It’s not just Apple that can get consumers to sleep outside its stores on the eve of a product launch. Banks can, too.

Kasasa, a national brand of free checking and savings created by BancVue, hosted a campaign last week that connected its community banks and credit union customers with consumers by a so-called gas station takeover. Indeed, Kasasa employees and its banks participants rallied together to pump $20 of gas into the first 200 consumers’ vehicles in 20 different cities – some volunteers even sported red capes.

“It was a fantastic success,” Gabe Krajicek, chief executive of BancVue, tells Bank Innovation.

In fact, one lady slept outside of the gas station the night before the event to ensure she got her free fuel fix, Krajicek says.

Kasasa, which has about 135 institutions under its label, learned a while back that free gas is a great way to appeal to consumers. Though the company has done a number of smaller scale “takeovers” – like giving away ice cream or Little League registrations, Krajicek says free gas always resonated best with customers. Realizing that preference, Krajicek says Kasasa decided to expand the campaign nationally this year. Altogether, it  gave away $80,000 worth of gasoline. The national average of gas, according to the Daily Fuel Gauge Report, is fetching $3.71.

Though Krajicek wouldn’t reveal any other efforts Kasasa is working on, he tells us the company plans to host similar events that will “spice up” banking, which points to its largest ambition: beat the megabanks. In an interview held earlier this year, Krajicek told us he expects to hit 1,000 institution customers within three to five years, which would move Kasasa much closer to its  goal of “wanting to help the small guys win.”