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PNC Grow Up Great

Cause Branding

OVERVIEW

In 2003, PNC Financial Services Group charged Cone with creating a signature cause program that would enhance the PNC brand and set it apart from the growing competition in its six-state region. The goal was to strategically focus PNC’s philanthropy, sponsorship and employee resources – putting the entire power of PNC behind one cause to yield greater social and business returns.

PROGRAM ELEMENTS

Through in-depth asset, brand and SWOT analyses as well as intensive secondary research and interviews, Cone discovered a niche cause that fit the brand and had yet to be claimed by corporate America: school readiness. We found an irrefutable consensus in the academic and educational communities that children with quality pre-k experiences do better in school and life. Together, Cone and PNC created a signature cause program supporting the company’s values and desired brand identity. The result: PNC Grow Up Great - a comprehensive, 10-year, $100MM investment in school readiness.

RESULTS

PNC Grow Up Great results include:

  • Awarded more than $17MM in grants impacting more than 2.8MM children
  • Inspired 41% of employees to register to volunteer and log more than 124,500 volunteer hours – becoming the largest Head Start volunteer force in the country
  • Distributed a total of 115 Grants for Great Hours totaling more than $180,000 by November 2009, as a result of 38 registered employee volunteerism teams
  • Supported Pennsylvania’s first-ever $175MM state bill to fund Head Start and early learning
  • Held first-of-its-kind summits of the nation’s top economists to explore school readiness issues/solutions with the Committee for Economic Development and the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2004, 2006, and 2007 and 2008
  • During the first three years of the program, welcomed more than 17 media partners within PNC’s footprint, allowing for the school readiness issue to be communicated to the public in a variety of formats, and generated more than 1B media impressions through a comprehensive marketing communications campaign
  • Distributed more than 625,000 Happy, Healthy, Ready For School Kits in PNC communities, including all publicly funded preschools in New Jersey and Delaware; portions of the kit are available online; received 96% favorable rating from parents and educators on kits
  • Launched Crezca con Exito – PNC Grow Up Great’s Spanish-language component