What street-level thinking looks like in practice: Carver Bank

We rebranded a historic community bank in Harlem.

Some of the work actually happened in the street. Some showed up in the street. That’s not what we mean by street-level.

Street-level thinking means we didn’t craft this campaign in a corporate boardroom. It didn’t start in quant research studies or gain traction in GTM decks. We got up from the computer and got closer to people, immersing ourselves in the challenge of rebranding Carver Bank.

Proximity

We didn’t just ask ChatGPT if the work would resonate. We showed it to Reverend Al Sharpton. Literally. And longtime Carver board members. We spoke to New Yorkers, small business owners, Carver customers and employees, across multiple generations.

The work got better every time.

People

We teamed up with longtime collaborators, director Luis Servera, exec producer Izzy Vasquez, and Digital Bodega to develop the hero script and film Carver staff, customers, local business owners, and cultural staples in Harlem, Brooklyn, and Queens, where Carver has branches and a customer base.

Educator Verta Maloney curated a workshop with aspiring young entrepreneurs. One of them was building a juice brand called Thirst Cruncher. I bought a couple bottles and became a customer. It tasted great.

People we met on the street became part of the campaign portraiture shot by Edward Winter. One of them, a Harlem resident since the ’90s, shared personal stories of her decades-long relationship with bank staff. We couldn’t script that. But an open ear, and our social team always ready with an iPhone, made room for it. We featured her in portraits and social content, and it turned out beautiful.

Perspective

Talking to people. Listening. Letting what they say become part of the story.

We did that through street interviews, through interviews with the kids, and by letting each borough have its own unique design elements and character. We weren’t trying to make everyone fit one version of New York. Their perspectives helped shape how we told the story.

Physicality

A community bank should be more than a cold corporate financial institution. It should be something you can feel, wear, and embrace. A message that sticks with you because it’s something you actually believe.

A shirt that reads “Always Bank on Harlem” isn’t an ad for a bank. It’s an F U to those who doubt you. That’s why it resonated so heavily.

A hand-printed risograph poster hanging on a lamppost that says “Always Bank on Brooklyn” isn’t an ad for a bank. It’s artwork you might rip off that lamppost and hang on your wall. People did. Because they felt it.

That thinking extended to a redesigned Carver Card debit card and a reimagined flagship branch interior. Things you rely on, hold close to you, and engage with every day to do things that matter.

Physicality often has rough edges and imperfections. But then again, so do people. Maybe that’s why it’s so effective.

Texture, friction, charge

Proximity. Physicality. People. Perspective. These bring texture and friction to the work. Things you didn’t expect. Conversations that change your mind. Ideas that get better because you got closer. Work with a charge.

That’s street-level thinking.