On the Ball.

• Author: Albro, Walt
• Position: Charter One renaming promotion for St. Paul Federal - Brief Article

When employees of St. Paul Federal in Chicago opened their little boxes in January, they found a pen shaped like a baseball bat, a stress ball shaped like a baseball and a computer chip that caused the box to play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

It was all part of the bank's plan to get its personnel excited about the bank's sponsorship of Chicago Cubs games this season. And the Charter One Bank logo on the ball was the bank's way of telling employees that the long-awaited name change was, indeed, about to happen.

The bank didn't forget about its customers, either. Posters in the branch offices emphasized the "It's a Hit" theme. Customers were entered into drawings for Cubs' spring training trips and pre-season game tickets. And promotional trailers began appearing just before the feature in General Cinema theaters located within five miles or so of Charter One branches.

The point, says senior vice president Cindy Schulze, the bank's chief marketing officer, was to help customers and employees alike get comfortable with the new name. The bank sent oversized postcards to its Chicago-area customers...