Abbey National is hijacking every advertising space in the
Independent for a day and launching a major TV campaign as part of a
pounds 10 million repositioning through Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper and TMD
Carat.
The campaign aims to portray Abbey National as an organisation that
understands the role of financial services in the modern world and how
consumers feel about them.
For New Year’s Eve, TMD has brokered a deal to take over the
Independent’s ad space. Free copies of the newspaper will be distributed
in Abbey National branches. The front page of the issue will feature a
strip ad that reads: ’To make life less complicated there’s only one
advertiser in today’s Independent.’
The TV commercials star Alan Davies, the stand-up comedian who co-stars
with Caroline Quentin in the BBC drama series, Jonathan Creek. They
carry the endline: ’Because life’s complicated enough’, which will be
used on all Abbey National’s promotional material, including press and
radio ads.
The TV campaign kicks off on Boxing Day with a 60-second film which
shows how Abbey National is trying to take the stress out of banking. In
the ad, Alan Davies is cycling through a country village with his kitten
when he spies a quaint pub. He stops for refreshment, but when he goes
in he finds the pub is full of threatening, leather-clad bikers.
It looks as if he has made a bad mistake until one of the bikers
explains that, because Abbey National staff don’t take their lunch hour
when he does, he is not angry and aggressive any more.
’Because financial institutions and products can seem a little cold and
impersonal, a face can unify a lot of different and sometimes complex
messages. Alan Davies is perfect for this in that he manages to
personify a lateral view of life while at the same time striking a chord
with us all,’ Mark Wnek, the creative director of Euro RSCG, said.
The ads were created by Wnek, Nigel Rose and Dominic Gettins. They were
directed by John Lloyd through Limelight.
