First Citizens Bank
Pioneering a new way to engage customers
Following the success of a national brand campaign celebrating the passion and pride of First Citizens Bank associates, we set out to create a digital experience that would deepen customer connection through everyday utility. The result was a first-of-its-kind Alexa Skill—one that brought real human voices from the bank into the homes of customers, offering helpful answers, warmth, and a personal touch rarely seen in financial services.
The Challenge
Extend the emotional momentum of a campaign rooted in employee pride into an ongoing, interactive digital experience.
Reinvent the FAQ—typically a dry, transactional part of the banking experience—as something authentic, helpful, and human.
Demonstrate that a regional bank could lead in innovation without losing its personal touch.
Approach & Strategy
Strategic Insight: Voice as a Medium for Empathy
Inspired by the TV campaign’s success in “giving voice” to associates, we pitched a simple but powerful concept:“Let bank associates read the answers to customers’ most common questions.”
Focused on one target audience–first time homebuyers–because research and data showed they were least likely to engage financial experts early in the process.
This idea bridged emotional storytelling with utility, setting the stage for a voice-first experience that felt surprisingly intimate.
Designed for Utility & Brand Differentiation
Researched banking voice queries and optimized responses for brevity, tone, and emotional cadence.
Recruited and recorded real First Citizens Bank associates to source the content—reinforcing authenticity and continuity from the campaign.
Scripted all copy to sound like a conversation between neighbors, not a legal script—ensuring trust, clarity, and warmth.
Cross-functional Collaboration
Led experience design for the Alexa Skill UI, including invocation, content modules, and fallback paths.
Oversaw content strategy and co-wrote responses, balancing compliance with tone.
Partnered with developers to code and deploy the skill using AWS Lambda and Alexa Skill Kit (ASK)—ensuring seamless UX across devices.
Impact
One of the first branded financial voice experiences to use real employee voices—earning internal praise and positioning First Citizens as a digital innovator in the category.
Reinforced brand attributes of approachability, helpfulness, and community trust in a novel, ambient medium.
Thousands of people engaged with the skill in the first 3 months.
Laid the groundwork for future CX extensions, including mobile voice integrations and customer service handoffs.It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.