Anatomy of truth
Privatbank Bär Prioritizes Credibility and Lets the Advertising Bear Go
Privatbank Bär focuses on credibility and dismisses the advertising bearBy Luca AloisiAfter 15 years, the private bank Julius Bär has parted with its emotional bear campaign. A formally simple copy campaign by JvM/Limmat has taken over, designed to inspire confidence in the bank and position it closer to the zeitgeist.
An advertising era is coming to an end. And precisely in this nasty climate, in which the "bears" have to cut another 150 jobs. Mike Williams' cartoon bear, which has humorously embodied the brand values of the Zurich-based private bank since 1987, did not fall victim to the red pencil, however; he was sent into retirement for "reasons of age".
After reviewing all communication tools in the course of a rebranding, the marketing managers came to the conclusion that the emotional element was no longer able to accurately capture the zeitgeist and the core messages. In addition, bears are increasingly being used for consumer goods, including toilet paper. "The time was ripe for a new impulse. The new, simple campaign makes it possible to refer to current events with short texts," says Markus Halper, Head Communications.
Lower costs for a higher switching frequency?
The surprise effect was not lost when, at the beginning of the year, the beautifully centered lines appeared on salmon-colored panorama advertisements: "We don't want to show you laughing people in our advertising. We want you to laugh yourself."
However, anyone who has looked at the campaigns of financial institutions recently - Bordier & Cie., for example, advertises with faces of grumpy-looking bank customers - cannot gain much from this credo; currently, no institution is trying to build trust with nice-sounding promises.
If the sober appearance of Bank Julius Baer has not yet succeeded in attracting attention with fundamentally new content, it does at least formally stand out from the competition. However, with the claim "True to you", with which the team around CD Urs Schrepfer wants to focus on the credibility of the company founded in 1890, one is inclined to ask back: "Does this story ring true to you?" Honesty and conciseness are best read in the copy motif about the "difficult years", which is based on the weekly report by Peter Horlacher, Communications Private Banking at Julius Baer: "The anatomy of a price bubble".
Halper does not want to comment on the fact that Julius Baer Holding, whose net profit shrank by 41 percent in 2001, is now also trimming its advertising budget by keeping production costs low for the new campaign. According to Media Focus, Julius Baer was one of the big spenders among private banks in 2002.
An advertising era is coming to an end. And precisely in this nasty climate, in which the "bears" have to cut another 150 jobs. Mike Williams' cartoon bear, which has humorously embodied the brand values of the Zurich-based private bank since 1987, did not fall victim to the red pencil, however; he was sent into retirement for "reasons of age".
After reviewing all communication tools in the course of a rebranding, the marketing managers came to the conclusion that the emotional element was no longer able to accurately capture the zeitgeist and the core messages. In addition, bears are increasingly being used for consumer goods, including toilet paper. "The time was ripe for a new impulse. The new, simple campaign makes it possible to refer to current events with short texts," says Markus Halper, Head Communications.
Lower costs for a higher switching frequency?
The surprise effect was not lost when, at the beginning of the year, the beautifully centered lines appeared on salmon-colored panorama advertisements: "We don't want to show you laughing people in our advertising. We want you to laugh yourself."
However, anyone who has looked at the campaigns of financial institutions recently - Bordier & Cie., for example, advertises with faces of grumpy-looking bank customers - cannot gain much from this credo; currently, no institution is trying to build trust with nice-sounding promises.
If the sober appearance of Bank Julius Baer has not yet succeeded in attracting attention with fundamentally new content, it does at least formally stand out from the competition. However, with the claim "True to you", with which the team around CD Urs Schrepfer wants to focus on the credibility of the company founded in 1890, one is inclined to ask back: "Does this story ring true to you?" Honesty and conciseness are best read in the copy motif about the "difficult years", which is based on the weekly report by Peter Horlacher, Communications Private Banking at Julius Baer: "The anatomy of a price bubble".
Halper does not want to comment on the fact that Julius Baer Holding, whose net profit shrank by 41 percent in 2001, is now also trimming its advertising budget by keeping production costs low for the new campaign. According to Media Focus, Julius Baer was one of the big spenders among private banks in 2002.
