(The Birmingham News /photo by Linda Stelter)

We were recently featured in The Birmingham News.

By Roy L. Williams, business writer

Birmingham-based America’s First Federal Credit Union, created to serve steelworkers in the 1930s, took its rivalry with banks to a humorous level this year with a series of television commercials created by advertising veteran Paul Crawford.

Crawford, president and creative director of Scout Branding at 216 29th St. South, came up with a campaign for America’s First that pokes fun at bank fees, which critics say are too high. The five 30-second spots, mostly filmed in Los Angeles using unknown actors, have aired several times on Alabama television stations where the credit union has a presence.

The commercials gained national exposure last month when the New York Times featured them in an article about how some credit unions have shaken off dull advertising strategies and grown bolder in promoting themselves.

The America’s First ads are centered around a common theme: Actors posing as bankers who enter a booth that says, “Banker Confessions Taken Here,” and confess their guilt about hidden fees and charges.

In one commercial, a woman says it was her idea “to jack up fees and lower services,” then boasts about the perks she received. In another, a man admits that his bank charges “a lot of fees for nothing.”

Then he says, “How do I sleep at night? Did I mention that my bonus check had two commas in it?”

Each ad ends with the tag line, “America’s First Federal Credit Union — refreshingly unbank like.”

Crawford and America’s First officials say the attention gave an immediate boost to traffic on both Scout Branding and the credit union’s websites, and generated calls nationally. “We had told America’s First that this might get national attention because it is in your face compared to typical credit union ads,” Crawford said.

It’s not the first time that Scout Branding, a five-person firm Crawford founded in 2006 after spending nearly a decade at major advertising firms in Boston, Atlanta and Nashville, has made waves. In 2007, Crawford created a television, print and online anti-scam campaign for the U.S. Postal Service that aired in major publications and television stations across the country. Those humorous spots played off familiar scams, including a foreign lottery scam featuring a man speaking in broken English.

Right actors are key

Crawford, whose client base includes Alagasco, Children’s Hospital and Baptist Health System, said finding the right actors is critical for a successful commercial.

“We looked at probably 200 actors before deciding on the five we used in the America’s First campaign,” he said. “It took a lot of work. We put in six weeks of production before showing it to them.”

Crawford said America’s First’s marketing chief, Phil Boozer, and Chief Executive David Adcock knew the campaign “was out of the norm from what they had done,” but were willing to take a chance.

Boozer said the commercials paid off and accomplished their goals.

“These commercial let people know what we do as a credit union by showing them what we don’t do in a fun and humorous way,” he said.

Crawford said Scout Branding has benefited from a good team that allows it to accomplish many of the things that a bigger firm can.

“We don’t have a lot of layers of management that the bigger firms do and it allows us to get things done quicker and smarter,” he said.

Still, Crawford acknowledges that his firm, like many others, has been affected by the economic downturn.

“We weren’t hit as hard as most others are because we have always operated on a lean staff,” he said. “We could probably be twice in size but choose to remain small. The firms who can deliver good ideas on budget and on time will be OK.”

Scout with the IIDA Creative Excellence Award in Showroom Design

Scout Branding was just honored by the International Interior Design Association with a Creative Excellence Award for Small Showroom Design at NeoCon, the largest design exposition and conference for commercial interiors in North America. Considering that designers from all over the world compete to create the most inspiring design experience in over 700 showrooms, being singled out for this recognition is a huge achievement.

I thought it would be interesting to show our original presentation to Mannington compared to photography of the finished project. There are so many factors that can intervene with the initial concept and vision for a large project like this- budget, technical limitations, and building team consensus just to name a few. But with careful planning, attention to detail, and teamwork with the client, you will see that the transformation from concept to reality was seamless.

Starting with the overall view you will notice the drama of gunmetal walls and rich hardwood floors (Mannington Commercial’s new offering called Earthly Elements) contrasted with gleaming white lacquer displays and the brightly colored large scale patterns of the Sylvan and Monarch collections in front. The technique we employed was simple-create a visual focus on the flooring products and elegant displays by framing everything with dark tones. This allowed a unified and cohesive look to the space while drawing in the viewer with high-contrast lighting.

You will see here the concept vs. execution of several of the specific product displays. With the help of some amazing vendors we were able to make these displays come to life. The branches were transformed from our drawings into high density foam sculptures covered in white lacquer. The nest was woven here at Scout from samples of Mannington’s Sylvan Collection, and real ostrich eggs proved to be the right scale for it’s interior.

In the environmental display, arrows fabricated from different post-consumer materials products create a simple explanation of Mannington’s commitment to redirecting landfill-bound products into new flooring.

Thanks to Mannington and our whole team of vendors for working together to steal the show! You will see the showroom featured in Interior Design’s Show Daily, the IIDA website, and an upcoming feature in Contract Magazine.

Prior to the district level, Scout took home 18 ADDYs at the Birmingham ADDY Awards Show, 14 Gold and 4 Silver. Scout’s president/creative director, Paul Crawford, won Creative Director of the Year and Copywriter of the Year. Scout’s associate creative director, Ryan Gernenz, won Designer of the Year.

The ADDY Awards is the largest creative competition in the country with about 55,000 local entries competing in 200 cities coast to coast. Winning an ADDY at the district level is the second step in competing for a National ADDY Award.

Scout’s Creative Director, Paul Crawford was featured in Advertising Age’s Small Agency Diary. Click here to check it out.

Scout Branding Company

BIRMINGHAM, February 8, 2010 – The American Advertising Federation Birmingham held its annual ADDY Gala at Old Car Heaven. Scout Branding won 18 ADDYs — 4 silver and 14 gold. Scout’s president/creative director, Paul Crawford, won Creative Director of the Year and Copywriter of the Year. Scout’s associate creative director, Ryan Gernenz, won Designer of the Year. The five-person shop had the highest total of gold ADDYs won Saturday night.

“The awards are nice,” says Paul Crawford, president/creative director at Scout. “But, we don’t let awards shape how we work. The main focus at Scout is to find ideas that help our clients grab market share and grow their revenue.”

Scout Branding was also recently named Agency of the Year at the 2009 Birmingham Peak Awards also held at Old Car Heaven.

BIRMINGHAM, January 27, 2010— Scout Branding Company has been hired by the Universal Postal Union to craft an awareness campaign about the risks of buying counterfeited or pirated medications, electronics and other items through the mail.

Scout will refer to their experience in creating the national campaign for the United States Postal Service to alert consumers of e-mail scams.

The Universal Postal Union is headquartered in Berne, Switzerland and is the primary forum for cooperation between postal-sector players to help ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services. With 191 member countries, it sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and to improve the quality of service for customers.

Scout Branding Scout Branding is an award-winning advertising, branding and interactive company that adds real value to a select group of companies through ideas. www.scoutbrand.com.

Source: Scout

For Immediate Release

February 7, 2009

Scout Branding takes home 17 ADDY Awards Saturday night

BIRMINGHAM, AL – The American Advertising Federation Birmingham held its annual ADDY Gala at Soho in downtown Homewood. Scout Branding won 17 ADDYs — 14 silver and 3 gold. The three-person shop had the second highest total of ADDYs won Saturday night.

Scout’s web address is www.scoutbrand.com and the phone number is 205-423-8828.

Contact:

Paul Crawford
205-324-3107
(cell) 205-612-3981
paul@scoutbrand.com

216 29th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35233
telephone 205.324.3107

Source: Scout

For Immediate Release

Newcomer SCOUT Makes Good First Impression.

February 25, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, AL – The 50th Annual Addys award ceremony sponsored by the Birmingham Advertising Federation and recognizing excellence in 2007 advertising by Birmingham ad agencies, was held at B & A Warehouse Saturday night.

Newcomer to the Birmingham advertising scene, Scout Branding Company, made its presence known. While 2007 was Scout’s first year of operation, Paul Crawford, President and Creative Director of Scout, isn’t new to the Birmingham ad community nor to the Addys’ award podium. In both 2004 and 2005 Crawford went home with Creative Director of the Year and Art Director of the Year while at Lewis Communications. In 2006 Crawford ventured out to form Scout, which now has 5 full time employees.

At the Addys Saturday night, Scout went home with 14 Silver and one Gold ADDY awards and Crawford went home with the Art Director of the Year Award. The awards were for work done for Children’s Hospital, The US Postal Inspection Service, Balch & Bingham, Thicket Magazine and Friedman & Downey.

Scout Branding Company is located in Pepper Place and does creative work for local and national clients. Scout’s web address is www.scoutbrand.com and the phone number is 205-423-8828.

Contact:

Paul Crawford 205-423-8828
paul@scoutbrand.com

216 29th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35233