Stop Copying Chase: What Community and Regional Banks Actually Need from Video
Behind the scenes on a bank shoot — three cameras, professional lighting, and a real conversation. The best bank marketing content doesn't come from a script. It comes from putting the right person in front of a camera and letting them talk about what they actually believe in.
Chase has 6 million Instagram followers. Wells Fargo spends hundreds of millions each year on advertising. The big banks have entire in-house studios, production teams, and content calendars that would make most media companies jealous.
And somehow, community and regional banks keep trying to compete with them on the same terms.
It doesn't work. It was never going to work. And it's the reason most bank video marketing falls flat.
The Playbook That Doesn't Apply to You
Here's what usually happens: a bank marketing team decides it's time to "do video." They look at what Chase or Bank of America is doing. They see polished brand spots, celebrity endorsements, and high-production social content. Then they try to replicate some version of that with a fraction of the budget.
The result? Generic footage of someone shaking hands in a branch lobby. Stock-quality B-roll of a skyline. A talking head reading from a script about "personalized service" and "community values" — words so overused they've lost all meaning.
Meanwhile, 91% of businesses now use video as a marketing tool. That's an all-time high. And 89% of consumers say video quality directly impacts their trust in a brand. Your audience isn't comparing your videos to other bank videos — they're comparing them to everything else in their feed.
The bar is high. But the opportunity is wide open, because most banks haven't figured out the one thing that matters most.
The Shift: From "Doing Video" to Telling Your Story
The banks that win on video aren't the ones spending the most money. They're the ones telling stories that only they can tell.
Chase can't tell the story of the small business owner on Main Street who got their first loan from your branch manager — someone who knows them by name, who showed up to their grand opening, who calls to check in. That story belongs to you. And it's more powerful than any brand spot a big bank will ever produce.
This is the fundamental shift: stop thinking about video as a production exercise and start thinking about it as a storytelling strategy. What are the stories that live inside your branches, your community relationships, your team? Those are the stories your audience actually wants to see.
The data backs this up. According to Sprout Social's 2025 Content Benchmarks Report, engagement is rising while posting frequency is actually declining across platforms. The brands winning on social aren't posting more — they're posting with more purpose. And consumers rank originality of content as the second most important factor in making a brand stand out, right behind product and service quality.
For banks, that means one thing: authenticity beats polish. But authenticity doesn't mean amateur.
What We Learned at SouthState Bank
At Big Wave Productions, we work with banks and credit unions. One of the clearest examples of this storytelling-first approach in action is our partnership with SouthState Bank.
SouthState is a $67 billion regional bank operating across the Southeast, Texas, and Colorado. When we started producing video content for them, we didn't begin with a campaign brief or a brand manifesto. We began with their people and their communities.
We produced professional social media reels and brand story videos that captured what makes SouthState different — real employees, real customers, real moments. Not scripted. Not stiff. Professional production quality with genuine human storytelling at the center.
The results spoke for themselves. Our content became the #1 and #3 most-viewed Instagram Reels in SouthState's brand history — outperforming posts from institutions many times their size. Not because we outspent anyone. Because we told stories that resonated.
What Actually Works: A Framework for Bank Video
Based on our experience producing content across the financial institution space, here's what's actually moving the needle for community and regional banks:
Customer Testimonials and Impact Stories
Your customers are your best content creators. A two-minute video of a small business owner talking about how your bank helped them grow is more persuasive than any ad you'll ever run. These are the stories that build trust — which is the single most important currency in banking.
Employee Spotlights and Behind-the-Scenes
48% of consumers want to see front-line employees in brand social content, according to Sprout Social. Your loan officers, branch managers, and tellers are the face of your bank. Let them be the face of your content, too.
Community Impact Content
Every community bank sponsors events, supports local nonprofits, and shows up for their neighborhoods. Most banks post a photo with a check. The ones that stand out turn those moments into short documentary-style pieces that show why the bank cares — not just that they wrote a check.
Market Expansion and Milestone Content
Opening a new branch? Entering a new market? Announcing a merger? These are high-stakes brand moments where professional video storytelling can define how your community perceives the transition. These aren't moments to wing with a smartphone.
Executive Thought Leadership
Your CEO and CMO have perspectives that matter. Short, direct-to-camera pieces on industry trends, economic outlook, or community priorities position your bank's leadership as experts — and give your LinkedIn presence real substance.
Start Scrappy, Then Invest
Here's where we get practical.
Not every bank has the budget for a full production partner on day one. That's okay. Start with what you have. A smartphone, decent lighting, and a compelling story will outperform a $50,000 brand video that says nothing. Some of the best-performing bank content we've seen started as simple, authentic clips shot by marketing teams in the branch.
But there's a ceiling to scrappy. When your content strategy starts working — when you see the engagement, the shares, the conversations it starts — that's the moment to invest in storytelling that actually competes. Professional production brings consistency, cinematic quality, and the ability to tell stories that elevate your brand beyond what a phone and a ring light can deliver.
The progression looks like this: prove the concept with what you have, then invest in storytelling that scales it. The banks that jump straight to expensive production without a content strategy waste money. The banks that stay scrappy forever leave performance on the table.
Why This Matters Right Now
The window is open, but it won't stay open forever.
Only 7% of bank marketers plan to increase their video spend this year. Meanwhile, 84% of consumers are asking for more video from brands. That gap between supply and demand is an opportunity — but it's shrinking as more banks figure this out.
AI tools are making video creation easier and cheaper. That's a double-edged sword. It lowers the barrier to entry, which means more content in the feed — but it also means the quality bar rises. When everyone can produce decent video, the banks that invest in genuinely compelling storytelling will be the ones that stand out.
Community and regional banks have a structural advantage here that they consistently undervalue: they have better stories. Their customer relationships are deeper. Their community involvement is more genuine. Their people are more accessible. All of that is raw material for content that the big banks can't replicate no matter how much they spend.
The question isn't whether your bank should be doing video. In 2026, that's settled. The question is whether you're going to tell the stories that actually belong to you — or keep copying Chase.
Brian Adams is the co-founder of Big Wave Productions, a video and photography production company working with banks and credit unions. Check out our SouthState Bank case study here.
