Eastern Bank builds its brand by creating videos for YouTube.

• Position: MARKETING NEWS

IN THE PAST, A BANK WOULD PAY TO DELIVER ITS MARKETING MESSAGES on radio and TV. But over time, the air waves got cluttered. People stopped listening and viewing.

Eastern Bank (assets: $9.5 billion), a savings bank in Boston, decided recently to try something different. Instead of buying space for a TV ad, Eastern posted lengthy videos for free on YouTube. Then it promoted the videos online and through the news media.

Attracting viewers was not difficult, because these are not ordinary videos: They are not about bank products or services. In fact, the bank's name is only mentioned as an aside.

These videos tell moving, emotional stories about ordinary people--bank customers--who have performed or received some form of generous community service. One four-minute video garnered 150,000 views.

Joe Bartolotta, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, says the bank benefits through the "halo" effect: The financial institution receives credit for spotlighting the unselfish acts of others.

To date, Eastern has produced three videos. One story is about a New Hampshire woman whose husband (a bank customer) owned a popular pizza parlor and was a well-known member of the community. The wife had never been deeply...