PNC bringing pop-up branch to uptown Charlotte

PNC Bank is hoping a temporary branch that’s smaller than some people’s bedrooms will boost its brand recognition in Charlotte.

Early Wednesday morning, the bank plans to begin installing the 160-square-foot “pop-up” branch in the parking lot in between the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and St. Peter’s Catholic Church. The branch, which will be delivered by a flat-bed truck, is expected to remain in uptown for about two months.

Part of a guerrilla-marketing strategy that has targeted large metro areas, the branch was first brought to Chicago and then Atlanta before Charlotte. Weston Andress, president of PNC’s Western North Carolina operation, said the pop-up branch is being brought to cities PNC views as “growth” markets but where other banks have more branches and more brand recognition.

“This allows us to address the fact that we don’t have so many branches right now and that we need to figure out a way to have a presence in close proximity to the customers that we’re attempting to do business with,” he said.

Through its 2012 acquisition of RBC Bank’s Raleigh-based U.S. business, PNC became part of Charlotte’s fiercely competitive banking landscape, whose players include giants Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

According to the latest Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. data, PNC is the 12th-largest bank by deposits in the Charlotte metropolitan area, where it has 15 branches. That’s below RBC’s seventh-place deposit ranking and 18 branches in 2011.

Andress said PNC has increased its brand recognition and business in Charlotte “slowly but surely ... and beyond what we would have expected initially.” PNC has also become active in Charlotte’s arts community, and two years ago it acquired naming rights for what is now PNC Music Pavilion in Charlotte.

Growing trend

Scott Ellmaker, a copy director at Charlotte-based advertising agency Wray Ward, said various types of businesses are using the pop-up strategy, which has been a growing trend in Charlotte and elsewhere.

The strategy seems to work best when the pop-up allows a consumer to easily sample or experience a product, Ellmaker said.

PNC declined to disclose how many new accounts the pop-up branch generated in Atlanta or Chicago nor the lender’s expectations while the branch is in Charlotte.

The strategy could have a downside.

Allen Berger, banking professor at the University of South Carolina, said PNC runs the risk of upsetting some customers when the branch is removed.

“Putting it in, leaving it for a while and then taking it out, I don’t think they’re going to make friends with this,” he said. “I know I would be upset.”

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 12:30 AM with the headline "PNC bringing pop-up branch to uptown Charlotte."