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.
