CEO seeks fans to flame hotter image for his bank.

• Author: Richter, Chris
• Position: PEOPLE

Scott Custer likes sports. But that's not why Raleigh-based RBC Centura Banks Inc. and its parent, Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada, pour money into sports sponsorships. It's a way to try to stand out when you stand in the shadows of two Fortune 100 members. "We can't outspend Bank of America," says RBC Centura's CEO. "We can't outspend Wachovia. You've got to be more targeted in how you spend your marketing and public-relations dollars."

The giant banks also invest in sports marketing, but they aim at a wider audience. BofA's name is on a football stadium in Charlotte, but most of its advertising is geared nationally. So is that of Wachovia, which has its name is on a Philadelphia arena. RBC Centura, based in Rocky Mount until last year, focuses on the Southeast. In 2002, it cut a 20-year, $80 million deal to dub the home of N.C. State University's basketball team and the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes as the RBC Center. Earlier this year, it renewed a contract to be the official bank of the Atlantic Coast Conference, airing its ads on regionally televised basketball games. Those moves elevated its brand, Custer says, especially in the Triangle. It will get another boost in 2008 when it completes its $100 million, 33-story headquarters.

Custer, 49, has been a banker since earning a bachelor's in business from College of William & Mary in 1979. The Newport News, Va., native went to work for Wachovia as a commercial banker in Raleigh. Four years later, he...