to school.’ The ad copy explains the product benefits in an upbeat, concise way: “Start building your future with the help of FutureTrack,” reads the channel copy on a social post. “Personalised financial coaching, no matter what’s next.”

“This positioning is very flexible, as it allows you to basically fill in wherever you are in life,” says Bill Oberlander, OBERLAND’s chief creative officer, who led the creative team. “It tends to skew younger; like we see with our young millennial hitching up her trailer, about to embark on a #vanlife journey on her own. We don’t see the clichés of buying houses or sending kids off to college. Rather, this is a highly calibrated and elastic idea from which we’ll be able to build an enduring campaign.” 

“We were excited to collaborate with the OBERLAND and team on the USB account, and feel the work that’s been created will distinguish the bank’s brand in the market,” says Jane E. Kosstrin, founder and chief creative officer, Doublespace. “The FutureTrack campaign is part of a much larger effort to elevate the bank’s visibility and leadership in serving Western Connecticut.”  

“Our goal with FutureTrack is to help our customers be the best financial versions of themselves by helping them feel more confident and comfortable talking about and actively participating in their financial future; it’s really about making financial conversations and literacy feel approachable and welcoming,” says Melissa R. MacCaull, USB’s director, head of marketing. “To bring this to life we partnered with our agencies, OBERLAND and Doublespace, to make sure the creative matched the approachable, welcoming nature of FutureTrack and Union Savings Bank as a whole. We couldn’t be more pleased with the executional outcome of the integrated campaign as a way to continue to differentiate USB in the market.”

The work will be running on cable outlets and OTT throughout the bank’s service area of western Connecticut, as well as on social platforms such as Instagram and Facebook and video sharing platforms such as YouTube. A radio spot and placement on streaming platforms and podcasts are also part of the campaign.