Visual Marketing: 99 Proven Ways for Small Businesses to Market with Images and Design

66. Who Is Keith Beith? Capitalizing on a Unique Name and Interjecting Friendliness to Differentiate a Business

How often do you get to play with a client name that rhymes?” asks Billy Joe Pyle, creative director of Mint Advertising in Philadelphia. Believe it or not, Keith Beith is not a character from a Dr. Seuss book. He's a real person and willing participant in a campaign that generated more than $14 million in a new mortgage loans for Proponent Federal Credit Union.

Why It Works

Keith Beith, the senior loan officer at Proponent, is depicted as a cartoon character who guides you through the thicket of mortgage loan processing. The campaign provides an unusual comic approach to a traditional and serious topic. It's friendly and nonthreatening and invites customers to get to know the person who will help them save money on their mortgages. Tellers wore name badges that said, “Hello, my name is not Keith Beith. (But I know who he is.)” A variety of media featured a cartoon Keith Beith with a witty quip and a smile on newsletters, statement stuffers, direct mail, in-branch posters, and online calculators. Keith Beith grew up in Freehold, New Jersey, in a small town where everyone knows your name. Beith says his name has always been more of an asset than a liability. “Once it's heard, ...