"We were leveraging BrandEdge's knowledge of technology installations"

"BrandEdge really worked as a partner and was willing to take on a lot of the sheer hard work to get things sorted out and launched."

Frances McIsaac, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, Commercial Business Banking

The commercial banking division of CIBC, one of the 12 largest banks in North America, with total assets of $291 billion

To develop a seamless rollout strategy for a first-of-its-kind Internet-based commercial banking solution. Given the high-technology and groundbreaking attributes of the product, the crucial question for CIBC was how to sell it to top-level decision makers without getting hampered by technical details.

For answers, BrandEdge went straight to the source: relationship managers who comprised the front-line sales force, and the decision makers within CIBC's client companies. Through one-on-one interviews, BrandEdge assessed relationship managers' perception of the new product, and clients' receptiveness to the concept of Internet banking.

As the project moved forward and the complexity of sales, installation and servicing became apparent, BrandEdge examined these processes from the end-customer's perspective and proposed ways to streamline and improve them. "We were leveraging BrandEdge's knowledge of technology installations," says Frances McIsaac, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for CIBC's Commercial Business Banking division. "We needed to understand how complex this installation was going to be, and what the best strategy would be in terms of getting the message out to clients."

Through its interviews with CIBC's clients, BrandEdge confirmed the market's readiness for Internet banking and, in the process, eliminated some relationship managers' concerns over selling a product that, in many ways, represented a huge leap in business banking. BrandEdge's findings and insight helped CIBC structure a sales process that called for strictly high-level, strategic discussions between relationship managers and their clients. Having analysed the entire implementation process from the end-user's viewpoint, BrandEdge also suggested steps for streamlining to avoid customechurn or fall-off.

"BrandEdge really worked as a partner and was willing to take on a lot of the sheer hard work to get things sorted out and launched," says McIsaac. "They were involved in developing a plan around key messages, launch strategy, and the kinds of tools we needed to present and sell this product. They were a terrific sounding board for us."