What's in your wallet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drqO8aySdFg
I thought the first few Capital One commercials were pretty funny with using the Vikings. I could not find a whole lot of the ones that were good before they went downhill, but the one I provided was a pretty good example.
It was a cool imagery for the idea behind the Vikings. I presume the Vikings were the cruel malevolent bankers, which are greedy. In the commercials they were on their escapade towards the victims and just as they reached them they turned out to be "No Hassle" protected by their Capital One credit card. That always foiled the Vikings, bankers, and usually some Vikings would pout or stubble idiotically in show of defeat. In one instance, in another one of these commercials, a viking slammed his weapon upon another's viking helmet in frustration and some other one fell out of a nearby tree. Comical I think.
Unlike other credit card companies, American Express, Capital One were more so targeting the middle class crowd of consumers. That group looking for a better way to "get by" or get ahead of the cruel enemy. As American Express were more geared to the idea of success and what can take your there.
I only wish I could have found the early ones, those were the best in my opinion.
In the commercial the woman is concerned with interest rates at the time when the group of vikings show up. I don't watch much tv so I haven't seen these before. I thought it was pretty effective. I think that topic of discussion is one that many parents talk about. It is something that the common man can relate to, and the stampede of vikings illustrate the idea of interesting rates pouring in and "attacking." They are stopped in their tracks by the Capitol One card. Overall I think this is a pretty straight-forward idea which doesn't leave anything to the imagination (which is good in this case) and it gets its point across successfully.
Submitted by lcsnare on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 02:05.You made a good point. I mentioned bankers, but your relation with the vikings and the interest rates are more accurate. I didn't distinguish bankers that accompany those pesky interest rates.
Submitted by colgrunt on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 12:33.I definitely agree with you that the recent commercials have become much less entertaining than the first ones. I don't know if it was lack of originality or if it simply had gotten old, maybe both. I do think that they were effective, though. It seems to me their goal is to shed light on the tedious, fine-lined nature of credit cards, particularly in this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0zSmk631g
This can be effective in getting customers because it makes it seem like your company has no problem being honest compared to the other credit card companies.
Submitted by glmaster on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 07:33.Ha, I think both. In that respect I think that's why they went to the topic of the tediousness of fine line policices and "abide by" guidelines. I'm glad they still keep it humorous, but I agree that it's effective. They address an issue that customers dread to deal with.
Submitted by colgrunt on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 12:23.One credit card commercial that sticks out in my mind is the Citi Bank identity theft commercials.
The commercials I've seen before depict credit card and identity theft victims. The victims represent a large demographic - men, women, black, white, young, and elderly. In the commercial, the victim is accompanied by an obvious voice over of an identity thief that mocks victims while bragging about benefiting from the stolen victims property and services.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KERwnA8VfFM
Submitted by XxscxX on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 10:31.Yeah, these were awesome when the first several came out. Identity Theft being another huge deal with skeptical customers. These Citi Bank commercials were effective, and kept the message obvious but masked it in humor/probably not so much humor for the victims.
Submitted by colgrunt on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 12:29.