Looking to capitalize on Americans newfound infatuation with personal savings, Regions Bank has launched a new savings initiative, most notably including TV ads and a “Save with Regions” microsite.

“SAVE WITH REGIONS” MICROSITE
The campaign’s main visual hook is undeniably similar to Robert Indiana’s “LOVE” sculpture. Even the typeface was carefully chosen to match the pop icon’s design.

“LOVE” BY ROBERT INDIANA
The sculpture stacks large, slab serif letters “LO” on top of “VE,” with the O canted sideways. The letters are red on their faces and blue on their sides. Robert Indiana’s “LOVE” sculpture is installed in numerous locations around the world, but is probably best known as the centerpiece of Love Park in Philadelphia. Originally a design for a Christmas card in 1964, the “LOVE” sculpture was first exhibited in New York in 1966. This particular picture is of the New York installation (notice the BofA in the background).

The microsite has three main sections:

1. Personal Savings Review — After asking you three questions — what deposit products you currently have, which services you currently use (like online banking), and in what ways you are currently saving — Regions suggests what products you might want.
2. Savings Tips & Advice — This section includes three articles, one of which is “5 Easy Tips to Save Money on Laundry.” There’s also advice for people in various lifestages (e.g., “Starting Out,” “Empty Nester”).
3. Savings Game — You get 60 seconds to catch as many falling piggybanks, coins, dollars and APYs as you can in this Flash-based game. There are no obstacles or penalties, just grab everything you can. (The Financial Brand’s high score: $16,631.77.)

“SAVINGS GAME”
Not much strategy to playing this game, but it can be kind of fun and has some replay value. The game’s visual concept — a savings “jar” that catches valuable items — is certainly relevant, but there isn’t much of a point to catching piggybanks and cash. It’s not much more than an entertaining diversion that may lure folks into “interacting with the brand.”

There are a few other sections of the microsite. “Quick Tips” offer more ideas for saving time, saving money and saving for the future. The “Products” section breaks down all the various savings products out there in an interesting system. You may be a “Beginner Saver,” “Intermediate Saver” or “Advanced Saver” depending on which- and how many savings products you have.

The campaign has its own slogan: “Save time. Save money. Save for the future.” Regions’ brand tagline is “It’s time to expect more.”

This ad campaign comes on the heels of Regions last big ad push for it’s “LifeGreen” checking and savings product.

The campaign is the work of Region’s ad agency, Luckie & Co.

“CENTER STAGE”
People shake a piggybank bearing Region’s “SAVE” artwork like a tambourine in rhythm with the bank’s distinct folksy, easy-going, down home jingle.

“FAMILY”
Shaking the “SAVE” piggybank tambourine is fun for kids, grandpa and the whole family.

“GOOD BUSINESS”
This one promises that doctors, carpenters and architects will enjoy remote deposit capture and a free “business financial review through Regions Cash Core Analysis.”

Norway Savings Bank has created a series of “colorful” broadcast and print advertising targeted at Norway’s small business customer base. The ad campaign includes six television and corresponding six print ads with a platform of “Colorful Solutions.”

“Each small business chosen to be profiled was represented as a different color in the colorful solutions concept,” said Leslie Evans, of Leslie Evan Design Associates, the agency that produced the work.

Print ads are running in regional magazine and the television spots are also appearing regionally.

Based in Maine, Norway Savings Bank has just under $1 billion in assets.

“Red”

“Blue”

Annual Report
Cover (above) and inside pages (below) that provide more insight into the bank’s “Colorful Solutions” ad strategy.

Anyone with a dry sense of humor will love the “I Love Fees” campaign from Coast Capital Savings up in British Columbia. The tongue-in-cheek promotion makes fun of Canada’s big five banks for charging billions in fees every year.

The campaign mocks a genre of ads that feature cheesy, cliché, slice-of-life moments. You know the ones — chock full of feel-good testimonials that are all nauseatingly contrived. The overall tone is wry, sardonic and dripping with sarcasm. And it’s all terribly funny. The truth always serves as the best source of humor.

The campaign includes TV commercials, print ads, out-of-home advertising and a microsite (all shown below). The microsite features videos, a simple calculator and even a store where you can buy cheeky “I Love Fees” schwag.

The Financial Brand wrote earlier about this campaign when it kicked off with a giant, 8×10 foot greeting card to banks “thanking” them for the billions in fees they charge to Canadians every year.

What makes this a particularly smart strategy is how Coast Capital is laying claim to the “fee” issue in Canada. They are trying to “own” the subject of “fees” by pushing a competitive advantage and promoting their “Free Chequing, Free Debit and More” account. They are aligning themselves with a critical consumer issue, and taking a stand for one thing: fees. It’s smart marketing… and good branding.

An interesting question concerning social media ethics

One component of the promotion raises an interesting ethical question, one that many online marketers have certainly wrestled with before. At the campaign’s microsite, members of the public are encouraged to upload their own videos explaining why they (sarcastically) “love fees.” Of the 20 videos uploaded, more than half come from employees of Coast Capital’s ad agency, Rethink Communications. Here are three examples (sorry, you have to go to the microsite to see the actual videos):

Testimonial Videos by Rethink Employees
These are three Rethink Communications employees who uploaded submissions.
The black-and-white action figures come from Rethink’s company website.

Rethink invited any of its 60+ employees to consider uploading a submission to the “I Love Fees” site. Around a dozen employees grabbed their cameras and went to work. The agency didn’t script or professionally produce any of the videos. There was no bigtime copywriter or film crew helping these folks out behind the scenes.

According to Rethink, the employee submissions reflect the genuine feelings and creativity of each individual, and no one was pressured into participating.

“These are people who voluntarily chose to express themselves,” Ailsa Brown, Coast Capital’s Account Director at Rethink told The Financial Brand. “They are consumers of financial services like the rest of us. They’re upset about all the fees charged by Canada’s big banks, and they felt like this was a fun, lighthearted way to voice their opinions.”

It’s understandable why an agency/client would want to “seed” their microsite with a few pre-populated videos. The motives are pretty obvious. No one wants to have an online marketing campaign that looks bare and “uncool” when it’s launched. And providing a few sample videos can be helpful and instructive for those considering uploading something of their own [video, picture, essay, whatever].

The hitch is that Coast Capital doesn’t disclose the relationship between their credit union and the people offering their tongue-in-cheek “testimonials.” There are some social media purists who would argue that this violates core principles of the Web 2.0 world — namely “authenticity” and “transparency.”

Rethink’s Brown said neither the agency or Coast Capital had any reservations about using agency personnel to jump start the microsite’s video library. Rethink says there was no cause for concern because the employee submissions were voluntary, unscripted and reflected the perspectives of real financial consumers.

What do you think? Is this okay? Or does it cross the vague and oft-unwritten ethical boundaries of online/social media marketing? Take the poll, and/or share your point of view in the comments below.

Note About the Poll: You can select all the options that reflect your point of view.

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“I Love Fees” Store

Print Advertising

“Eyes Wide Open”
SCRIPT – Woman #1: “Banking fees are like nice little surprises on every statement. And who doesn’t like surprises.” Woman #2 “I get a lot for my banking fees. Like deposit envelopes.” Woman #3: “The banking fees are here!” Mom: “Fees are great. Because when I buy something, I want to pay full price, plus a little bit more.” Son: “I want to pay fees too.” Coast Capital Teller: “Nobody really likes fees. So stop paying them. With The Free Chequing, Free Debit and More account. Only at Coast Capital Savings.”

“Whistling Kisses”
SCRIPT – Woman: “Yeah, I’m okay with banking fees. I mean, you tip your waiter. Why not tip your bank?” Man: “Fees are like paying rent on my own money. I like that.” Wife: “We love fees.” Husband: “They’re a constant reminder that we have less money than we think.” Retiree: “Finding all those bank fees on my statement keeps my mind active. And at my age, that’s important.” Coast Capital Teller: “Nobody really likes fees. So stop paying them. With The Free Chequing, Free and More account. Only at Coast Capital Savings.”

Out-of-Home Advertising

Beneficial Bank in Philadelphia, launched an upbeat branding campaign following the election. The campaign carries the theme “Starting Now.” The campaign includes two TV spots, new brochures, branch posters, print and outdoor ads.

Beneficial has $3.5 billion in assets, 72 branches in the Philadelphia region and 250 employees.

“Fiscal Sanity”
A general spot introducing the brand theme. Not every financial institution posts their TV spots to their website — like Beneficial does — but they should.

“Solar Lending”
In this spot, one of two in the campaign, Beneficial is pushing business loans specifically for solar power.

Four branch posters.

Three billboards.

Three brochures in the new series.

Transit ads — a train wrap.

Full-color brand ad.

The new brand look-and-feel has been integrated into the bank’s website.

Agency: LevLane in Philadelphia.

Earlier this year, Commonwealth Bank in Australia was harshly criticized for hiring a U.S. ad agency. It didn’t matter that the agency was world-famous Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, people down under were skeptical that they wouldn’t grasp the nuances of Aussie culture.

The hell with Aussie culture, they said. Instead of even attempting a spot that might try to honor the land of Oz, the bank and agency decided to take a huge gamble and made one of the weirdest spots you’ll ever see in the financial industry.

Here’s the concept: A bigtime American movie director, hired by a fictitious U.S. ad agency, makes an  unintentional parody of Australian culture in a new commercial for Commonwealth Bank. The makebelieve spot piles one Aussie stereotype on top of another: Mad Max koalas from Beyond the Thunderdome tangle with a didgeridoo-playing, boomerang-chucking Crocodile Dundee lookalike. The bank’s executives are not amused.

It’s a spot-within-a-spot, where art imitates life imitating art.

When the commercial first debuted, only the first 30 seconds were shown.
To many, it looked like the bank had gone completely insane.
A little while later, the whole spot aired, revealing the bank’s displeasure with the “ad” within its ad.

People hated it. It was lampooned around the world. But both the agency and the bank staunchly defended their strategy.

30% of Australia’s 16 million people don’t like the campaign or the strategy. That’s only 4.8 million people, or about 1-out-of-3.

Now, they’ve got some results.

Mark Buckman, the bank’s marketing director, says that brand awareness has grown from 70% to 95% while simultaneously cutting the media budget 30%.

But Mr. Buckman also acknowledged that 30% of Australia’s 16 million people don’t like the campaign or the strategy. That’s only 4.8 million people, or about 1-out-of-3, but Buckman says’ he’s okay with it because “16 million Australians are a big enough pond for us to fish in.”

Buckman defended the bank’s decision to ship it’s highly coveted $100 million account overseas: “We couldn’t find an advertising agency in Australia that was prepared to think differently about us.”

“We were sick to death of being told what we couldn’t do.”

That’s fine, but is that why they took such a huge gamble with the bank’s brand?

Buckman said there was a fundamental belief that perceptions of 100-year-old institution could not be changed. “In order to get people to think differently about us, we had to get them to notice us and then get them to talk about us — and talk they did,” he said. “We set out to achieve three things — impact, comprehension and likeability.”

Two out of three ain’t bad. But doesn’t “likeability” seem like an important brand association?

About CEO Ralph Norris’s feelings towards the risky strategy, Buckman said, “He didn’t shy away, but he did say ‘this is either going to be a blaze of glory or just a blaze. Either way there are going to be flames.’”

True that.

Key Questions:

• Would you prefer to be well-known by many, but unliked? Or would you rather be liked, but only known by a few?
• Is brand awareness more important that positive feelings about a brand?

“No matter how long
the night has been,
there’s always breakfast.
This is America.
The sun comes up and
we get a fresh start.”
– BofA’s ‘Pancakes’

Bank of America’s current brand TV ad titled “Pancakes” is an artfully subtle message of hope and reassurance. It sends a message about the economy that Americans want to hear: “Things will be okay and we’ll get through this.”

In a sense, the ad is almost an ad for “Brand America” (not just the bank, but the whole country). It taps deep into the American psyche, speaking directly to the consummate faith in our power to prevail through even the darkest times.

Script for BofA’s “Pancakes”

No matter how long the night has been, there’s always breakfast.
This is America. The sun comes up and we get a fresh start.
At Bank of America,
opportunities are waiting for every customer, every day.
Like risk-free CDs, innovative ways to save,
and smarter ways to spend.
No wonder one-out-of-two households in America
trust their finances with Bank of America. Bank of Opportunity.

Sorry, you can’t see the spot anywhere online yet.
A spokesman from BofA told The Financial Brand the current economic crisis has kept the bank’s
internal communications team too busy to upload its latest spots to its Newsroom.
Here are a few still images from “Pancakes.”

Who knew pancakes could make such a beautiful metaphor? It’s almost like saying, “Hey, America just had a real economic bender. Glad that’s over. Now let’s have breakfast and get this hangover behind us.” Coupled with the visuals, it’s wonderfully optimistic.

The spot positions BofA as a leader, poised to guide America out of our economic crisis. This is a much more creative way to reassure people with a “safe and sound” message than simply saying, “We’re safe and sound.”

The spot weaves in a few products and services, then finishes with a point-of-proof that essentially says “half of America trusts us, so you can too.”

All around, it’s a smart spot — one that’s on-brand for BofA, offering a relevant, timely message.

Agency: BBDO

The Bank of New Zealand, now known simply as BNZ, has been doing some interesting things with their brand lately. They’re retailing off-the-shelf financial products – literally, in boxes. They’ve got an intensive mass-media campaign starring a herd of animated piggybanks. And to cap it all off, they just rolled-out a fresh, new logo.

Out of the Box Banking

Last year, BNZ introduced “Out of a Box Banking.” The idea is to make financial services less ethereal and more tangible by “packaging” them in boxes and selling them on shelves in branches.

The product lineup includes MyMoney Checking, Visa Lite and Life Insurance, among a handful of others.

You can literally walk into BNZ’s branches and buy these products off-the-shelf for $5.

BNZ is clearly linking their brand promise to the idea of “easier banking.” Their kits make basic financial services look easy, simple and straightforward. No hassles, and all for only $5 each.

You can catch a glimpse of the bank’s brand strategy at a page on their website, where they commit to being “approachable, energetic and boldly innovative.” Those feel distinctly like the kind of “Brand Personality Attributes” that would be defined in a brand strategy.

While off-the-shelf financial solutions won’t appeal to everyone, there is bound to be a measurable market segment that just doesn’t feel like “engaging in a highly personalized dialogue with a knowledgeable financial advisor.” (“I’m just here for a checking account man.”)

With $5 life insurance – in a box – BNZ is making the product much more accessible to consumers, especially those who might not otherwise think twice about life insurance. (“Oh hey, look: life insurance. I should probably get some of that too.”)

BNZ is expanding its line of kits to include simple tutorials:

BNZ’s expanded line of “pre-packaged” finances, cross-selling additional services.

The notion of retailing financial services “in a box” isn’t entirely new. For instance, Progressive Insurance has a TV ad campaign built entirely around an imaginary “store” where aisles of shelves hold Progressive products in boxes.

“Pig Tales” Brand Ads

BNZ unveiled its new “Out of a Box” banking concept about 9 months ago in a massive, multimedia rollout. The bank’s creative centers around a herd of colorful, likable, animated piggybanks.

“Pig Tales: The Beginning,” a :90 video that introduces the piggybank concept.

BNZ has a YouTube account, BNZTV, where you can watch 18 different videos, most of them part of the Pig Tales series, including product-specific spots for MyMoney Checking, Lite Visa and Life Insurance.

Switching to BNZ is like breaking out of jail.

You’ve got to wonder what the future holds for “the piggybank” in the financial industry? What is the lifespan for this popular financial symbol? Will it still have relevance in a few years? For that matter, how long will coins be an integral part of our payment systems?

Logo

To cap what appears to be a year-long rebranding effort, the Bank of New Zealand just introduced a new logo. It’s replacing its venerated name and Southern Cross with what it calls “a less formal look to reflect the BNZ culture of today.”

The old Bank of New Zealand logo had been in use for at least 20 years.

“Our customers have been letting us know it’s time to make a change,” said Blair Vernon, BNZ/General Manager of Strategy & Marketing, in an article from the New Zealand Herald.

If customers said it was time to change the logo, it’s probably because someone was asking them – not necessarily because people volunteered the idea.

Indeed, BNZ ran the old logo through focus groups. “Testing suggested people didn’t see it as reflective of the progressive, welcoming, warm friendly organization we believe we are these days,” said Blair. He said the warmth and approachability of the bank’s piggies campaign created “a bit of a disconnect” with the formality of the old brand.

The new BNZ logo.

One critic of the new logo said it looked like it was squeezed out of a tube of toothpaste (which it sort of does). But if BNZ was looking to project a fresh, contemporary, clean and casual image, they’ve arguably accomplished their objective.

About the changing the name to the BNZ acronym, Blair said, “We’ve shifted Bank of New Zealand to BNZ because that’s how most of our customers refer to us.”

That makes sense.

But the timing of the logo change doesn’t. It probably would have made more sense to change the logo back at the launch of their Pig Tales campaign, and after they introduced the “Banking Out of a Box” concept. Now they have to rebrand everything with the new logo (including 180 branches).

“Money creates money concerns. And genuine attention to money helps eliminate them.” That’s the underlying premise behind Key Bank’s latest brand ad campaign, “Money Needs Attention.”

The campaign includes print, TV and outdoor advertising, as well as a microsite.
(more…)

Harris Bank recently unveiled a new branding campaign to drive home the bank’s “here to help” message, a slogan the bank has used for the past two years.

Harris expects to reach 95 percent of its core audience — millions of people across the Chicago area — using television, radio, digital, print, outdoor and transit advertising, including this example:

[Click any image to enlarge.]

The triptych says, “Bored? Pass the time with a word jumble. ULOQOSYIL HRSPIM NUJOROS EENRSE LSAIOABT. Hint: They all start with ‘S.’” The answers for the word jumble are here on page 2.

Unfortunately, the solution to the word jumble says nothing about the Harris brand. And you have to wonder, is a word jumble really that helpful to a bus riders?

Helping people in seemingly trivial ways is actually part of the bank’s brand strategy.

“The ads are about regular life and demonstrate that Harris is committed to helping in ways that are unexpected,” said Justine Fedak, SVP/Marketing with Harris. “They also provide clarity to our customers at the times they need it most — something we have been doing for over a century in Chicago.”

A YouTube account created last week has 11 different videos, all offering some sort of semi-useful tips completely unrelated to banking, like this one that shows a cool way to fold t-shirts:

TV ads are the cornerstone of Harris’s media strategy. The bank says it’s buying time on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, WGN, ESPN and CNN. The ads will appear during major news and sports broadcasts as well as top-rated programs such as CSI, Dancing with the Stars and The Late Show with David Letterman. The campaign debuted during the Chicago Bears’ season opening game against the Indianapolis Colts on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

This is the first TV campaign from the bank in two years. The bank has a number of popular TV spots from years past uploaded by various Harris ad fans.

Alan Spindle, creative director with Element 79, the agency behind the campaign, said, “The TV spots grew out of the print and outdoor we’ve established over the past few years. So out-of-home, transit and print ads actually star in the TV spots.” When you see the ads (sorry, they are only viewable at the microsite), you’ve got to look closely and pay attention to catch the cab-top ad whizzing by:

Element 79 is the same agency that released the popular viral video “Ball Girl” for Gatorade earlier this year. The agency lost the Gatorade account despite their success with the video, which has been viewed over 1.3 million times.

The bank’s microsite for the campaign offers advice in six different categories: Financial, Planning, Small Business, Travel, Entertainment and Unexpected.

At the microsite, there are “helpful” videos and links to external, third-party websites — an interesting use of other people’s content (perhaps without their consent).

There are also five puzzles at the microsite, including word jumbles and visual riddles. All but one of the games were crafted to reinforce some aspect of the Harris brand.

The microsite is linked off the home page of the main Harris Bank website.

Harris Bank, a unit of the Bank of Montreal, has assets around $40 billion.

These brand TV ads from Alabama Credit Union are terrific. They are brimming with personality and look nothing like any other financial institution’s ads. (Well okay, they may look a little like the recent Telly Award-winning spots from Truliant, but they are still very cool and fun to watch.) Take a look, and enjoy the entertaining print ad for a branch grand opening after the videos.

The only downside is that Alabama Credit Union’s website doesn’t ooze with the same kind of spunk and attitude. As Ron Shevlin points out, it’s a bit of a brand disconnect to see ads as fresh and creative as these, then see a functional-but-unexciting website backing them up.

Key Questions: What are Alabama Credit Union’s branches like? How do these ads align with- or complement their in-BRANCH EXPERIENCE?

The ads are the work of the Red Square Agency, Mobile, Alabama.

Flagstar Bank debuted a new brand campaign during the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Spots depict consumers with boxes on their heads who need to “open their eyes” to Flagstar’s products and services. Here’s the video:

“People are different and want different things from their bank.”
– David Joyce, VP/Mktg Director
Flagstar Bank

In a press release, David Joyce, VP/Marketing Director at Flagstar, said the campaign’s new tagline, “The New Wave in Banking,” shows the bank understands “people are different and want different things from their bank.”

Flagstar’s brand ad positions the bank as a ‘unique alternative’ for ‘a different kind of people’ without ever really defining how the bank is unique or how the target audience is different. You can read the whole script on page 2.

The spot’s conceptual device – putting boxes over people’s heads – creates a surreal world that feels oddly in contrast with the idea that “people are different.” Instead, they are faceless, lifeless robots, waiting for liberation. The somber, three-step German polka soundtrack adds to the strange vibe. Ooom-paa-paa, ooom-paa-paa.

Flagstar’s brand strategy is similar to the one used by Pemco Insurance. To paraphrase, it goes something like this: “Everyone is different, and for people who are different like you, we’re your kind of bank – different.” Pemco takes a more direct approach while injecting a heavy dose of satire. Enjoy this spot:

If you liked that spot, here’s another one from Pemco, “Blue Tarp Camper.”

The Pemco spots are arguably the more effective way to deliver the “We’re-Different-Like-You” strategy. They make clear statements about how they are “different like you.” Like the Obsessive Compulsive Recyler, Pemco believes in doing the right thing even if it means going to tedious extremes. And like the intrepid Blue Tarp Campers, nothing will deter Pemco, certainly not Northwest rain. Pemco has a whole series of these lifestyle vignettes (around 20 total), so they’ve clearly given this some thought.

The Flagstar Bank delivery of the “We’re-Different-Like-You” strategy feels shallow and empty.

Key Takeaway: Relevant differentiation is the key to branding. Simply claiming your different doesn’t cut it. You actually have to be different. Sure you can say you’re different even if you aren’t (and many financial institutions do it). But be prepared for people’s disappointment if the experience you deliver is less different than people expect. Brand gaps like these can come back to bite you…hard.

Flagstar’s campaign includes television, print, radio, Web and in-branch advertising and is scheduled to run in Flagstar’s three banking states of Michigan, Indiana and Georgia. Joyce called it the largest brand campaign in the bank’s history.

SMZ Advertising in Troy, Michigan, where the $14.6 billion dollar bank is headquartered, created the campaign for Flagstar.

In this :30 TV spot supporting WaMu’s “Whoo Hoo!” branding campaign, a couple fantasizes about being tucked snug in giant kangaroo pouches (no joke, for real) after discussing the security of WaMu’s online banking.

Here’s another spot. In this one, a regular guy has a fantasy associating the bank’s offer of “free checks for life” with the experience of a roller disco.

Some people regard WaMu’s “Whoo Hoo!” campaign as nothing more than a shallow knockoff of a familiar Homer Simpson expression. But you have to admit, these spots sure are different.

And they are kinda funny.

Is it enough to get me to open an account, buy WaMu stock or become a WaMulian?

No.

But the next time I think of WaMu, I’ll tink happy tots.

In a recent TV ad contest, 37 entrants produced a 23-second spot telling people why they should join SELCO Community Credit Union. Big cash prizes helped fuel a healthy turnout during a month-long entry period.

Launched back in March, the credit union said spots could be edgy, funny, bold, simple, serious, or anything in between.

And that’s what they got. The final top 10 entries selected by the credit union reflect a range of creative styles. There’s everything from safe and conservative to the slightly bizarre. You can view and vote for them at the credit union’s website.

The top three most popular entries will receive $5,000, $3,500 and $1,000 respectively. Voting ends today.

Three finalists feature kids. Arguably the best is Commercial #7 (video):

The star is a well-cast, charismatic and adorable little girl of uncertain ethnicity (perfect!). The spot’s production is professional, with thoughtful cinematography and great editing — but it’s not too slick. The soundtrack is fresh and easy-going. All in all, good stuff.

In the Credit Union Times, Bonnie Larson, SELCO’s VP of marketing, said “We were so impressed by not only the number of entries and their depth of resourcefulness, but also by the spirit and consideration people invested in their projects.”

With $784 million in assets, 80,000 members and 13 branches, SELCO Community Credit Union has (A) the marketing resources to support such a promotion and, (B) a member base big enough to ensure a decent pool of entries. TV ad contests like this could be a struggle for smaller financial institutions to pull off properly.

The Pros of TV Ad Contests:

• “User-generated” promotions are fun and engaging.
• You’ll enjoy a greater range of creativity as compared to more conventional ad-crafting processes.
• You may be very pleasantly surprised, and end up with a runaway hit like Larissa.

Reality Check: Just because a TV spot is popular and wins a vote in a contest doesn’t mean it’s the right spot to run.

The low production quality of most homemade TV spots doesn’t project a very professional image. While a homemade feeling may be appropriate for some credit unions, this style could reinforce common misconceptions about credit unions — e.g., they are small, limited and not full-service.

Bottom Line:

• Only pursue ad contests if you are comfortable with uncertain outcomes. What if you only get two entries? What if all the entries suck?
• When you give the general public control of your advertising messages, you are handing over a large — and very visible — part of your brand strategy. It’s risky. Be sure your organization is cool with this.

A study by Bigresearch says this is what people do when TV commercials come on:

• 41.2% of viewers take a peak at what’s on other channels
• 33.5% talk with others in the room or by phone
• 30.2% mentally tune out
• 5.5% pay attention to commercials

TV’s influence on consumers to purchase products declined, whereas new media options such as web radio, satellite radio, instant messaging and blogging all increased.

The report said also said that people’s consumption of more than one medium at a time is up as much as 35%.

Key Question: If people are tuning out to TV commercials, are they paying attention to online ads?Speaking of online advertising, it seems the financial industry is leading the way:

According to eMarketer.com, “financial services industry dominance of online ad spending is clearly in question for 2008:”

“The December 2007 industry online ad spending data are something of a last gasp,” said David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer. “Those ads were contracted last fall, and the outlook has changed considerably since then.”

The latest TV commercial from Charlotte Metro Credit Union stars Charlotte Bobcats head coach Sam Vincent and player Jared Dudley. They share the stage (or “court,” to be more accurate) with a local professional actress.

This is the third spot in a series from Charlotte Metro that feature NBA stars (previous coverage here).

The $150 million credit union has clearly embraced TV advertising with its sizable investment. Consider the cost of things like celebrity endorsements, a professional production company, location shoots and crowd shots. That stuff isn’t cheap.The spot dwells on two messages: “free checking” and “anyone can join.”

SCRIPT FOR “COACH” :30
Coach Vincent: Okay. It’s Charlotte Metro Credit Union. You know anyone can join right?
Regular Gal: Right!
Coach Vincent: Here’s what you do. Get the free checking. And that gets you the online banking and internet bill pay.
Player Dudley: Anyone can join?
Coach Vincent: What did I just say? Then you can check out other great Metro services like depositing checks from home.
Regular Gal: Got it!
Announcer: Charlotte Metro Credit Union is a proud partner of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats.
Player Dudley: Anyone can join?
Coach Vincent: Yesss…!

Because TV ads are always seen by a large non-member audience, choosing free checking as the spot’s main product offer is logical. But the ad squeezes in some quick blurbs about “online banking” and “home deposit” that viewers aren’t likely to retain. Most people won’t remember more than this: “Bobcats,” “NBA,” “Charlotte Metro,” “free checking,” and “anyone can join.” That’s if they remember that much. It takes a lot to really drive a point home to today’s advertising immune audience.

According to actress Kara Edwards who appeared in the commercial, the spot took a full day to shoot on two locations. It was written by Nathan Tothrow and directed by Joanne Hock of Emulsion Arts. The cinema-quality special effects were added by Tony Elwood of Indievision.

Reality Check: TV ads are effective tools for building brand awareness and shaping perceptions over the long term, but they seldom trigger any direct or immediate reaction from the audience. Be clear about your expectations and objectives before pursuing a television advertising strategy.

It looks like Charlotte Metro is doing things right. They aren’t skimping. They seem to be in the capable hands of partners that can be trusted. And the final product will likely create positive brand associations with a wider audience.

Bottom Line: Good TV ads cost money. First there’s the production, then there’s the media buy. Making cheap spots and/or airing them only a few of times is a complete waste of time and money.

Key Question: How does Charlotte Metro measure the impact or results of TV ad campaigns like this?