Small business lending
OnDeck / ONWARD Denver Challenge
A $10,000 pitch competition that gave a national small-business lender a local story in Denver, with earned media and advertising built on one idea.
Cast Influence engagement
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Four-month local activation
OnDeck
The business challenge
Build awareness of a national small-business lender among Denver brick-and-mortar owners, with no news to pitch and roughly one month to create something worth covering.
My role
Led through Cast Influence, the agency I co-founded. Cast’s scope covered event creation, local media relations, advertising counsel and creative production, from the idea through to the event floor.
Decisions and work
- Created the ONWARD Denver Challenge, a pitch competition awarding $10,000, $5,000 and $3,000 to small business owners
- Secured third-party judges from Business For Breakfast, the SBDC and the BBB, so the credibility did not rest on OnDeck alone
- Ran earned media and paid advertising off one idea and one set of creative
- Produced the event deck, signage and online creative in house
What the work achieved
Online applications for new loans in the Denver market rose 26% across the campaign period, and Denver ran 37% above comparable markets (client-reported). 47 small businesses entered the Challenge, and the engagement produced 15 media and local contact wins. These figures ran alongside a paid advertising effort and should not be read as the product of earned media alone.