Shooting portraits of Texas cowboys and cowgirls for Frost Bank's latest ad effort has brought award-winning photographer Robb Kendrick face to face with some rugged types straight out of a Spaghetti Western-with names like Rooster Falcon and Boots O'Neil.
One of his subjects, 81-year-old G.L. Proctor, still works at 600,000-acre Waggoner Ranch in Vernon, TX, after 60 years. During the photo shoot, Proctor said he's been around the world twice on horseback without ever leaving Waggoner, which spans five counties. "It's probably true," Kendrick says. "That's almost a thousand square miles of property."
Despite assignments from National Geographic, the Audubon Society and Sports Illustrated, which have taken Kendrick to 65 countries over the last 20 years, he considers this Frost Bank gig the most rewarding and important of his career. It helps that he's a Texan, too-from Spur.
Fitting old lenses on a modified camera, Kendrick uses an antiquated photographic technique with postcard-sized sheets of metal-tintypes-rather than film to chronicle the lives of working cowboys and cowgirls in Texas. "It's part photography, part anthropology," he says.
It's also part of Frost Bank's latest brand- building effort, which runs alongside more traditional television and print ads touting its Texas roots. "We're From Here" is the $10 billion bank's battle cry against invading out-of-staters whose incessant acquisitions have left Frost one of the oldest Texas-based banks standing.
The grainy photos of cowboys and cowgirls in the "Character of Texas Expedition," as the project is called, have been running bimonthly on two-page spreads in Texas Monthly since September. Technically, they're Frost Bank ads, but they look like art, following a similar and highly successful campaign Frost ran a few years ago featuring foldouts of historic Texas land maps.
Devoid of explicit product pitches, body copy consists of "Field Notes," descriptions of life on the range, much of it in the subjects' own words. Frost's logo appears discretely at the bottom.
Like Kendrick's stunning, blurred-at-the-edges photos, which he says "tend to add 10 years to a person," the candid copy draws attention. Take cowgirl Susan Stephens' comments accompanying her portrait: "There is no feeling like the motion of a horse under you, and how you just fit there. It's also amazing that this powerful animal will trust its rider, and when you're working, what the two of you can accomplish."
The actual tintypes go on display, along with blown-up prints of the portraits, in Texas museums in September, starting with San Antonio's Witte Museum. A coffee-table book will also be released.
Frost Bank is unique among similarly sized competitors for its marketing sophistication and care in shaping its brand. "Their whole campaign is smart," says Neal Burns, a former Carmichael Lynch executive who is now professor of advertising at the University of Texas at Austin. "It stays on message, it builds the brand, and it's just there, kind of like the tower, which is pretty damn tall," he says, referring to the 33-story Frost Bank Tower that recently opened in downtown Austin.
The tintype technique itself is an example of Frost's marketing genius. Not only visually compelling, it ties into the bank's history since tintypes were popular in 1868, when Frost Bank was founded. Plus, it's a parallel few Texas-based banks can make, since only a couple besides Frost existed back then, says chief marketer Pam Thomas.
She and chief executive Dick Evans credit agency McGarrah Jessee, a small ad shop in Austin, with the creative vision and wherewithal to craft polished, cost-effective campaigns that hold their own against big banks with fists full of dollars. "The Bank of Americas and the Wells and the Citigroups, they have hundreds of millions of dollars and I can't go there. I just have a few dollars," Evans says, without further quantifying his budget. "And yet, we have to compete with them every day. So we've got to be sure that people understand our uniqueness in this wonderful market."
The stories of G.L. Proctor and Susan Stephens are a good tool for that. "The advertising is not driven by fads or fashions," says James Mikus, creative director at McGarrah Jessee. "It's taking what Frost is and telling people we have this common ground; we have the values, ethics and way of doing things that all Texans share. So it makes sense to do business together."
The agency stays away from Texas clich?s like blue bonnets and barbed wire. One TV spot illustrates the way Texan motorists wave to each other as they pass. Like many Frost commercials, it's silent, but for background noise. "We try to go deeper into the psyche, the values that Texans share, kind of highlight and celebrate it a little bit," he says. A more recent TV spot shows Frost bankers discussing the ideal barbeque, a Texas tradition. "We're Texans first. Bankers second," appears between shots.
More traditional print ads with a freshened look have been rolling out over the past couple of months in newspapers big and small. The new layout features a stark, cloud-strewn Texas sky and white script. One says "1868: Common Courtesy. 2005: Uncommon Courtesy." A laundry list of Frost's products and services accompanies some of the ads on a separate third-of-a-page. "If you take the time to read it, you'll see all of the details," Thomas says. "And if you don't take the time to read it, you see it's a real long list of stuff that communicates this bank has a lot to offer."
Everything's supposed to be bigger in Texas, but Frost's marketing approach is understated. And it works particularly well on television. Most of Frost's TV spots don't have people speaking and none is in color. An older one that still runs shows Willie Nelson quietly strumming his beat-up guitar. The following phrase flashes in pieces as the scene fades in and out: "In the midst of slick, over-promising bank commercials, we bring you this moment as a public service. Frost Bank. We're from here."
Another spot shows a cowboy on a lonely hill, solemnly lowering the Texas flag to half-mast. "Eighty percent of the biggest banks in Texas are no longer from Texas. Bummer. ...We're from here," says the copy.
Many of the spots have run for a few years, but are still effective. "The Willie spot is just terrific," Burns says. "It's brilliant in its use of the media, which is so cluttered. And Willie is such a strong folk hero here. Willie is just right. Willie is Texas in many respects: the rebellious nature of him, on the one hand, the nationalistic aspect of him, on the other, the story of him. And here they just let him play. I think it's spot-on, both for Texas, for Frost and for TV."
Frost Bank is a bit of a renegade itself, having stood its ground as industry analysts and insiders stoke an M&A rumor mill. "Every analyst and commentator under the sun likes to paint Cullen/Frost as a very attractive take-out candidate," says FTN Midwest Research analyst Brett Rabatin. "They're one of the least likely takeover candidates in the state of Texas."
With the state's booming population and "relatively bright" economic outlook, there's no reason to think a large non-Texas bank could run Frost any better than current management, Rabatin says. Though publicly held, the bank feels private, with two Frost family members in executive management and with CEO Evans' maverick thinking underpinning it all.
Despite an onslaught of competitors-including Wachovia, BofA and Wells, mid-caps Hibernia and Southwest Bank of Texas, and smaller firms like Sterling Bank-Evans' focus is unflinching. And it's easy to see why Frost marketing is unique. "We know we can't be like everybody else and, frankly, we're not," Evans says. "We have to stay focused on that. And our real challenge is not to get confused by what everybody else is doing." The bank plans to continue a steady course, adding to its 87 branches.
Frost is mixing in radio spots and will run ads all year, likely into 2006. The question that may emerge is whether Texans will continue to appreciate Frost playing up its Lone Star heritage. Were its execution not so clever, the approach could become hackneyed, Burns says. But sources agree there's plenty of Texas pride to keep this strategy afloat indefinitely. "It's about living every day with courage and taking pride in your work and being tough, but fair and riding for the brand," Evans says.
