How Synchrony Bank Turns Consumer Insights into Storytelling
Cindy Weisskopf, Managing Director of Brand Promotions and Advertising at Synchrony, shares how her team brought Lemonade Stand—a six-minute scripted brand film about a father and daughter—to life as part of a broader content ecosystem.
In this episode, Cindy reveals how consumer insights led Synchrony to experiment with long-form storytelling, how the team built an entire suite of content around the film, and why they view projects like Lemonade Stand as “smart bets” to meet audiences where they are. She also discusses partnering with agencies, testing distribution strategies, integrating cause-related work with DonorsChoose, and how Synchrony is evolving its approach to branded entertainment through data-driven creativity.
TRANSCRIPT
Cindy Weisskopf: We think consumers were saying, we don't wanna have our entertainment viewing interrupted by your 30-second spots. So we also wanted to experiment with some ways to really engage people. And we feel like what the consumer is saying to us is: work a little harder. If you want my attention, then you need to engage me a bit and you need to give me content that I want to see and can opt into.
Jesse Roesler: Greetings, and welcome to Content That Moves, the podcast from Credo Nonfiction and Brand Storytelling that pulls back the curtain to reveal how the very best in brand-funded films and episodic content is being funded, created, distributed, and measured. I'm your host, Jesse Roesler, founder of Credo Nonfiction, where we partner with brands to find and tell stories that reveal brand purpose and deepen brand meaning through short- and feature-length documentaries or episodic series. Visit CredoNonfiction.com to learn how we can help you create real, moving stories for your brand. This podcast is co-produced by Brand Storytelling, bringing you the latest news, trends, and insights in branded content with top-of-industry events and in-depth industry coverage online. Brand Storytelling encourages a higher level of collaboration amongst advertisers, agencies, media partners, and creators in pursuit of a richer media environment. For more of the latest in the world of branded content or to explore event offerings, visit BrandStorytelling.tv today.
Jesse Roesler: Today’s episode takes us inside Synchrony with Cindy Weisskopf, Managing Director of Brand Promotions and Advertising. Cindy and her team are behind Lemonade Stand, a six-minute brand film that tells the story of a father and daughter while making the concept of savings feel relatable and human. In our conversation, she shares how consumer insights shaped the project, why Synchrony views long-form storytelling as a smart bet, and how they built an entire content ecosystem around the film. We also discuss the creative and production process, distribution strategy, and the lessons her team is carrying forward into future brand storytelling efforts.
Jesse Roesler: Well, Cindy, I'm happy to have you here. And I have to start by confessing that your film made me get a little bit misty this morning here at the screening at Elevate. I have boys that are five and eight years old, and I have friends that have kids that are just leaving for college. And so I'm walking around in this state of nostalgia for the time that's here. I already miss it. So seeing this little girl come of age within the span of five minutes really brought up all the feels for me. So bravo. I don't think I've had a scripted brand film ever really do that for me. So that was really cool to see. I'd love it if you would just start by maybe giving us a little synopsis of what Lemonade Stand is, and then we’ll back up from that and talk about the genesis of it.
Cindy Weisskopf: I love hearing that. Thank you. We really wanted it to be relatable, right? We wanted a wide variety of people to look at that film and think, I can see myself there. And we felt like if we had a dad and a daughter, men could relate to it, but women could also relate to it. So that was really the goal — to have people… savings can be kind of unapproachable, right? It can feel kind of complex, and we wanted to break it down into really relatable terms.
Jesse Roesler: And so there's essentially the story of a father and daughter who start this lemonade stand, and you get to see quite a large span of their life. It almost reminded me of the animated film Up, where you get that span, and it's very emotional in a similar way. You get to see how things change over time. Just really, really well done. So backing up to the genesis, I'm curious what the landscape for this type of storytelling was like at Synchrony at that time and what inspired you to go down this path.
Cindy Weisskopf: So we started out, honestly, with some consumer insight. We looked at the migration from traditional cable into connected television, and we think two things were primarily at play there. The first is people like to binge watch. But the second insight is we think consumers were saying, we don't wanna have our entertainment viewing interrupted by your 30-second spots. So like most brands, we still give them 30-second spots. We still ignored that feedback. But we also wanted to experiment with some ways to really engage people in your story. And we feel like what the consumer is saying to us is: work a little harder. If you want my attention, then you need to engage me a bit, and you need to give me content that I want to see and can opt into. So this is one way of testing a different format of content, and we wrapped it into a bigger content capture. We really tried to build a whole content ecosystem around it, and that film is just one piece. So I have my sort of super predictable, hardworking assets that I can tell you how they're gonna perform, and then I have something that I'm experimenting with to see: did I get it right? Is it the right length? Is it the right content? Is the product integration right? So it was really a way to test listening to what the consumers are telling us.
Jesse Roesler: So this was really the first entry into that sort of longer format storytelling for the brand?
Cindy Weisskopf: We had done a film a couple of years ago, and then COVID hit, so it didn't really get the opportunity to have its entire lifespan. And we probably will wind up bringing that back because we still think it's a really relevant piece of content. But we wanted to flank it with more content, and we wanted to have content for different audiences.
Jesse Roesler: So being that you had at least started to go down that direction before, was this a challenge for you to sell internally at all? Or did you have everybody sort of in your corner from the get-go when you said, hey, we wanna try this new thing?
Cindy Weisskopf: A couple of answers to that. I think the first thing is when you actually start with the consumer and some insight, it's easier to sell in than when you just say, I wanna make this. When you can articulate the why, and the fact that over the next five years brands have to figure this out. We can't just keep hammering consumers with 30-second ads. We need to figure out how they're actually engaging with your content and how they're sticking around and want to hear more from you. So that's sort of where we start the conversation. And we also didn't go in and say we wanna make a brand film. We went in and said, here's what our Q3 content capture looks like. And part of that is we're a big test-and-learn company. And part of that is all of these assets that I have to capture anyway. I need my 30-second spots, I need my still photography, I need all my social assets. While I am doing this, I have an incredibly cost-effective way of capturing some things I wanna test. So I didn't position it as I'm going to go make a brand film. I positioned it as it is part of a bigger content ecosystem. I think it's a smart test. I think it's a smart play. I am willing to push some chips in the middle of the table to do it. And I found people are receptive to that. They get that you're trying to test some different things.
Jesse Roesler: That's such a smart strategy, not only to get the internal buy-in, but also I'm sure you're being incredibly efficient with your production dollars, with your creative and production dollars. And I'm curious, to be able to do that, how much did you have planned out creatively? How much of that did you have figured out from the get-go, and how much did you figure out further down the road?
Cindy Weisskopf: That was all part of the brief. So when we handed Crispin, our agency, the brief, we said essentially, here are the assets we think we need. These have to be original scripted, it's okay for this to be a cutdown, and here's all the content we need to capture. And we actually evaluated three concepts based on how much we thought they could stretch. There was another concept that was equally good for a film, but we felt like Lemonade Stand could expand further, and maybe that was a better place for us to start.
Jesse Roesler: Okay. And how much of the messaging was in the brief?
Cindy Weisskopf: We certainly said this is a highly commoditized product, but we do feel like there are benefits that we can really lean into where we're strong. And one of those is we really do have consistently great rates. So we felt like that's the proof point we want to pull through because it's true, and it will be true in a year and in six months when this film launches. So yes, we were pretty prescriptive that product is hero and this is the benefit we want to highlight, but we wanna do it in a way that doesn't feel like an ad.
Jesse Roesler: Well, you mentioned the film itself is about six minutes. When you were thinking about how you were going to do that as an experiment, how much of the distribution and activation had you already figured out, and what was the release plan?
Cindy Weisskopf: So we knew basic channels. We knew we wanted something that we could release in CTV because we feel like that's where your viewers are not clicking away. They're most engaged. We know how traditional online video performs for us, so we knew that was a second place that we wanted to push. And then we feel like even though it's longer form — and I have this debate with my social lead all the time who says videos have to be 15 seconds — I say it depends on the video. If you have the right content, I feel like users will stick with you.
Jesse Roesler: I always say content should dictate runtime, not the other way around.
Cindy Weisskopf: That's right.
Jesse Roesler: And then you ended up building out a site for this content to live. Can you tell me about that?
Cindy Weisskopf: One of the things that we can measure — it's a little tricky to measure long-form content — but we can measure sentiment and audience takeaway. So we did some focus group testing to say, when you watch this, what did you think? What resonated with you? But we can also measure clicks. And when someone clicks, you can retarget them. So we felt like that was also a way to guarantee that we could really measure performance, and it's a way that my leadership is used to viewing performance. So we wanted to make sure that a portion of our strategy would go back to clicks on a landing page because then your consumer is opted in, and we feel like you've earned the right to talk to them again.
Jesse Roesler: And how were they finding that landing page?
Cindy Weisskopf: So we launched a campaign early August. We have a big campaign in market right now with Marvel Studios around Fantastic Four, and there's so much great hype and it's such a massive campaign. We wanted Lemonade Stand to have its own ramp after that. So we flow right out of Fantastic Four and into Lemonade Stand, pretty much August 4th.
Jesse Roesler: I noticed also there was a thematically connected nonprofit on that site called DonorsChoose. Can you tell me about that partnership?
Cindy Weisskopf: So that's some work that we do through our Synchrony Foundation. When Lemonade Stand was in its ideation stage, we actually went to them and said, if we could highlight some of your great work, what would it be? Here's the theme — it's generational savings, it's very edutainment-focused. What would you want to highlight? And that's what they came back to us with.
Jesse Roesler: And can you explain what DonorsChoose is and how that ties in?
Cindy Weisskopf: We love this nonprofit because they allow teachers who teach financial wellness to apply for grants to help them teach more financial wellness. So for us it was incredibly thematically aligned, and we really jumped on it.
Jesse Roesler: Is there anything that inspired you — brand storytelling or otherwise — to take this approach?
Cindy Weisskopf: We've been coming to Brand Storytelling for a couple of years, and we love watching how different brands approach branded content. We feel like you can really see it's not just a single approach. This is taking a little bit from here and a little bit from there. We also think this is a bit of counter-programming compared to how a lot of banks approach content.
Jesse Roesler: Is it early to tell, or do you have metrics back?
Cindy Weisskopf: We were incredibly gratified. We took this to a panel of Synchrony customers, and what was really gratifying was they got the message. When you asked what they took away, they said if you save over time, it becomes something bigger. That's compound interest, but in a way that feels really relatable. And the verbatims were, “I could see myself in that story.” For us, that was magic.
Jesse Roesler: Any learnings or things you'd do differently?
Cindy Weisskopf: I would go to distribution partners upfront and start talking about non-traditional formats earlier. We knew CTV was a target, but I would approach that more proactively.
Jesse Roesler: Any advice for marketers?
Cindy Weisskopf: I really think you have to test your way in. Pick smart bets, learn from them, and place bigger bets over time. That’s how you bring leadership along — showing you're making informed decisions based on consumer insight and performance.
Jesse Roesler: Great advice. Thank you for being here.
Cindy Weisskopf: Thank you.
Jesse Roesler: To watch Lemonade Stand, visit Synchrony Bank’s website or stream it on YouTube or Vimeo. As always, I hope you've been enjoying the show, and I'd love to hear from you. If you have ideas for guests or topics for future episodes, drop me a note at jesse@credononfiction.com.
