There comes a point in even the most creative advertising when campaigns transition from creative to stale. Take a leisurely jaunt through some popular old campaigns on YouTube: “Where’s the Beef” spots from Wendy’s. The Fedex fast-talker spots. Or the Bartles and Jaymes “Thank you for your support” spots. All of these did a great job of catching your attention with something different … for a while. But after the marketers squeezed every last bit of marketing magic out of the campaigns, they shelved them. Some may have even had a little life left in them, but the marketers knew that retiring them before they got tired was better than extending the campaigns to the point of exhaustion.
This week in the Des Moines Register, Community Choice Credit Union revived the print-version of their “Bills” campaign. This campaign has won several local and national awards since it launched in 2005. However, after four years of Joe-Six-Packs squeezing into shorts and tank-tops to play in the snow, dance in the studio and cavort on the playground it’s time to move on. If a campaign has ever exhausted every angle, it’s this one. It was funny four years ago because it was different and unexpected. It’s now officially stale.
The fact that that they’re advertising indicates that Community Choice seems to be in a better financial position than many of its competitive financial institutions. My guess is, even if they don’t change their marketing campaign, they will likely increase their market share because they have a much higher “share of voice” in the marketplace due to the fact that their competitors have almost no voice. However, with everything that has changed in the financial world over the past couple years, there is a tremendous opportunity for someone like Community Choice – who obviously isn’t afraid to step out-of-the-box – to grab more market share while their competitors cower in the corner. But you can’t do that by doing the same thing you’ve been doing for four years. As self-help guru Tony Robbins says: ”If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
Our challenge to you, Community Choice: Retire the Bills. Shelve the campaign. Move on to something different.
Congrats Community Choice Credit Union, you are Worst of the Week!
Author: Tom Flynn III
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This perhaps shows my lack of taste, but I like the Bills campaign. It's low production value corresponds with its low-class, wife-beater-wearing subjects, and it makes a point. I dunno, it's just a little escapism TV. I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Now Whylie's ads, that's a different story….but I digress.
Thanks for the input Claire, but even the best ad campaigns get stale after a while. Best example is the Apple "Think Different" campaign of several years ago. That was a great campaign. Simple. Well executed. But at some point, Apple decided it had run its course and they had to move on to something new. I suspect their very successful "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" campaign will reach the same point soon. Markets change. Competitors change. Strategies change. A lot has changed in the financial world over the past 2 years. Strategy and message need to evolve with all those changes.
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