I don’t do piggy banks

When you think of an ad for a financial institution, what immediately comes to mind?

There is the woman who dangles keys outside the car window. That’s perfectly natural… sigh… when we get a new car. Then there’s the tiny house – that perfectly square illustration we’ve come to know since we were 3 years old. And then there’s the piggy bank, that clay or plastic oinker we drop coins in that is a natural tie-in to savings.

Yeah, I avoid those clichés like the plague. They rarely are persuasive. For sure they are icons, but they don’t speak with intention, purpose or persuasion. And with these symbols so prevalent in our industry, they no longer grab attention (if they ever really did).

When we advertise our credit union or community bank, it shouldn’t be a simple exchange of information. We’re in the business of changing lives. You need a marketing message that resonates. Here are three real examples:

‘This is Jacked Up’
This was a headline for an auto campaign with a photo of a large pickup truck. It even had lightning bolts along the side of the vehicle. For those members who suffer through “truck envy,” we have every Alpha male’s dream pictured here. The headline, “This is Jacked Up,” applies to not only the vehicle, but the offer to beat the consumer’s current auto rate or receive $100 if the credit union can’t.

 

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