Credit One Bank
Analytics|Creative & Production|Media
Driving awareness and applications in a sea of sameness


The Situation
Credit One Bank, the fastest-growing credit card issuer in the U.S., engaged Hawthorne Advertising to help guide the brand into direct response TV, both creatively and with media targeting. A breakthrough, integrated advertising campaign was needed as a growth driver to complement years-long direct mail, email and affiliate marketing campaigns.
3x
test vs control markets


Hawthorne's Solution
Hawthorne developed the award-winning “TMI” (“Too Much Information”) TV creative campaign by uncovering a key behavioral insight: consumers are reluctant to share “too much” private information when applying for a credit card. The brand’s latest online tool was specifically designed to streamline and simplify the typical application process. This created a clear and powerful differentiator among major competitors.
Hawthorne partnered with Credit One Bank to develop a classic test market versus control market design across linear TV, Social, CTV, Radio and Out of Home.


The Results
The breakthrough campaign generated significant response with a 3x lift in test vs. control markets for new credit card member acquisition.
Credit One Bank and Hawthorne attributed a positive, incremental lift in new credit card accounts to Hawthorne campaigns in three key areas:
- Via paid search(ranging from 7% to 12% lift depending on market)
- Organic site visits(ranging from 4% to 9%)
- Direct mail where test markets saw 85% higher response rate increase versus the control markets — far exceeding Credit One Bank’s goal