Taking the Brand National

This national ad campaign was built entirely in-house and designed specifically to drive awareness. Coming off the rebrand, we wanted to create a campaign that didn’t just look new, but felt new. The goal was to introduce CSI with a clearer tone and a stronger point of view, using humor and empathy to resonate with an audience that’s used to very traditional financial services advertising.

In FY25, the campaign delivered over 21 million impressions across 12 publications, as well as 6sense and StackAdapt. But more important than scale was consistency. This was about creating a recognizable presence in the market and establishing a foundation we could build on over time.

From Ideas to Headlines

We kicked things off with a collaborative brainstorm focused on awareness across our different lines of business. Once we identified the products and solutions that needed the most visibility, we worked through each one and developed multiple headline options. The goal was to balance clarity with personality, making sure each message felt human, relatable, and aligned with the new brand voice.

From there, we narrowed the list to the strongest headlines and moved into design. Rather than betting on a single look, we intentionally created three distinct visual styles. Each option reflected the new brand in a different way, giving us room to test and learn rather than rely on gut instinct alone.

Testing, Learning, and Doubling Down

Those three styles were pushed into market and evaluated over a 90-day testing period. Once performance data came in, a clear winner emerged. From there, we doubled down on the highest-performing style and used it as the foundation moving forward.

Today, every ad coming from the team looks, feels, and sounds unmistakably CSI. The campaign not only performed well, but it helped establish a repeatable system for future awareness efforts, ensuring consistency across channels while still leaving room to evolve. It’s a strong example of what can happen when strategy, creativity, and data are allowed to work together.