Filling an empty proposition with promise
Many years ago, I judged the Midas Awards, part of the New York Festival. In case you hadn’t heard of them, this award show celebrates the best in Global Financial Services Advertising. I was struck that sometimes you can have the blandest positioning line, but the most outstanding work; it clearly was the case of the emptier the vessel, the easier it is to fill.
Truth be told, financial services is a category often with limited differentiation. The products are largely similar, the rates charged within a few points of each other, and the service offering is much the same with some aspect of technology allowing one institution being able to move slightly ahead of another.
So, when judging how did all these brands position themselves? Overall, the stalls are pretty much set. The large banks offer you control and help; the smaller financial institutions are normally on your side. Or keeping everyone honest. However, there was one real exception to the rule: TD Bank.
TD Bank is quite different. It’s the America’s tenth largest bank and has the line: America’s most convenient bank. Not an amazing promise, not very personal. In fact, it’s just simple and functional.
The difference was when they came to producing work, they brought to life many of the more personal facets of their offering under the umbrella of ‘Bank Human Again’ and from there the campaign(s) we judged were under #MakeTodayMatter. You can see what they did here.
So how does this ladder back to America’s most convenient bank? Everything they did was community based detailing their commitment to the local area and its people. They discovered what people wanted locally and gave them the funds (30k) to fulfill that community-based ambition, but they only had 24 hours to make it happen. Going back to their original positioning it may seem tricky to line up all the threads of the positioning, campaign line and execution in words. The best way is just to look at the videos, the beautiful emotions that detail the help for the disenfranchised, those with mobility issues, kids in foster care and so many more.
The pictures tell the strategy story better than any set of words, leaving you with outtake: we support your dreams as a local. Some years have passed since, judging those awards and fortunately, TD Bank have stuck to their guns. They’ve continued their strategy of being committed to the local community, and are driving real results.
– Dylan Taylor