All Diamond Award winners in this category are listed below.
Category’s Best winners—marked with a 💎—earned the highest score within their asset grouping.
Assets $250 million – $1 billion | Modesto, CA
Billboards? Boring. We wanted something that moves, something that sparks joy, something that screams Mocse! So, we ditched the static sign and went electric—literally. Enter the VW Buzz: an all-electric, all-eyes-on-us brand ambassador that rolls through town like a party on wheels.
Assets less than $250 million | Pueblo, CO
There was a recent merger in our community that left an institution’s members feeling overlooked, overwhelmed, and uncertain. We noticed that uncertainty beginning to surface among our own members. Our billboard campaign was designed to provide reassurance and reinforce the value of banking with a local institution. We emphasized the word “local” throughout the campaign to highlight our deep community roots, our understanding of the people we serve, and the trust that comes along with banking close to home.
Assets greater than $1 billion | Kalispell, MT
Whitefish Credit Union’s objective was to break through Missoula’s crowded financial-services advertising environment and quickly build awareness, familiarity, and trust for our first-ever Missoula branch—without sounding like “another bank ad.” Our strategy was to lead with high-impact, locally relevant out-of-home (OOH) that behaved like a community introduction, not a promotion, by featuring Community Development Officer Ryan Nong—who had also just moved to Missoula—so the message was inherently credible, human, and conversation-worthy.
The creative was intentionally “guerrilla” in spirit: a billboard series that centered Ryan as a real person getting to know the city, with Whitefish Credit Union branding kept subtle (often limited to the logo on Ryan’s shirt) and a simple, curiosity-rewarding call-to-action to NewToMissoula.com. That combination made the campaign feel native to the community and sparked organic amplification (including a lively local Reddit thread and even a stand-up comedian referencing the billboards).
As the campaign gained recognition, we extended the OOH “local celebrity” moment into a high-visibility University of Montana football broadcast activation—placing Ryan on the field in WCU apparel during the game. Executing that required navigating nontraditional approvals and logistics, including sign-off from University of Montana stakeholders and the EVP at the national Scripps Sports broadcaster, ensuring brand alignment, broadcast standards compliance, and flawless on-field timing.
Integrated channel support (to extend reach and capture intent): OOH: Rotating billboards + flyers/posters Streaming video: Paramount+, Disney+/Hulu, Spectrum Broadcast & digital: KPAX TV + integrations Audio: Local radio + podcast ads Direct mail: Product-targeted mailers Search & display: Google to intent-matched landing pages
Assets $250 million – $1 billion | Billings, MT
Amidst widespread local competition for deposits, our goal was to position our institution as the clear choice, using the theme "membership pays" and a succinct, witty, attention-grabbing creative. Billboards were placed on Billings' busiest roads to maximize seasonal impact, using integrated directional arrows to convert high-level brand awareness into immediate branch navigation.
Assets greater than $1 billion | Gulfport, MS
The objective of the Live Your Way Out of Home campaign was to increase brand awareness and recognition by meeting our audience in high-visibility, everyday environments - to inspire and empower individuals to embrace a lifestyle that aligns with their personal values and preferences – reinforcing the brand’s promise of flexibility, choice and individuality. The strategy focused on consistent, brand-led messaging placed along daily routines to reinforce familiarity, relevance and emotional connection beyond product promotion.
Assets greater than $1 billion | East Lansing, MI
The objective of AlumniFi’s Out of Home activation at the Rocket Classic was to transform sponsorship visibility into an immersive brand experience—one that fans could physically move through, interact with, and remember.
AlumniFi is a digital brand created by MSU Federal Credit Union. As the first-ever local presenting partner of the Rocket Classic PGA TOUR event, AlumniFi set out to go beyond traditional signage and create a branded environment that reflected confidence, culture, and modern swagger.
The strategy centered on using large-scale Out of Home placements to anchor the experience, with the Heritage Club Presented by AlumniFi serving as the focal point. By combining a bold, high-impact walkway experience with layered brand touchpoints throughout the venue, AlumniFi created a seamless journey from arrival to engagement—positioning the brand as both premium and approachable.
Assets greater than $1 billion | East Lansing, MI
MSU Federal Credit Union’s objective was to create a welcoming, community-centered brand experience in a high-traffic environment while reinforcing our deep connection to the Greater Lansing area. As a community-focused financial institution, our strategy was to move beyond traditional advertising and instead celebrate the place we serve through meaningful, locally inspired storytelling.
The Lansing Airport mural was intentionally placed in front of MSUFCU’s ATM – an organic point of interaction for travelers, including both residents and visitors. Rather than promotional messaging, the mural features hand-drawn illustrations of recognizable Lansing landmarks such as Potter Park Zoo and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. This approach creates an authentic sense of place and local pride, serving as a visual “welcome home” for returning residents and an introduction to the community for those visiting Greater Lansing for the first time.
To extend the experience beyond the physical space, the mural includes a QR code linking to a supporting blog post titled What We Love About Lansing. The blog acts as a curated guide to the Capital City region, highlighting arts, dining, entertainment, nature, and culture. It provides visitors unfamiliar with Lansing an easy way to explore and experience the city while reinforcing MSUFCU’s long-standing presence and pride in the community we’ve served since 1937.
The campaign was further amplified through multiple social media posts designed to drive awareness, engagement, and traffic to the blog content. By connecting out-of-home media with digital storytelling and social channels, the campaign created a cohesive, multi-touch experience. Overall, the strategy positioned outdoor media not as an interruption, but as an experience—one that humanizes the brand, strengthens community connection, and reflects MSUFCU’s mission to positively impact the lives of those we serve.
Assets $250 million – $1 billion | Milwaukie, OR
Our objective was to stand out in the predictable mix of local advertising. We wanted to be simple and straightforward. Every ad needed to be seen and legible.
Our strategy was to buy the biggest ad spaces we could afford. This would mean buying less, but every interaction would leave a bigger impression with the viewer. We branded 10% of our local transportation MAX trains. We used a rotating schedule of billboards off major highways/roads to give the appearance we were everywhere. We bought the biggest ad in our local airport at the entrance of the busiest terminal.
We reserved a portion of the budget to add more volume in the final 90 days of the year. This is when financial institutions tend to pull back with advertising locally, so we could make a bigger impact.
Assets greater than $1 billion | Ann Arbor, MI
The main goal of this high-visibility billboard campaign was to achieve massive brand awareness and aggressively expand UMCU's geographic and demographic reach beyond its traditional footprint. Our core strategy was built on leveraging the powerful, deeply resonant, and instantly recognizable partnership with the Detroit Lions. By placing the UMCU brand alongside a beloved, high-profile professional sports team, we aimed to transfer the trust, loyalty, and passion associated with the Lions directly to UMCU.
This strategy served two critical purposes: First, it positioned UMCU not just as a local financial institution, but as a major, credible player in the broader metro Detroit financial landscape. Second, it addressed the common credit union challenge of limited geographic perception. The campaign was designed to signal to consumers—regardless of current UMCU membership status—that UMCU is accessible, expansive (as demonstrated by our national search results and reach), and deeply invested in the community through high-profile local alliances. The consistent, frequent exposure across major thoroughfares was calculated to generate substantial search traffic and subsequently drive rapid, inorganic growth.
Assets greater than $1 billion | Kalispell, MT
Whitefish Credit Union’s objective was to win attention fast in a cluttered category by making our billboard creative unmissable, memorable, and locally “right,” building broad brand familiarity and positive sentiment through outdoor alone.
Our strategy was to treat each board as a 3–5 second reward: short, catchy malaprop-style phrases that make drivers do a quick double-take (“Using common cents always pays off,” “Fiscal therapy,” “Loan and behold!,” “Kinda loanly out here,” and “Bag bigger bucks.”).
The execution was intentionally simple—high-contrast design, minimal copy, clear WCU branding—so the joke lands instantly at speed. The “nuts and bolts” differentiator was placement strategy: we matched specific lines to specific locations and seasons so the environment completed the message (“Fiscal therapy” placed near the hospital, “Kinda loanly out here” in open country, “Loan and behold!” on a hill overlooking the highway, and “Bag bigger bucks” timed to hunting season). Where the campaign supported our Missoula expansion, we adapted the same creative system with a simple “Now open in Missoula” tag to keep the humor while adding a clear market-level message.
