November 7, 2006When Kool-Aid meets Medical-Aid
Filed Under: New Branding
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Anyone who has ever accused marketers of overdosing on their own kool-aid, being insular and/or being too close to their own brand obviously never worked for Bank of America (of which I am an inherited customer through Fleet Bank)
Have you ever heard of Michelle Sheppard? She's leading the team in the North East.
"Priceless!"
So come on y'all, please help Jim DuBois and Ethan Chandler get on the Today Show.
They deserve it.
Big hat tip to Thomas Sherman
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Comments
wow.
Posted by: Paul McEnany
The best is the crowd reaction as the camera pans out.
Posted by: jJ
Some things sound like a good idea at the time I suppose. Then they are caught on video and shared with the world.
All I can say is "ugh." How overly earnest and creepy. Seeing guys in shirtsleeves and ties turning a soft-rock ballad into a company jingle is terrifying. I kept waiting for the punchline...and it never came.
I need a shower.
Posted by: David Jones
has no one seen the office. uk branch, natch.
he's really getting into it though. i think they followed up with freelove highway.
Posted by: Ed Lee
OMG! Reason #3,927 why I'm going to get rid of my BOA credit card ASAP. They inherited me via MBNA, which I only kept because it was my first card out of collge and needed the longevity for my credit rating.
My favorite line is, "We're going to make lots of money." Not on me you're not. Between the recent flack about putting a customer in jail in San Francisco and the unflattering comparison to Wells Fargo in Jim Collin's "Good to Great", BOA is the LAST bank I'd ever want to be a customer of.
Posted by: Joel Greenberg
Woohooo. I wish i would have been there. I would have thrown up the hand gestures for "metal" and been like "FUCK YEAH!!!!"
I probably would have been escorted out, but it would have been worth it. Day dreams...
Really though. There are a lot of good ideas, but they're just not really thought out the whole way. This is the result.
Impressive would have been having U2 do that song. U2 a politically active band playing a song about taking money from the consumer during a merger. Something doesn't sound right.
Oh well ::signs metal:: ONNNNNNEEEEE!
Posted by: Joseph Szala
I worked for a headhunting firm that specialized in placing bank employees...
guess who was an easy bank to recruit commercial loan officers out of?
*ding ding ding* you're right, Bank of America!
It's also interesting that whenever a big bank (US Bank, Wells, WaMu, B of A) buys a smaller bank the good, experienced guys tend to leave to another small-mid sized bank.
Posted by: Peter C
Bono wont laugh al the way to the bank.
Love it... did link to it.
Posted by: Stefan Engeseth
I've seen this popping up everywhere. My question is...does anything wonder whether the thing might be a viral and not real? The multiple camera set-ups? The lighting that's just a bit too perfect? The editing? How many people have been to a corporate function with this kind of film set-up in place?
Hmmmm.....
Posted by: theo kie
This was a brilliant, well-planned strategy to build awareness of the merge.
Think about it...how many of us know about the merge? And they didn't burn millions of dollars in traditional media like most other companies who announce a merge.
We can laugh all we want at how ridiculous this is, which it is, but BOA obviously achieved their objective.
Once again, this is brilliant marketing.
Posted by: mk
I don't know if I agree with you mk.
I considered your theory but this would be predicated on the fact BofA believed this would "go viral" (ugggh) - a production risk arguably worth taking.
I guess the question is whether you would give the powers that be credit for this premeditated plan.
Either way, did you see the general comments? Pretty negative for the most part...which would pose the question, "was this worth it?"
Also, in terms of awareness...who exactly needed to know about this merge and why would we care?
Posted by: jJ
Yes, I saw the general comments. All have to say is - Chevy Tahoe.
I'm not saying that everything about the stunt was ideal - they should have excluded the line about "making lots of money." But I think they achieved more than just awareness. They achieved something that financial institutions have long strived to become - "more human" and less bank-like. Think Citi's Live Richly campaign, who's primary goal was position Citi as a brand that understood that there's more to life than money.
While you can defineitly argue whether BOA's stunt embodied the right characteristics of being human, they certainly became more human...and more human means more approachable. And for a bank to be considered more approachable is a huge stride forward for the brand!
Posted by: mk
