Helping Citi Give Credit Where Credit Is — Felt.

Uncovering the emotions that reshaped Citi Cards’ messaging and lifted brand favorability and trust

Situation
Citi needed a deeper understanding of American consumers’ relationships with money and credit. Spending and saving behaviors told only part of the story. Communicating well meant grasping the personal meaning and emotional stakes behind financial decisions.

Opportunity
Give Citi’s marketing leaders a clear read on those emotions and define a more relevant, credible role for the brand.

Solution
Peacock Nine combined surveys, moderated discussions, projective techniques, consumer-made collages and video diaries to explore how people experienced money and credit in their day-to-day lives.

The research showed that consumers’ relationships with credit were anything but transactional. Credit carried emotions ranging from status and empowerment to embarrassment and grief.

Peacock Nine translated those findings into a new foundation for marketing messaging. The work called for a more empathetic tone and a role for Citi grounded in its history, certainty and trust.

Impact
The insight changed the creative direction of Citi’s marketing messaging. It gave leadership and creative teams a shared view of the emotional stakes behind credit, guiding communications that met customers with greater empathy.

The work informed Citi’s “History Forward” campaign, which delivered gains of 28% in brand favorability and 16% in trust.

Timing: 28 days