“Find your company’s purpose and activate it. It will help you in tough times.”

— Charles Schwab

In times of crisis, when it seems the walls are closing in and there is little reason for optimism, the knee-jerk reaction in business is to push the panic button — often making matters infinitely worse. Amid the global financial meltdown and subsequent recession, Charles Schwab chose a different tact, turning the tough economic times into opportunity.

“It hasn’t been easy,” admitted Becky Saeger, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Charles Schwab, during her speech at the Masters of Marketing Conference. “We had to reinvent Schwab and recommit to our purpose. That purpose became much more sharply focused during the crisis, when people really needed us more.”

At the height of the crisis, Saeger said, consumers had lost a staggering $9.3 million in wealth. Schwab’s call centers buzzed with activity as customers turned to the company for financial guidance. Schwab realized that if it acted boldly and swiftly, it would be well positioned to not only engage customers, but also deepen relationships with them.

For that to happen, Saeger said, Schwab would have to focus on what they could control (i.e., not the fact that more than 100 banks failed, or that the average retirement plan lost more than 20 percent of value), be nimble, and be responsive in real-time. “We realized that every single point of contact was an opportunity to give clients information,” she noted.

Rather than guess what clients wanted, Schwab conducted surveys and scoured the blogosphere to learn what was being said about the brand. Saeger’s team worked closely with call center reps and customer-facing staff to get regular, real-time feedback from them.

Armed with this information, Schwab worked overtime to roll out a number of new products quickly, and built rapid-fire awareness through its innovative “Talk to Chuck” campaign, providing the comfort, counsel, and straight talk that customers needed. The campaign featured TV spots, print and outdoor ads, Webinars, and Webcasts, among other media. “We did nothing revolutionary,” Saeger said. “We were just constant [in our communications.]. “We said, ‘We’re here to help.’ We set out to remind them that there were many places they could put their money.”

Saeger played a video showing how Schwab provided information to their customers quickly, through a number of media channels. “We not only had to address the panic, we also had to acknowledge it,” she said. “People really responded to the voice of experience (i.e., ads with founder Charles Schwab). It was authentic and honest.”

And as Schwab would discover, its customers didn’t feel like victims of the crisis, nor were they angry. Instead, they were cautiously optimistic about the future. Saeger and her marketing team created an integrated marketing campaign to play into that optimism. “Through all of this,” Saeger noted, “outdoor advertising has become one of my favorite mediums. Outdoor has worked so hard for us. It gets to the voice of the investor. People respond amazingly to that.”

As the markets stabilized and consumer confidence grew, Schwab learned that its customers desired to take control of their financial lives. “We decided to continue to empower people and activate that through a number of media channels,” Saeger said. “We were able to keep the momentum going.”

Did it work? Schwab managed to turn a profit in 2008, in an industry that lost billions, and land a significant number of new customers. “In difficult times,” Saeger said, “you have to find your company’s purpose and activate it. Keep close to your customers. Don’t underestimate the fundamentals. Listen to your customer. Be willing to change your point of view in real time, and execute like crazy. We learned to be nimble, to be responsive, and to be quick.”

Brian Winterble, manager of media and integrated marketing at Dial Corp, said Saeger’s speech provided an important lesson to marketers. “It was interesting to see how Schwab reacted to the things happening on the ground in real-time,” he noted. “One of the biggest obstacles to achieving success is inertia and not being able to see what’s going on in real-time.”