Gammon Group advertising agency wins award for creating innovative multi-media campaign to launch new bank

JOLIET , Ill. (May, 2006) – The Gammon Group, a respected Will County advertising agency since 1977, was recently honored for advertising and marketing excellence at the Publicity Club of Chicago’s 64 th annual awards celebration held at the Palmer House, Chicago. Gammon brought home a Silver Trumpet for People Come First, a multi-media campaign they created to help launch First Community Bank (FCB) of Joliet—the most successful new bank launch in Illinois history.

The Publicity Club of Chicago's Golden Trumpet awards are one of the most prestigious awards programs in the country, honoring distinguished achievements by public relations and other communications professionals. Judged by local and regional PR experts, these coveted awards are presented for excellence in planning, creativity and execution.

Gammon’s client, First Community Bank, opened in 2001 as the Will County area’s only locally-owned, locally-managed full-service bank. Working with senior bank executives, Gammon developed a testimonial-based campaign featuring bank clients touting the benefits of banking where local connections matter and personal service is a priority. The campaign, still running, includes newspaper ads, radio commercials, an interactive web site, direct mail, in-bank visuals, and signage.

“When it came to marketing, we wanted to partner with a locally owned firm. We retained the Gammon Group because of their outstanding reputation and felt that they had firsthand knowledge of the Joliet market,” notes Steve Morrissette, President/CEO of First Community Bank.

This year’s Trumpet Award is the 14 th won by Gammon Group over the past five years. Agency principal Dan Stefanich says, “The FCB launch campaign, part of the bank’s aggressive marketing strategy, contained all the ingredients for success, soon validated by the bank’s amazing growth—$150 million invested in 16 months.”

“The Trumpet Awards are the advertising/public relation industry’s version of the Academy Awards with votes cast by a jury of regarded ad agency professionals,” Stefanich said. “It is extremely gratifying for our local creative team to compete successfully with top Chicago ad agencies.”