Banking's First Life Stage Ad. An Inspiration. A Warning.
In 1970, Crocker Bank in San Francisco was an old fashioned bank with old fashioned customers who had one foot in the grave (sound familiar?).
They were facing competition by other banks who had exactly the same products and exactly the same "traditional" service. If you think we're all a commodity now ... look at banking in the 60's and 70's! This was the age where the biggest toaster won the business.
In short, Crocker had NOTHING of note to offer or advertise. So they turned to Hal Riney and Partners, a local ad agency who decided to focus solely on a younger demographic. They got the Carpenters to write and record a song ... not a JINGLE, but a song ... and created a TV campaign around it. This song, We've Only Just Begun, turned out to be a #1 hit.
The concept was elegantly simply, monumentally groundbreaking and tragically flawed.
You've got a long way to go.We'd like to help you get there.
Simple: All the campaign did was reflect on the target's lives in a way that touched them. No old white guys in pinstripes, no handshakes, no branches, no rates.
Groundbreaking: Crocker Bank differentiated itself from rates and toasters. The target was drawn to the bank in swarms.
Flawed: The bank needed deposits and the 20-something crowd had none to give. What the demo needed were loans and the bank was too conservative to lend to them. The campaign was pulled - but they franchised the campaign to other banks all over the country.
The Lessons:
- Life stage works!
- Banking is 2 parts emotion and 1 part commodity
- Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate
- If you're going to work with an agency, make sure they understand your balance sheet.
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