Lewis is a full-service marketing, advertising and creative agency that partners with brands to drive growth through strategy, creativity, media and communications.

Full-Service Marketing, Advertising & Creative Agency | Lewis

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A full-service marketing, creative branding and digital communications agency specializing in strategic content creation.

Banking & Finance

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Banking & Finance Companies We’ve helped Grow

Ready to see real creative solutions that produce real results? Reach out and we’ll get started.

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Let’s do something great.

Can a color convey trust? How about a typeface? What does your website say about your attention to detail? When it comes to branding for finance, there's no room for error. Every touchpoint of your business is saying a mouthful. We bring decades of experience designing for the financial sector. Ensuring your brand is saying the things your clients want to hear. Conveying trust, reliability, and the potential for a wealthier tomorrow.

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Ascend Federal Credit Union

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Overview

Ascend Federal Credit Union needed a digital experience that reflected the confidence, accessibility, and personal service members receive every day. The goal wasn't simply to redesign a website—it was to create a platform that made complex financial decisions feel approachable while helping members quickly find the products, tools, and guidance they need. Inspired by the brand's commitment to putting people first, we crafted an experience that feels as welcoming as walking into an Ascend branch while making digital banking faster and easier.

Modern banking, designed around people.

Approach

We reimagined the website from the ground up with a modern, user-first design system built around clarity, confidence, and ease of use. Every interaction was carefully considered to reduce friction—from streamlined navigation and intuitive content organization to mobile-first layouts that perform seamlessly across every device.

Financial products can often feel overwhelming, so we focused on creating clear pathways that guide users toward the right solutions without unnecessary complexity. Clean typography, approachable messaging, and thoughtful use of imagery reinforce Ascend's reputation as a trusted financial partner while giving the brand a polished, contemporary digital presence.

Calculator Tool

Financial tools were designed to be as intuitive as the rest of the experience. The interactive earnings calculator gives members a quick, visual way to estimate their potential annual returns based on the products and services they use, turning complex financial information into an engaging, easy-to-understand experience.

The website gives Ascend a modern digital experience that makes banking simpler and more engaging for members. With intuitive navigation, interactive financial tools, and a flexible platform built for growth, the site helps users confidently explore products while providing Ascend with a scalable foundation for the future.

Results

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We design and develop websites that combine strategy, compelling creative, intuitive user experiences, and scalable technology to help organizations grow with confidence.

Websites

The quality of video production says a lot about the quality of a brand. Whether it's a scripted commercial on TV or a customer testimonial on social media. Our in-house production team provides full-service capabilities. Lighting, shooting, casting, editing and finishing—we do it all from beginning to end. Growth is beautiful. And we make sure it looks that way.

Content Production

Always.bank

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With over a century of banking experience, 22nd State Bank created Always.bank as a forward-functioning subsidiary built specifically for the needs of small businesses. To introduce the brand, we developed a launch campaign that positions Always.bank as more than a lender, it's a true partner in the entrepreneurial journey. The campaign showcases the deep, ongoing relationship the bank builds with small business, from the initial spark of an idea to the hard-earned victories that follow. With the line "Let's build something amazing", the campaign highlights both the emotional connection and the practical support Always.bank offers at every stage of business, establishing the brand as a trusted ally for small businesses.

A bank built for small business.

Social Media & Thought Leadership

Our social media campaign powerfully highlighted Always.bank’s unwavering commitment to small business owners, emphasizing a relationship built on trust and support through every phase of their entrepreneurial journey. By showcasing authentic stories and tailored content, the campaign illustrated how Always.bank stands by its clients, offering personalized financial solutions and reliable guidance to help businesses thrive at every stage, from startup to success.

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Brand Identity is the systematic visual language—from logos to usage rules—that define your brand’s inward and outward appearance.

Brand Identity

Everyone knows that branding is much more than colors and a logo. It's an experience. We craft every touchpoint with thought and care. Creating a symphony of memorable moments from beginning to end. Crafting brands that feel once-in-a-lifetime every time.

Branding

Behind every return on investment is a lot of number crunching. The same is true for marketing. We're equal parts left brain and right. Using data, analytics, and deep insight to inform standout creative. It's how we create advertising that moves the needle and brings measurable ROI. And that's a beautiful thing.

Marketing

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Situation

Tennessee has the usual assortment of megabanks with massive footprints and large marketing budgets. But it also has bold, scrappy players like Ascend Federal Credit Union. Facing intense competition, leadership came to us in search of market share. Lewis showed Ascend how they could go toe to toe with the big banks, with a unified marketing plan to drive measurable increases in awareness, assets and membership.

Humanize the brand. Gain market share.

Our research told us Tennesseans don’t particularly love or trust large banks. So, we reintroduced Ascend to the market, humanizing the brand with a no-nonsense, straight-talking campaign that focused on Ascend’s integrity and community values. Along the way, we were able to educate the public that Ascend could do everything a bank could do.

Our efforts accomplished significant growth in every measurable category.

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Alabama Farm Credit

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Alabama Farm Credit was one of Alabama’s principal lenders for agricultural and rural land. But they had an identity and logo largely unchanged from 1963, that was not only dated but visually identical to competing land banks in the state and across the country. AFC needed greater separation from their competitors and to convey the unique advantages to farmers that regular banks simply couldn’t offer.

Transforming a brand and growing Alabama’s future.

Background

Working with AFC is unique because they are farmers themselves. As such, they bring a unique level of guidance and advice to customers that’s only possible when your lender truly understands farming and its economic cycles. Plus, each borrower becomes a stockholder in the organization, receiving an annual check based on the company’s performance. Potential customers didn’t fully understand the depth of partnership that was available to them at AFC.

Powerful campaign elements were created to bring emotion and clarity to the Alabama Farm Credit story, launching the tagline Together We Grow – a positioning based on mutual prosperity. We evoked images and memories of the way farmers have always helped one another through time – the very essence of what AFC still does today. An all-new brand identity transformed AFC’s staid traditional image into a thoroughly modern financial brand.

We took the lead on designing an all-new website to better communicate AFC’s strengths and brand identity. Distinctive new signage featuring our logo now appears across the state. As elements of the brand continue to roll out, Alabama Farm Credit is now far better positioned to grow its organization – and the business of the farmers who rely upon it.

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While continuing our efforts on strengthening the Ascend Federal Credit Union brand, the Lewis team saw an opportunity for growth in the Nashville DMA. To seize on that opportunity, we proposed to create a campaign that would attract new members—and energize the existing ones—via Ascend’s mortgage, new auto loan and deposit offerings.

Inspiring new members, one goal at a time.

The Lewis team responded by creating a campaign largely designed to appeal to a younger demographic (adults in their 30’s and 40’s) than those previously targeted by Ascend, with scenarios that also were more relatable to individuals living in a metropolitan area.

The Work

The resulting work painted Ascend as a sophisticated financial partner who can help people achieve their goals, even if those goals may not seem immediately attainable—the latter point reinforced by the campaign line “We’re here to help make your “someday”... someday soon.”

In the months following the launch of the campaign, Ascend saw an increase in web traffic and in product growth from the targeted younger demographics. Ascend also saw significant growth in membership from the targeted demographics, with ages 18-34 now accounting for over 50% of auto, mortgage, and rec loan new members. The campaign also won the coveted Diamond Award from the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Marketing & Business Development Council.

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Unless you like wasting money, return on ad spend is a necessity. We take a deep and constant look at every touchpoint in your customer's journey. Optimizing areas that are potential hiccups. Why are so many customers abandoning carts? Is it taking too many clicks to get to what they want? Could they be upsold before checkout? In the end, if your marketing dollars aren't converting into sales, something is wrong. And that's exactly what we're here to fix. 

ROAS

Trustmark Squad Student Banking

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Trustmark, a $16 billion bank with markets stretching from Houston to the Florida panhandle, asked us to help them expand banking relationships with younger audiences. While they already had a suitable product that students could sign up for, they didn’t offer a specific student banking product or experience, and identified this as an opportunity for growth.

Capturing tomorrow’s customers today.

“Tried and true” becomes “old and tired” when marketing financial institutions to this rising Gen Z audience, as well as their Millennial and Gen X parents. Our business intelligence team worked to uncover the many nuances of the younger generation when it comes to their unique banking needs and expectations.

By tapping into the desires and priorities of our target audience, we were able to achieve a +64% year-over-year new account increase for the demographic.

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At Ascend Federal Credit Union, banking is about more than money — it’s about character. Because true worth isn’t measured by what’s in your wallet, but by what’s in your heart. It’s about values: doing right by others, living with integrity, and always putting people first. Born and raised in Middle Tennessee, Ascend is rooted in the same principles as the communities it serves. And everything they do — from the products they offer to the guidance they give — is focused on improving the lives of those who call the area home. This brand campaign was created to reflect that shared spirit — and to build something deeper than transactions: a relationship built on trust, belonging, and doing what’s right.

Banking without the bank.

The campaign resonated deeply across Middle Tennessee, driving strong results among both current members and prospective ones. It significantly increased measured awareness of Ascend among non-members while reinforcing loyalty among existing ones. The message of values-based banking led to measurable lifts in website traffic, new memberships, and product engagement — including increases in auto loans, mortgages, and newly opened checking and savings accounts. Proof that when a brand leads with heart, people respond.

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Where I come from.

22nd State Bank

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22nd State Bank, a trusted financial institution in Lower Alabama for over 100 years, initially came to Lewis to increase brand awareness of its two locations in Mobile. We emphasized the bank’s deep local roots and commitment to relationship banking, positioning it as a bank that truly understands the community. Our campaign highlighted Gulf Coast culture—Mardi Gras, local cuisine—and the aspirations of small business owners in agriculture, food, and retail. The campaign led to significant growth in brand awareness, website traffic, new customers, and deposits, showcasing the power of hyper-local marketing in financial services. We've since expanded these efforts to create additional localized campaigns for other branches and regions across Alabama.

IYKYK.

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Did we just use the “R” word? The National Bureau of Economic Research isn’t yet ready to declare one, but there’s no doubt that both businesses and consumers have the possibility on their minds. 
Is that kind of anticipation changing consumer behavior? More importantly, should it be changing yours?
As a financial marketing professional, you are tasked with stretching every dollar of your marketing funds in the best of circumstances. At the cusp of a possible recession, the temptation is certainly there to pull back. But, our view is that it’s also the most powerful and cost-effective time to build a deeper relationship with your customer base. 
In the course of our own experience with financial institutions, we’ve identified three steps you can take to maximize the impact of your marketing dollar during uncertain times:

1. Make sure you’re talking to the right people.

Audience Intelligence can eliminate waste and focus your marketing dollars where they can do the most good. We offer our clients an array of proven tools they can use to systematize and optimize the impact of their marketing spend.
How well do you know your audience—today? Be sure you have an updated plan to study the demographic data in your specific market. How has it shifted in the past few years? Where are people living and working today? Have commuter and traffic patterns shifted as workers return to the office part-time, if at all? 
Develop a way to measure and quantify not just the demographics of your community, but the personality traits, beliefs, and fears of those engaging with your brand and website. 
There’s never been a more important time to truly understand—and measure—who you serve, holistically. Develop a measurement plan to reach those in your community with the greatest chance to choose you, and prioritize investing in helping them do so.

2. Develop messaging that can speak to more than one segment.

That kind of efficiency in your marketing spend can yield both short-term and long-term rewards. 
We helped one of our clients, a regional credit union, identify a <a href="https://www.lewiscommunications.com/work/humanize-the-brand-gain-market-share" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">messaging strategy</a> that proved to be deeply meaningful for both older customers and Gen Z, by focusing on their commonly held values and beliefs. 
When the credit union first came to us with their marketing challenge, the ask seemed contradictory. How could we grow traditional deposit investments and continue to reach an older core demographic, while also reaching new, young movers to the area that were arriving post-COVID and for the first time, developing their own financial identity?
Fortunately, we were able to dive into their data and leverage our deep understanding of the customer base. As a result our team was able to concept a campaign featuring these youthful consumers in scenarios that aligned with the values of the older audience. 
The result was a campaign featuring messaging that looked and felt “young,” while speaking to the key similarities in values between younger and older segments. This particular client was able to generate a 22% increase in web traffic for those interested in home purchase in key geographies, and a 117% increase in new deposit value (88% funded by new members).
How can you achieve the same sort of efficiencies for your financial institution? The answers lie in your customer data, and implementing the right tools to help you identify them. 
One of the things we offer our clients are tools that look closely at consumers’ financial behaviors, core beliefs, values and what keeps them up at night. Tracking and trending not just new customer data, but understanding how consumer beliefs are impacted by what is happening around them, can help you develop and curate your own regional identity that feels far less ‘corporate’ than big-box competitors. 
The kind of insights delivered by our tools in turn aid creative teams in developing the kind of powerful, memorable messaging that will resonate with your customer.

3. Be consistent with your efforts.

Turning off the faucet costs a lot more than you think. Because when your marketing efforts resume, you’ll be coming from even further behind and will have to expend more effort and money to return to your desired growth path. 
As tactics are turned on and off, consumers lose confidence that your brand can meet their needs, and they can become more confused in what differentiates you from your competitor. This, in turn, can lead to a slow deterioration of awareness and preference in your market, and can undercut your financial goals of building growth and trust.
In recessionary times, as consumers settle in for more “entrenched” strategies and become less trusting of new entrants into their market, there is substantial risk when your institution delivers an inconsistent brand message. 
Even with consistent product-level market investments, share of search (the bread and butter of new account creation) can continue to decline without a robust, consistent awareness effort, leading to a slow erosion of market position and again, requiring a greater investment to return to baseline levels.
It can be tempting to ‘declare victory’ after reaching a significant milestone or KPI—or to focus on specific promotional efforts that offer more of a quick ‘provable’ than a core brand identity. But there is a real cost to failing to invest in your brand over the long-term, especially in tough economic times. 
The wolf is at the door. No, actually, he’s in the App Store on your customer’s smartphone. The same disruptions that have faced other industries across the American economy are now facing financial markets, with new, digital-exclusive entrants competing for a share of your consumers’ minds and wallets. If there were ever a time for customers to understand your complete brand proposition, it is now.
Creating an on-off approach towards brand presence and identity has not just a cost in the hearts and minds of your community, but it portends a slower, more expensive ramp-up to re-entry.

Economic headwinds create challenges—but they also create opportunity.

A recession has a funny way of giving consumers a laser-focus on what’s truly important in their lives. Changing economic conditions offer new opportunities for you to reduce their worries, and introduce yourself to people who are suddenly thinking about financial situations in new ways.
They may look to increase savings goals, or might be moving to accommodate new jobs. What new services or programs could you offer to demonstrate that you are thinking about their needs?

What about YOUR concerns?

Economic downturns also place new pressure on financial institutions. Everyone in our industry is keeping the blood pressure medicine handy these days. Given the recent challenges presented from the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/bank-collapse-crisis-timeline-724f6458?gclid=CjwKCAjwrdmhBhBBEiwA4Hx5gzzogfmegXW_oGXfpAEdmkoU7MtN1RCRxzS5qhA9l23dHPhYy0SmIxoCGgQQAvD_BwE&amp;mod=&amp;psid=WSJ_DSA_GOO_ACQ_NA&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&amp;ef_id=X9K1UgAAAISPJ1LS:20230412225008:s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Silicon Valley Bank collapse</a>, investor pressures, and accountability for growth and marketing investment, financial institutions are hardly immune to concerns about economic downturns. 
It can sometimes feel that these pressures are at cross-purposes—how do you manage to meet consumer demand and ease the financial burdens of your customer base, while intelligently facing your own institution’s challenges? 
As costs to acquire new customers rise along with interest rates, brands that can establish a clear position on who they serve, develop efficient messaging strategies and measure their effectiveness, and can measure the value of their brand investment will be well-positioned to build confidence—and gain market share—in their communities during this period of economic uncertainty.
This article was published in the Summer 2023 issue of <a href="https://thefinancialbrand.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Financial Brand</a>'s digital magazine, <a href="https://magazine.tfbinsights.com/view/12598618/82-83/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">INSIGHTS</a>.

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Three steps you can take to stretch your marketing budget during a recession.

Nobody wants to keep chasing the next big thing. Chasing is like fishing, and people say they like to fish, but what they really like to do is catch. Not only can investing in influencer marketing feel like chasing the next trend, but it can also feel unreliable and unvetted, quite the opposite of more definitive alternatives like measurable ad spends.
Yet, here’s the truth: The returns look awfully good. Here at Lewis, some of our most notable successes in the past year have been due to the monetary gains clients have realized through influencer marketing. Ultimately, as vague and unvetted as investing in influencer marketing may seem, it’s no different from anything else: The good stuff is always good because somebody didn’t half-ass it. 
Every successful project relies on people who are willing to get their hands dirty and do the work. As it relates to influencers, the work looks like hours of careful research and observation. It’s valuable time spent combing through the online communities relevant to a client’s brand and marketplace. It’s also learning where their target audiences gather online, how they interact with one another and, most importantly, who the leaders are. Find the leaders, and you’ve found the influencers.

Everything Old Is New Again

Influencers can be just about anyone, from powerful monarchs influencing their subjects through public speeches and informal endorsements to <a href="https://www.coca-colacompany.com/faqs/did-coca-cola-invent-santa" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Santa, who was an early influencer for Coca-Cola</a>. And technically, Mother Teresa was an influencer for the Catholic faith.
So why are audiences — a brand’s potential customers — influenced by strangers? 
Trust in consumerism isn’t reliant on whether or not the user knows or has ever met the influencer. Instead, trust is a consequence of relatability. If a consumer relates to an influencer, that relatability has built-in trust that comes with relevant and meaningful connections shared by like-minded people. 
This helps explain why, according to Content Marketing Institute, 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals over brands — even if they don’t personally know them. The connection between influencers and consumers is as powerful as the data suggests:
71% — According to the <a href="https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/2021-Nielsen-Trust-In-Advertising-Sell-Sheet.pdf">2021 Nielsen Trust in Advertising study</a>, 71% of consumers trust advertising, opinions and product placements from influencers.
80% — According to first-quarter 2022 norms from<a href="https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2022/getting-closer-influencers-help-brands-build-more-personal-consumer-connections/"> research measuring the effectiveness of influencer ads</a> in nearly 200 campaigns, an average of 80% of influencer ad viewers were able to recall seeing the brand featured in the ads. 
76% — Seventy-six percent of brands are planning to increase their influencer marketing budgets in 2022, according to Aspire 2022 State of Influencer Marketing.

Return on Investment: What’s Possible

Most of the observations we’ve noted so far — the trust factor, the persuasive power of being relatable, and how what’s old is new again — are at work in the influencer-centric campaigns we’ve created for our clients. 
Teasing out these factors and allowing the relationships between influencers and their followers to work organically — and without heavy-handed intrusion from our company or the brand — is a critical part of our standard and process at Lewis. 
Sure, we’ll provide the brand messaging and assist influencers with products for giveaways or an exclusive promotional code, but we don’t dictate the style or means by which the message is delivered. Our success in the influencer marketing space is partly due to this commitment to take a step back, and let relationships between influencers and their followers reach critical inflection points that result in relatability and, ultimately, trust. 
Once trust is established, the user journey that spans from engagement to making a purchase (or taking action in a number of other ways) are natural next steps. We know this because we’ve experienced it. Lewis started small. Early on, we paired influencers with clients who’s products or services were natural fixtures within online spaces where active users and thriving social groups and communities were abundant.
And after experiencing some initial success, we expanded our use of influencers over time, gaining increasingly favorable returns on behalf of our clients. To date, on average, each influencer we’ve partnered with reaches and engages more prospective customers at higher rates than brand posts. This considerable gain is rooted in: 
the cost-effectiveness of dollars spent;
And the quality of the reach.
As it relates to the “quality of the reach,” you might look at it this way: This approach is the exact opposite of the salesperson's “cold call.” The type of people reached by influencers are ripe for action, because these relationships existed before our clients partnered with influencers. As such, “influencer reach” becomes a warm call, where resulting engagement is high and taking action is likely. 
This bears out in measurable ways. For one of our clients, earlier this year, we gave each influencer we work with a promo code to reach their respective audiences. Within this 4-month effort, these influencers generated nearly $5 million in total revenue for our client, and 41% of them were new customers who had never previously made a purchase from the brand. As for return-on-investment during this period? Incoming revenue realized against costs was 48:1.

What’s the Secret Sauce?

What is the secret sauce? Well, we sort of gave that away in the beginning. It’s best captured by a familiar quote <a href="https://www.lewiscommunications.com/blog/is-your-content-working-or-just-sitting-there-filling-space">we’ve used before</a>: 
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas Edison 
A good marketing strategy will prioritize the time and work required to learn the nuances of online spaces where target audiences spend their time. And they’ll do what’s needed to become exceedingly familiar with the influencers who hold court there. It’s about immersion. 
And, just like most things, it’s not a one-size-fits-all proposition. For instance, we’re usually looking for influencers with a respectable number of followers. And, yes, it’s true that “respectable” is indeed a vague way to describe the size of an influencer’s following, but the vagueness is instructional. 
Depending on the situation (the brand, industry, competitors and the client’s unique goals), you’ll want to judge the number of followers a social influencer has against other influencers in the same space. Plus, based on a client’s single, overarching goal (example: leads, pageviews or online sales), we’ll determine whether the size of an influencer's audience is more or less important than the level of engagement an influencer typically commands. 
We’re also mindful of how influencer marketing fits into a client’s larger goals and marketing strategy. This is not a tactic we trot out on its own. Rather, it’s part of a multipronged attack. If traditional media can be analogous to air strikes, then influencers represent a unit within our boots-on-the-ground campaign. Each effort supports the other. 
And influencer marketing is no different. They need the support of frequency, where those receiving influencer messages are also intersecting with messaging from other sources, whether it’s targeted online ads, sponsored or social organic posts and a robust offering of supporting content like a client website that’s layered with useful information and easy-to-find places of action. 
We’ll end where we started: There may be a looming sense of vague ambiguity that a brand feels when investing in influencer marketing for the first time. These feelings are usually paired with these questions: How do we find the right influencer? How do we even know what characteristics make an influencer right to promote our company or product? How can we be confident the influencers we choose will be the right match for our niche product or unusual idea?
Any approach to influencer marketing that’s not fully vetted and well-researched can quickly turn into a dose of guesswork with a pinch of wishful thinking thrown in. Investing in influencer marketing and choosing the right influencers for the job is science when a brand’s marketing arm is committed to doing the work.

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Why are influencers so effective at selling your product?

As consumers embrace a diverse array of streaming content providers, broadcast television, once a one-stop-shop for dominant advertising reach, continues to decline. The pandemic provided a final shot in the arm for table stakes network viewing, as audiences leaned into local news and spent more time in general watching television. However, as life, for the most part, has resumed and connected TV’s adoption curve is nearly vertical, the average daily percentage of U.S. households that watched linear TV in the Fall of 2021 was the <a href="https://www.samba.tv/resources/q3-2021-state-of-viewership-future-planning">lowest of any quarter</a> in the past two years. 
These trends have a domino effect on how viewership is measured and, in turn, how advertising agencies choose to make TV buys and how their assessment of viewer metrics influences those buys. As such, we’ve created a quick Q&amp;A to offer our clients and partners a general lay of the land. Questions provide answers from how these external factors will influence our strategy to our approach to execution moving forward.

How will viewer metrics change based on the diverse ways (cable, satellite, streamers) people consume content via television?

Using an impression-based model will be critical for gauging advertising opportunities within the TV landscape. Largely fueled by two industry milestones, this shift is well underway. First and foremost, the pandemic fast-tracked consumption trends for most viewers, resulting in unprecedented growth in streaming viewership – well ahead of industry forecasts. Secondly, it was announced that Broadband Only (BBO) homes — television homes that can only receive video programming through a broadband internet connection — would now be incorporated into Nielsen Local Universe Estimates. This change took effect in January 2021 for <a href="https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/dvglossary-2018.pdf">Return Path Data</a> (RPD+) markets and will roll out for Local People Meter (LPM) and Set Meter markets in January 2022.
RPD+ markets are smaller markets that make up 23% of the country’s TV Households. LPM markets include the 25 top cities in the country, representing 50% of U.S. TV Households, while Set Meter markets are mid-to-large size markets representing 27% of the total U.S. TV Households.

What are BBO households?

Television homes that can only receive video programming through broadband internet, known as BBO households, have surged in popularity recently and now comprise a whopping 25% of all TV households. That’s up from just 18% in 2018. Rather than relying on the traditional means of Over-The-Air or cable/satellite provider viewing, more people choose to stream their content exclusively. BBO homes access their programming using popular streaming services, including DirecTV Stream, Fubo TV, Hulu Live, and YouTube TV. These providers offer nationally available and live local programming.

How will these changes impact programming ratings and impressions?

With the addition of BBO Households, Universe Estimates will increase. And while broadcast TV stations will see an increase in impressions, they’ll experience a decrease in ratings, which are based on a percentage of Universe Estimates. With TV Households expected to increase by an average of 13% year-over-year, these changes will impact each market’s TV Household numbers differently. For instance, depending on location, we may see shifts from 3% (Miami-Ft. Lauderdale) to 39% (Juneau).

How will these changes impact the way we make TV buys?

The majority of TV stations currently sell inventory using a ratings-based model. In these scenarios, orders are transacted using Gross Rating Points (GRPs) as the common currency for fulfillment. GRPs are a measure of impact and are expressed as the percentage of the target market reached, multiplied by exposure frequency, e.g., 60% of target market x 3 ad spots = 180 GRPs.

Now that Nielsen will measure BBO homes, the total number of TV Households will increase. This will subsequently increase PUT (People Using Television). As a result, stations are forecasting a substantial decline in GRPs across most existing orders. This means that orders guaranteed on a GRP basis may experience significant under-delivery. What’s historically been considered an effective reach and frequency threshold, based on the market targeted, may need to be reevaluated.

Is there any concern about duplicate reporting with live, local streaming?

This new measurement will include impressions from live, local streaming platforms if the household passes the tuning test (5-plus minutes of streaming local content). Nielsen is only including BBO impressions that are placed through a linear feed, which eliminates impression duplication. With the inclusion of these new homes, it’s not possible to determine the exact number of impressions coming from streamed local content versus broadcast-only. Ad impressions placed directly through Hulu or other platforms will be captured in Nielsen’s Digital Ads Rating service.

How do we at Lewis Communications plan to adjust our approach to TV buying based on these emerging trends and changes?

The inclusion of BBO households allows us to shift from GRP to impression-based buying. By utilizing impression-based buying, we can ensure a more comparable unit of measurement across multiple media tactics as new platforms and audiences evolve. 
As we work to transition into this new TV buying approach, our Channel Engagement team at Lewis will continue to review Nielsen and other industry resources on the topic of BBO household inclusion and impression-based buying. Most critically, the success of our buys hinges on the understanding that these changes will not affect markets equally. And, as a result, we’ll continue to analyze individual markets based on how each is impacted, especially within the geographies highly targeted by our clients. 
Currently, Lewis adheres to strict buying guidelines. We’re committed to these guidelines because each ensures effective and cost-efficient buys for our clients. While our unit of measurement will shift, the integrity of our buys will remain intact. Our team will continue to strategically craft buys based on strong daypart mixes and brand-appropriate programming to reach our target audiences.

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Q&A: Understanding impression-based TV buys.

The average person spends roughly a third of their life working. Of the 90,000 hours we spend in the workplace, most of it is spent with people who come from backgrounds different than our own. Each interaction we have, each conversation we share, and each connection we make gives us a better understanding of humankind.

A group of us wanted to encourage these interactions, further the conversations, and deepen the connections—both within this agency and in the industry as a whole. With the support of many passionate, dedicated individuals, the Lewis DE+I group was formed. In the beginning, there was a single goal in mind: to deliver mindful, deliberate, and consistent opportunities to learn about different cultures and perspectives.

When looking back on those early days, graphic artist Alan Howell in our Mobile office had this to say: “When I first joined DE+I, it was a small group of four to six people who would meet every other week to discuss different topics without being judged or frowned upon. DE+I was essentially a safe space. Once the group was established, we wanted to make it official by branding DE+I so that it was _more_ than just a place to talk about different topics—we tried to put actions behind this group.”

That is where we began, and it’s gratifying to see how far we’ve come. Since its launch, the DE+I group has worked hard to grow our healthy, inclusive office culture. We send out resources like articles, studies, and podcasts in our quarterly newsletters, as well as reminders of upcoming events. Our speaker series provides excellent learning opportunities and sparks productive conversations.

Since our launch, the DE+I group has already made great strides in the agency.

With the first installment of our speaker series, hosted by Shruti Shayam, we dove headfirst into cultural diversity in the industry. A New York-based Indian graphic designer and illustrator, Shayam shared her incredible insight on how to better ingratiate different cultures into our creative. Her talk gave us all new ways to look at our work and the impact it has.

As Nashville's Hannah Williamson, Research Project Manager, put it: “The conversations generated by the DE+I initiatives we’ve done so far are so exciting and encouraging, and I love seeing how our greater purpose to fuel those conversations is being met with enthusiasm.”

Along with the important, meaningful conversations, we decided to have some fun. Each quarter, we come together to celebrate different cultures with food, drinks, and games in a social hour. Although these social hours are easy-going, it’s still enriching to celebrate someone’s heritage together. Nashville’s Pablo Riquelme, UX/UI designer, says, “One of the things that makes Lewis a great company is how respectful and encouraging everyone is. Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month is one example where the whole company was willing to not only celebrate but also learn about Latino culture. As a Latino who works for Lewis, it is important that everyone can understand my culture and how it shapes who I am.”

The second guest in our DE+I speaker series, Albert Bender, came during Native American Heritage Month to share his timely perspective. A Cherokee activist, author, historian, political columnist, and freelance reporter, Bender is an expert in indigenous matters. His presentation detailed the many legal and cultural factors affecting Native Americans today, prompting necessary questions and the desire to know more. Nashville’s Brooke Nemchak, web developer, says, “Listening to Mr. Bender speak and the in-depth conversations that followed, as a result, made me proud to work at Lewis. Our DE&I team works so hard and the passion for meaningful education shows.”

There are many more steps to take and many more conversations to have, but each quarter will bring new events, speakers, resources, and, hopefully, opportunities for growth. This is the beginning of real, meaningful change, and each one of us is excited to be a part of it.

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Lewis DE+I began with a handful of people but has become a part of all of us

**MOBILE, Ala. (April 23, 2025)** — Lewis, an independent, integrated creative and media agency founded in Mobile in 1951, is proud to announce its relocation from its 37-year home on Government Street to a beautifully renovated building in the heart of Mobile’s business district.

“Lewis has grown into an internationally-acclaimed company with three offices across the South thanks to our beginnings in Mobile,” said Ellen Faulkner, Lewis’ CEO.

“We wanted to be sure our presence in our hometown is as innovative and vibrant as our company is today. Our goal was to create an environment for putting fresh thinking into action; a space for the biggest ideas Alabama has ever seen.”

“By planting our roots downtown, we’re investing in the future of Mobile. We want to be where innovation happens, where stories are shared and where community thrives. Downtown gives us that energy and opportunity.”

The move to 500 St. Louis Street marks a new chapter of growth for Lewis and the company’s commitment to economic development of the city. From purchase, to demolition, to renovation, Lewis has invested $7 million to bring their new office to life and has set an example for how other businesses can invest in Mobile’s economic future.

“When Lewis started the search years ago we knew that we wanted to be in the downtown Mobile area, and we particularly liked the vibe and excitement that was just beginning on St. Louis Street,” said Lewis Chairman Larry Norris. “We are delighted to be in the historic Automobile Alley District and are excited for the infrastructure upgrades and other investments and improvements coming here.”

The new office is designed to foster creativity and cross-functional teamwork and features open workspaces, stadium seating, a gym and a rooftop patio. It’s a complete overhaul of the former space, which Lewis first toured in 2018.

“In spite of the dark, dated interior with not a single window, we loved the potential — tall wooden ceilings with skylights, beams and the original (but covered-over) clerestory windows. And, secure, onsite parking for all our staff members,” said Norris, who previously oversaw renovations of Lewis’ offices in Birmingham (2015) and Nashville (2019).

Lewis worked with Jared Fulton of Chambless King Architects to design and restore the St. Louis Street property and OEC Workplace Solutions to furnish it.

The Mobile Chamber of Commerce celebrated the new office with a public Ribbon Cutting at the building on April 23, 2025. A private Open House is set for May.

**About Lewis:** Lewis is an award-winning, full-service marketing agency that delivers business growth at pivotal moments for companies. With over 70 years of experience and offices in Mobile, Birmingham, and Nashville, Lewis develops internationally acclaimed branding and creative advertising campaigns, based on our own business intelligence and data science, to deliver provable results with measurable ROI.

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