Welcome to the "Bank of Bullshit!"

Loved reading this bit about the Bank of America launching its largest advertising campaign during the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday. Apparently the bank's theme for the campaign is dubbed "Bank of Opportunity." According to B of A, the brand positioning reflects the company's business strengths and global presence. Wow… That’s pretty damn powerful shit. But here’s the best bit… Straight from the CEO’s mouth… "We see the opportunities that our customers see, and our ability to help them realize those opportunities defines our success, Bank of Opportunity articulates a powerful value proposition that acknowledges our unique ability to understand and anticipate customer needs, to develop products and services that meet those needs and then to deliver for the customer better than any other financial institution in the country." I wonder why these CEO fuckers have to talk gibberish. Maybe they can’t help it. It’s probably an essential part of every business school’s MBA curricula. Anyway, I wish they’d just shut the fuck up!

.

.

The "Bank of Oportunity" is on the line. Something about foreclosing on your mortgage!

Comments

[marinobean]

B of A is doing same as Chase same as every other bank...they don't want to be seen as, heard as or thought of as "a bank". they want to be a "financial institution", like Amex. that has caché, panache and all those other $2.98 words that are meant to make you glow in the eyes of your public.

after all, as a bank, all they can really do is invest you money for their profit at low yield interest to you and cash your checks and answer questions about your direct deposit, dispense equity loans and all that boring crap.

as a financial institution they do all the same boring stuff but make TV spots about how fabulously they do it in exotic locales and with tons of CG effects with acres of overly dramatic phrases, like "bank of opportunity" and music by the Rolling Stones. see?

[Scott Crawford]

Ahhhhhhh, yes, the highly polished elevator pitch. Rubbish, sure. But don't blame it on the poor old, overpaid CEO. He's likely just delivering the brand spiel concocted by the "messaging" experts, fed by the brand differentiators at the agency.

[Bob]

BOA's chef marketing person used to be an AE on John Hancock at Hill Holliday. Right when Heater and Easdon did the brilliant "Real life, real answers."

So then Fleet hires Fleet gets eaten by BOA, and she's given the top position there.

Here's my question: Everybody in advertising knows that Heater and Easdon were the geniuses on Hancock. So why do AEs always get hired by clients as the chief ad or marketing person?

Shouldn't the creatives who actually created the work be the ones recognized?

[George Parker]

Bob...
What the hell is wrong with you aking logical questions like that... This is advertising, there is no relationship to logic or even common sense.
I think you should sign up for an MBA course at a "Real" bbusiness school. Then when you have mastered Power Point and Bullshit, you can get a proper job in a BDA. If you need a reference, I can sell you one for a few K.
Cheers/George

[Tangerine Toad]

The spot itself was actually pretty cool, people looking through the glass and seeing themselves in the future (okay it got really corny about halfway through, but the first half was sort of intriguing)

But the problem I have with bank ads like that, is that I don't believe them. No one does. It's a fucking bank. Period. They don't make you save any harder or send you to college. They make it diffficult for you to do just about anything that involves a real person and they hold on to your out of state checks for weeks, earning interest on the float.
Citibank's campaign works because it doesn't promise anything it can't deliver on. (Though the problem there is that the real Citibank is nastier and surlier than just about any bank out there-- nothing like the warm funny bank in the advertising.)

[marinobean]

wow. talk about a love-hate relationship...