Consumers see thousands of marketing messages per day. The goal of any marketer is to have their campaigns stand out among those thousands. For financial institutions, that task may be more difficult than for other industries that sell clothes, food, or luxury goods. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
We’ve found some of the best financial services advertising examples we’ve seen recently. Sometimes the best inspiration for marketing ideas comes from seeing what’s already out there and asking yourself what you like or don’t like about it.
Here are six marketing strategies you can take inspiration from.
These ads from this Prudential Retirement Campaign inject a little bit of humor into their copy, but also speak well to Millennial pain points. Millennials are constantly hearing about how jobs will be automated in the future. They’re also always hearing the stereotype that they’re a lazy, entitled generation. These ads poke fun at those stereotypes and fears by promoting an early retirement lifestyle that only Prudential can make possible. Prudential clearly understands that getting Millennials to use their services now can set the foundation for a lifetime relationship.
We’ve probably all seen these Serena Williams Chase commercials on TV. The premise is that Serena Williams doesn’t take her debit card while working out, so she uses Chase Pay instead. The commercials are memorable because they use an extremely famous person to speak for Chase Pay, and they solve the pain point that many people have when using a debit card on the go.
Of course, we don't all have the budget to hire Serena Williams, but you don't need that big of a celebrity to reach our audience. Local and niche influencers can be just as effective for half the price. Consider who is influential in your community -- it could be a local news anchor, business owner, politician, or even a principal.
For the Venmo’s Blank Me campaign, Venmo took the approach of trying to position themselves as a verb. “Venmo me” is what they’re hoping people will say when sending a peer-to-peer payment. Introducing your brand’s name or a product’s name into the lexicon is a way to create a huge amount of brand recognition. The ads are also attention-getting for the fill-in-the-blank spots that people may want to fill in with other, less appropriate words.
In the south, if you want a soda you always ask for a coke. If we want to blow our nose, we ask for a kleenex. There are many types of financial behaviors that you can brand by innovating an element of it.
These hilarious Frost Bank print ads highlight the perceptions consumers have about the big banks and then attempt to counter those perceptions. With statements like “We want all of your money” and “You can’t trust a bank,” they get consumers attention, but the fine print underneath is all about how Frost defies those expectations.
How to take inspiration from these advertising examples
A lot of the marketing strategies above can be used to come up with creative advertising ideas for credit unions and community banks like yours. In most of the advertising examples we highlighted, the companies try to spotlight a pain point that consumers have with institutions and then show how the business overcomes it with products and services.
Good marketing cuts through the clutter and makes consumers feel like you’re speaking right to them and a problem they’re having. If you need help with coming up with marketing ideas that get attention, reach out to us here.