Citizens Bank introduces “Ask a Citizen” marketing campaign featuring the personal lives and financial expertise of real-life Citizens bankers

Charter One, Citizens’ retail brand in Ohio and Michigan, also is being renamed Citizens Bank today, creating consistent Citizens Bank branding across its 11-state retail footprint

Providence, RI – Citizens Bank today launched a new marketing campaign, “Ask a Citizen,” featuring real-life Citizens bankers both at home managing their personal lives and at work helping Citizens customers manage their personal finances.

The campaign, which underscores the shared life experiences and the relationships of trust between Citizens bankers and their customers, focuses on some of the core challenges consumers face today – saving for retirement, paying for college, paying down debt and managing a household budget that allows for unexpected expenses.

According to Citizens research, most consumers know that these are areas where they need help. But they don’t always know that the advice they need is available to them in their local bank branch.

“Consumers today are looking for help planning to pay for college, to pay off their debt, to retire and to meet other financial goals, and they prefer to get this help from someone they know and trust,” said Brad Conner, Vice Chairman and Head of Consumer Banking. “Our customers come to us every day to tap into our expertise in these areas. We are very proud of the results that our colleagues are delivering for our customers and very excited to feature some of these ‘real-life citizens’ in our new campaign.”

The campaign will be supported by radio, television, digital and outdoor advertising in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts starting this week.

The “Ask a Citizen” campaign underscores the Bank Better enhancements that Citizens has implemented to make banking simple, clear and personal. These enhancements have included:

• New Cash Back Plus World MasterCard^®: A new credit card offering up to 1.8% cash back on everyday purchases with our Purchase and Relationship Bonuses
• One Deposit Checking: One deposit of any amount each statement period waives the monthly maintenance fee
• $5 Overdraft Pass: No overdraft fees on transactions of $5 or less
• Education Refinance Loan: A unique opportunity for college graduates to refinance their private and federal student loans

For the first time in Citizens’ history, Citizens Bank ads will be running in both the Northeast and the Midwest – as of today, the Citizens Bank brand has replaced the Charter One brand in Ohio and Michigan. The company announced last year that it would be making this change as part of a strategy to unify its brands. Citizens Bank signs were unveiled at more than 200 branches, approximately 170 ATMs and at two corporate offices in Ohio and Michigan today.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $136.5 billion in assets as of March 31, 2015. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens helps its retail customers “bank better” with mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 Citizens Bank branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Citizens also provides mortgage lending, auto lending, student lending and commercial banking services in select markets nationwide. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers corporate, institutional and not-for-profit clients a full range of wholesale banking products and services including lending and deposits, capital markets, treasury services, foreign exchange and interest hedging, leasing and asset finance, specialty finance and trade finance. Citizens operates through its subsidiaries Citizens Bank, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania.