Ads that missed? ... #1

Bankers are funny people, right?

That's why there are so many comedians who are bankers ... and bankers who are natural comedians ...!

Yeah, the comedy clubs are heaving with wannabe funnymen bankers, tired of the humdrum world of pen pushing and answering to the boss, and growing tired of just being one of the "team players".

Hmmm.... if only there was a way out of this situation ........

Well, our friend Howard thought he had grasped the golden goose!

Halifax bank ads - what's the real story?

The commercials feature ordinary Halifax staff members performing song and dance routines with lyrics doctored to advertise Halifax products, as a part of a wide ranging media campaign.

The main star, Howard Brown, was plucked from obscurity working as a Halifax cashier when he was asked to front the bank's promotional efforts as part of the“staff as stars” advertising campaign. The series of adverts that resulted are also frequently voted amongst the most irritating campaigns on TV, regularly appearing alongside Sheila’s Wheels, Churchill and E-Sure ads.
These adverts polarized the target market with an either love it or hate attitude that although they attracted many new customers, equal numbers or more were repelled by them.

It is somewhat ironic, (after revelations of how a lot of bankers conducted themselves prior to the "worldwide financial crisis"), that Halifax used images of singing and dancing bankers in ridiculously “hilarious” settings, over-exuberantly engaging in crazy japes that, in the light of recent revelations, question where their focus of attention really was.

This bank needs to review its corporate image and look for a new approach to advertising. I think it would be more appropriate to adopt a more contrite, honest, and transparent approach to promotion in order to try to salvage some of the bank's reputation, which has earned very negative publicity recently (and pigs will fly, I know...).

The much touted tag-line “Halifax, Always Giving You Extra” really doesn't hold much credibility coming from a bank which can't even support itself. The much publicised fact that Halifax was caught-out overcharging thousands of it's customers, and were very reluctant to pay back the money taken, shows that its actions are in direct contradiction with the company message that it is trying to convey.

I have seen many awful adverts over the years, but this, in my opinion, is particularly pathetic .... by stirring up a froth of frivolity to disguise an otherwise deeply cynical underlying message.