PNC Bank’s Jenn Garbach on reclaiming the word ‘boring’ for the legacy brand

For International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, The Current Podcast partnered with The Female Quotient at SXSW to interview remarkable women in media and marketing. Our guest this week is Jenn Garbach, chief marketing officer at PNC Bank.

PNC Bank has spent over 160 years building a legacy of trust, stability and reliability — qualities that can seem anything but exciting in today’s fast-moving financial landscape. And yet, the brand is embracing those “boring” qualities.

With its Brilliantly Boring campaign, the bank is reclaiming the word to show the steady and dependable nature of PNC Bank, showing customers that when it comes to their money, steady and reliable is what they should be looking for.

“Boring doesn’t mean old or stuck in our ways,” says Garbach. “We’re redefining boring as steady, reliable and trustworthy — the qualities customers count on most,” she says. “So that you can live the brilliant life you want.”

In this conversation, Garbach unpacks the success of Brilliantly Boring and dives into her experiences as a woman in marketing, navigating imposter syndrome and learning to balance professional growth with family life.

“I’ve realized that I can’t give 100% energy to all aspects of my life at all times,” she says. “The key is constantly recalibrating — and being honest with myself about what needs my focus most in that moment,” she says.