Sullen Brian has a kid, rolls around in the dunes with his missus and invests in his dream, in no particular order. Gung-ho Jane, meanwhile, goes abroad and gets sprayed on by elephants. As AIB’s Brian’s and Jane’s Lives commercials showed, television ads for banks say next to nothing about particular services.
With splurges of feelgood images they deal mostly in generalities, creating an atmosphere sufficiently spiritual and sedative to entice the suggestible hordes to invest their savings.
Press ads are more specific. There are three types: business market ads, sponsorship ads and personal market ads, of which Ulster Bank’s current communication aimed at the parents of potential young savers is a classic example.
Like most ads of its kind, it is self-consciously understated; but as it happens, it is just a little too smug for its own good. Apart from that it is intelligent, informative and good looking enough to get those interested to contact their local branch to find out more.
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Its centrepiece is a simple, starkly shot euro coin dolled up to look like a young bird or chick, the metaphor for a young child making its first innocent steps towards financial independence.
“Watch them take their first steps towards saving,” goes the headline, complementing the image, which also alludes to a nest egg and, subliminally, the ugly duckling (and its transformation).
The line might be saccharine, but despite itself is the sort of thing that appeals to many parents. It has a fairytale quality about it that draws the reader into the main story in the body copy. This has its head very much on its shoulders. “Start them saving early and it’s a good habit that could stay with them for life,” it advises. Like the ad, made by AFA O’Meara, it is as strong, manipulative and superficially straightforward as an old-style bank manager.