CareOne Credit Counseling hired Critical Mass, New York, to create a new brand identity, online strategies and a Web site.
No other interactive agency pitched for CareOne. The Columbia, MD, firm is a new service mark for participating nonprofit credit counseling agencies. Networking helped clinch the business.
“We've known and worked with one of the senior marketing folks at CareOne, and he knows us and wanted to work together,” said Harris Damashek, senior account manager at Critical Mass.
CareOne markets on behalf of credit counseling agencies like American Financial Solutions, Consumer Education Services, Debt Management Group and Genesis Financial Management. It is owned and managed by 3Ci Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ascend One Corp.
Critical Mass will offer strategy, creative and front-end services related to www.careonecredit.com. Consumers will be able to sign up for debt management programs on the site to provide beneficial repayment terms. Consumers also will be able to open an account on the site and glean information. The site launches in the first quarter.
The agency first will create an online enrollment process, online account management, maintenance functionality and a knowledge center to stay solvent.
“The challenge we're addressing is to offer a 100 percent online process that still maintains the service that CareOne and its partners offer in the industry, and also how do we meet the needs of people who clearly are in difficult situations,” Damashek said.
