I recently stumbled across an old The Co-operative Bank advert from the mid- ‘90s. It was reminiscent of those creepy PSA videos that traumatised us all as kids.
Much like those videos, this eerie, black-and-white advert stuck in my mind. It features a typical-looking man staring straight at the camera and asking, “What’s the difference between The Co-operative Bank and the other major banks?”
Then it cuts to a solider kicking a civilian. Back to him: “Is it that we have 24-hour telephone banking?” A tank rolls down a street to the sound of screams in the background. “Is it our network of high-street branches?”
“Is it that we have the use of over 6,000 link cash machines?” Cue more pictures of soldiers, bombs, smoke and blood flashing across the screen. “Or is it that we promise never to invest our customers money in countries with oppressive regimes?”
All the comments on this video praised the advert for how well done it was, but one stuck out to me and summed it up perfectly: “It’s not about the advert though, it’s the business practices. That’s what we want back, not the advert.”
Look, my job isn’t to critique or criticise business practices but one of the things I look at is the challenges that marketers face. And I know marketers have it tough: limited budgets, crowded markets, endless pressures to stand out. So why not make marketers’ lives earlier?
Marketing can be wild and attention-grabbing, but if the business isn’t actually doing what it’s advertising, what’s the point? How can marketers create campaigns that claim “we care” when everyone can see otherwise?
We all know authenticity is everything in financial services. But you don’t build authenticity by putting a promise on a screen and quietly breaking it behind the scenes.
You build it by actually keeping that promise. You don’t need a million-pound campaign to prove you care. You just care.
This is particularly relevant in today’s age where customers:
- Have reams of information at their fingertips
- Scrutinise brands harder than ever
- Have choices – if they don’t like what you stand for, they’ll take their money elsewhere
That means customers can Google, screenshot and tweet what your brand values are faster than you can put out a campaign claiming them.
Now, I’m not talking about cute slogans claiming a product can give you wings as most people don’t dig deeper and criticise those claims (well, except for that one lawsuit).
I’m talking about your core values. Customers do pay attention to who you are as a brand and what you stand for. If you want to be seen as sustainable, don’t get caught in the headlines for polluting a river. If your marketing screams “we care about our employees” while your business actions scream otherwise, the marketing is pointless.
No amount of creative wizardry, snappy copy or award-winning design will make up for broken promises.
That’s exactly why The Co-operative Bank’s advert worked. It said it wouldn’t invest in oppressive regimes, and it didn’t.
In fact, the bank introduced its Ethical Policy in 1992 (which still stands today) promising customers that their money would not fund, among other things, human rights abuses, animal testing of cosmetics and the arms sales to oppressive regimes.
Crucially, that policy was shaped by customers themselves, based on a survey of what they did and didn’t want their money used for.
Because the business understands what customers care about and because it lives its values, suddenly the marketing becomes effortless.
When that happens, campaigns write themselves. Creative decisions are guided by what the business actually does. You don’t have to invent gimmicks or overthink angles to look “authentic.” The story is already there, and marketers’ role is just to tell it rather than sell it.
So maybe the lesson from The Co-operative Bank’s advert isn’t “how to make a memorable ad,” but “how not to waste your marketing budget”.
If you actually live the values you’re advertising, your marketing writes itself. No tanks, screaming or black-and-white nightmares required.
This appeared in Issue 15 of the Financial Promoter magazine. To be one of the first to read it, subscribe here: Subscribe – Financial Promoter