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In a slight side-step from Neoco’s staple digital-focused posts, I thought I would air a few comments about a campaign that has almost burnt-out the pixels in my brand new TV, owing to the media buyers who seem to have bought all the slots on More 4 as part of this campaign at the minute. The campaign is for Halifax, whose recent TV ad highlights the £5 payment they offer all their award current account customers each month.

As a Halifax customer, I have to admit that this ad makes me feel genuinely embarrassed, firstly for seemingly entrusting my money to a complete bunch of social outcasts, but also for the poor individuals working for Halifax who have now had this idiotic reflection forced upon them by their marketing department.

I can usually understand the logic behind involving the staff in advertising campaigns – using it as a motivational tool by letting the staff know they are respected and valued, while at the same time appealing to the sensitivities of the consumer by appearing to be a transparent and sharing, caring organization. This has been a strong theme in a lot of above-the-line ads of late, my most memorable being the ongoing Sainsbury’s campaign, and in the main I think it works.

However, this campaign fails to build on the success of the Halifax Howard years, simply because Howard was a genuine employee, clearly having a laugh at his own expense, rallying the workforce to get on board and have a laugh with him. As such, this highlighted Halifax as a bank unafraid of breaking with stuffy banking conventions, clearly focusing on more liberal ways of doing things, whilst always continuing to credit its employees within its advertising. Unfortunately, what this new campaign has done is offer a pedestal to a group of Halifax employees who, rather than spending their days working in the bank (God forbid!), instead work at a Halifax radio station taking calls from other employees who have deluded themselves into thinking they’re in space, simply because they’ve put a waste paper bin on their head. And I’m not even going to mention the ‘high fives’ littered throughout the minute-long ad – I’m sure you can reach your own conclusion.

What DLKW have failed to realize is that the success of the Howard campaign was simply because it offered the consumer a laugh alongside the main sales message, a laugh which was at the expense of an individual rather than reflecting on the company as a whole. In my opinion, this campaign doesn’t offer nearly enough ‘entertainment’ to achieve cut-through with the audience to actually deliver the sales message (I’ve watched this ad 100 times or so now and still needed to re-wind the YouTube video just then to actually figure out what the ad is trying to say!). Not only that, it makes you wonder why you would ever put your money in the hands of a bunch of work-shy monkeys, so even if the message does hit home, you’re immediately going to question it anyway. In short, I’ll be moving my savings account. <Rant ends>