New Century Financial Corp

 

Market Research Case Study

 

Background

New Century Financial Corporation was one of the leading sub-prime lenders in the United States. In attempting to grow aggressively in its early days, the firm decided that both its wholesale and retail divisions could benefit from advertising – both to mortgage brokers and directly to consumers in the market for a mortgage.  However, the firm was very short on experience in developing and executing advertising campaigns.  One thing they did know, though, was that they first needed to figure out “what to say.”

Our Approach

We conceptualized the problem as one of positioning. The foundation for cost effective advertising is a sound position that prescribes who to target and what to say to them.  With these questions answered, most of the other questions associated with developing and executing winning advertising can fall into place relatively easily.

The RIGHT Answer

The answer we developed built on the idea that consumers want their mortgage transaction (whether originating a new mortgage or refinancing an existing one) done fast, but that mortgage lending was an inherently slow, tedious process full of the potential for errors.

The position we developed worked both with Wholesale and Retail divisions and:

• Paved the way for the company to grow 10-fold in the next five years
• Resulted in the development of the first automated underwriting tool for the sub-prime mortgage business