The Globe and Mail

Every once in a while an advertising campaign resonates so soundly that consumers start to feel as though they've lived the signage, the slogan, the TV spots, for a lifetime.

So it is with Capital One, which brings to mind a branding message - What's in your wallet? - and impish images of bankers as pocket pickers and rodents.

Given the success of the campaign, analytically and creatively, it comes as a surprise to hear that Capital One has been advertising to Canadian consumers for a scant three years, if you don't count the direct-mail pleas that went flooding into householder mailboxes as fervidly as those letters inviting Harry Potter to Hogwarts.

"The reality is that direct mail is developed to drive response, not necessarily to build a brand," says Clinton Braganza, senior director, marketing and brand, for Capital One Canada. "What I wanted to do was really make Capital One into a top brand within financial services."

The latest branding iteration comes out of DDB Canada, the folks who created "Exterminator." ("Yup, you've got bankers," observes the exterminator of a particularly virulent infestation.)

Caricaturing bankers as vermin solidified what DDB creative director Andrew Simon calls the "exaggerated tongue-in-cheek" attitude of the creative. It also built thematically on the first-round "Hands in My Pocket" commercials, created for the financial services company by Lowe Roche.

"The one constant that we know is there's going to be a 'What's in your wallet' at the end," he says of the corporate direction. "But it's not overly prescriptive ... people aren't setting their PVRs to watch credit card commercials. So it's, like, how do we keep it interesting and still make it meaningful?"

Before we go on, there are some things you should know.

Mr. Simon possesses an eclectic CV, including an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a stint at General Mills (Cocoa Puffs) and displays in his office an eclectic collection of vintage games, including Shmo, a Tumblebum dice game ("I'm a Shmo and that ain't good"), and Spin the Bottle, The Family Edition. ("That's just so wrong," Mr. Simon says.)

The other day a co-worker was headed out of DDB's offices on Bloor Street in Toronto and asked the question that polite co-workers often ask: "Can I get you anything?" To which Mr. Simon responded, "Yes, a pair of men's briefs would be great."

I tell you this because it helps explain why a package of Shengli "soft-touching briefs" with a comically Photoshopped model is positioned on the table between us and provides a small peek into the agency's lead creative mind.

Which is where the devil comes in.

The latest offering out of Capital One is a "no hassle" rewards card, with a no-blackout-dates, no-mile-expiry promise.

"Who doesn't like no hassles, no expiration dates?" Mr. Simon asks. "Given all the hidden fees and hassles [with other cards], this was the second coming. It's when pigs fly. It's holy cow I can't believe this is true."

It's when hell freezes over.

Enter Beelzebub, who has arrived in his first Capital One commercial, awaking in a frozen netherworld and asking the essential question: "How am I going to make s'mores?"

Mr. Simon calls the campaign, which will include two more commercials, billboards, print ads and direct mail, "disruptive with strategic purpose."

Certainly the devil image is disruptive.

"It was like, okay, this is definitely one of those things where the response could be, 'Don't go there,' " he says of the pitch to the Capital One executive team. "We said we definitely want to push this forward because we thought it was very provocative and very meaningful ... a powerful illustration of what this new card is all about. And they embraced it."

"I think all great advertising campaigns start with really great consumer insights," Mr. Braganza says.

"I think in this case they really latched onto that nugget of surprise," he says, "and they came to the table and said, 'Clinton, what's the ultimate surprise?' "

Hell freezing over was the answer, a creative concept that Mr. Braganza says can be effectively extended to all mediums, including the mock newspaper The Daily Burn. (Hell's weather forecast: "Freezing. Still freezing. Here's a shocker ... freezing."

The devil himself needed some tweaking as to his basic nature.

"We didn't want to make it an angry Beelzebub," Mr. Simon says.

"We wanted to take a bit of the edge off by making it funny, [as] when he says, 'There goes poker night.' "

Thinking of the devil is one thing. Making him come alive is another.

"We wanted to make sure the production values were as great as possible," Mr. Simon says.

"Because if we were going to go for it we didn't want to fall short. When you saw it on TV we needed you to say, 'Oh my God. That is cool.' "

It is cool. Shot on the same Universal Pictures lot in Los Angeles as Scarface and The Incredible Hulk, the production company behind the shoot was the renowned Tool of North America, which has hooked up with DDB in Chicago on prior filmic outings.

The result is both cinematic and expensive looking, so much so that Mr. Simon has had to correct the mistaken belief that a U.S. ad shop created the spot and that a whole lot of money was spent. "We were fiscally responsible," he says.

Mr. Braganza, who was on the Universal lot for the shoot, says the result exceeded his expectations.

"I can't wait for the second and third spots to be introduced to Canadians," he says.

What will we see?

"You can expect to see the devil and his sidekick Geoffrey really cope, or attempt to cope with, hell that has frozen over. I'll leave it at that. You can use your imagination."

My imagination extends to curling, due to Capital One's sponsorship of the Grand Slam of Curling series. After all, the devil has already mastered a snow blower.

Mr. Simon is staying mum. One minute he hints at some guerrilla marketing, the next he shuts right up.

"We have," he says, "some plans."