1. IT ALL STARTED WITH A MANIFESTO.

Our approach developed from discussions around promises. And Neitszche’s idea of the “Sovereign Individual”. True strength coming not coming from swagger. But the simple power to keep one’s word. Make no promise you couldn’t keep. But keep every promise you made. Whatever the circumstances. To deliver the certainty people needed in tough times.

In the past Citi’s brand platform promised “Dreams to Reality”. But the effects of the Financial Crisis required company-wide change. This cultural shift would be signalled in the Manifesto - and experienced in in every interaction.

The Manifesto would appear in advertisements, hang prominently in every branch and chart the direction of new internal programs too.

2. PRACTICAL HELP FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

Following the line in the manifesto about working alongside people, programs for retail bank clients and small businesses were proposed. One of these was “Lunch and Learn”.

First we looked at the typical brick and mortar bank. It’s a pretty common sight to see empty desks and short lines. Wealth management consultants rotate through branches. So there’s a lot of real estate which is underused. Citi employs some pretty smart people. So let’s tap into that resource and have the brightest offer regular “Lunch and Learn” sessions in this underused space. To demonstrate Citi’s commitment to the local community without adding to capital expense.

3. INNOVATIVE WAYS TO KICKSTART NEW BUSINESSES.

And for the small-business owner, we took a cue from the New York City Police Department’s famous Broken Windows theory. Let’s proactively see where the crisis is hitting and act there first. That is, identify an empty storefront and arrange with the landlord to hold seminars on writing a business plan, working with vendors, etc.

We called it the Citi Change Program.

And if an alumni took over that space, the business could be labeled as a product of the program.

4. NEW PROGRAMS TO IDENTIFY THE BEST NEW THINKING AND TOMORROW’S THOUGHT LEADERS.

Within each industry, there’s usually a small group of companies which are considered to be “the elite” – where careers are made, where industry standards are established, etc. Within financial services, Citi is such a company. As the Financial Crisis hit, it was important to focus on finding and recognising the next generation of thought leaders.

With that in mind, we took a cue from many other large companies and presented the concept of an internal award program to recognize employee innovation and excellence – as a way to develop and retain talent, set high benchmarks for all employees, and promote Citi’s industry leadership.

The award itself would be shaped like the Citi Arc. Originally seen as an umbrella to represent security and shelter, we now used it to represent the bridge to the next Ciitbank. And the recipient’s important role in that journey.

5. NEW REWARDS FOR OUTSIDER THINKING.

Another internal recognition program was called Imagine Citi. We envisioned an annual white paper competition for employees with less than two years at Citi – as a way to tap into their unique perspectives. The two-year time frame was chosen because that is the window when new employees best notice differences between where they were before and their current position. It was a way of constantly foregrounding new ideas. And challenging assumptions and groupthink.

Winning essays would be published in an annual collection – building a new generation of leaders and another aspect of Citi’s thought leadership.

6. USE DIGITAL TO BUILD TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST.

One continuing question throughout the financial crisis was what banks were doing with funds distributed through the US Government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). So we proposed displaying the new sense of community partnership promised in the manifesto, through real-time updates on the web and in retail bank windows.

(These numbers shown in the display are accurate, and display Citi’s real commitment to get the money out to communities).

8. NEW LOCAL MICROFINANCE PRODUCTS.

Citi has done business in microfinance since 2005. Helping drive economic growth in developing regions of the world, and helping to address poverty, So microfinance was another way Citi could signal their commitment to communities.

We imagined a product where banking consumers could invest in microfinancing initiatives in agriculture, their local communities, or even their family’s education and health care. Charities like Farm Aid and Habitat for Humanity did good work in these areas. But now we’d put the power in the hands of local people. Taking its symbol from the delta, mathematical and scientific symbol for change, we called it the Citi Triangle Program

Brand projects like this come about infrequently. Not everything we presented was executed as we envisioned. But from this beginning, we did develop a global marketing award program. And a few months later, Citi’s advertising partners at Publicis created the “promises” campaign, built on

Citi Renewed was one of those big, multilayered projects of real size and scale. Made more complicated -and more exciting- by the fact we were dealing with a political hot potato - at a time of major crisis. Not every idea made it through to the real world. But many did. Including the the launch of the global Citi Arc Awards program, while the core Citi Manifesto idea was taken forward in Cit'i’s advertising partner Publicis’ “Promises” campaign, seen here running across New York City, home to most of the broadcast and print media covering the financial crisis.

Want to find out more? Here’s a 90 second overview from a Brand perspective – narrated by Mark Kingsley, Creative Director, designer extraordinaire and my creative partner on this project.