by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Banking is hardly something I get excited about, let alone consider ‘fun’. The latest campaign from Standard Bank starts out feeling a little like those ‘Maths is Fun’ or ‘Reading is Fun’ books we used to get at primary school. Except it actually works.
The TV ad brings a smile to the face, and—thanks to great creative—makes a good selling point. The campaign has been rolled out to other channels including outdoor billboards, featuring at least one of the ‘Sesame Street’ type characters — the blue one, to go with the bank’s brand colour.
The ad takes the viewer back to a time when the world was magical, and for those of us whose parents used to sometimes take us into town, (keeping 5-cent pieces in the ashtray for the parking meters), it’s a particularly nostalgic trip.
The star of the TV commercial is undoubtedly the little girl. She embodies the joy and innocence of childhood, skipping along beside her dad, whose face is rarely glimpsed. The camera is almost always focussed on her, when it’s not seeing what’s in her mind’s eye.
The creative team from TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris and Egg Films did an amazing job of recreating an early 80s downtown 
Johannesburg. Bear in mind, it was Standard Bank that pioneered ATMs in South Africa, way back in 1981. It was also among the first to introduce telephone and online banking. This ad is a nod to that history, as much as it introduces a product that would have seemed magically futuristic back then.
In the ad, the little girl imagines all sorts of creatures and surprises. It’s a world where VW Beetles send out ‘whack-a-mole’ sliders for her to jump over at the pedestrian crossing; where giant slinkies jump from one building’s roof to the next; where a long-haired man transforms into a golden maned lion having a chat with a lady with a birthday cake for a hat. There is a pink creature peeping up at her from manholes, an orange creature hiding in an orange phone booth, and a great big blue creature peers around the corner of a building.
To top it all, there is a fantastic soundtrack, which I assumed was a Louis Armstrong classic. But it turns out it’s an original composition, created by Rich Aronson.
Aronson is a South African based in Los Angeles, who specialises in replicating musical styles from different eras, from the 40s to the 80s; using vocal mimics and some of the same session musos that the top acts use — sometimes even members of the original bands, if they’re still around.
The story ends when the little girl and her dad arrive at their destination: a Standard Bank ATM. She breaks free and runs towards it, as it transforms into a great big, whistling, tweeting robot, with steam coming out of his ears. Here the first voice over comes in: “Remember when you first felt excited about banking? It’s time to feel like that again.”
The story jumps to the present, cutting from the keypad of the ATM to the touch-screen of a tablet: the little girl, now grown up, is logging in with her new Standard Bank tablet app. She glances up as a man walks past: in her mind’s eye he has a lion’s tail — and she smiles to herself. The voice-over promises that the app will “put the joy back into managing your finances.”
It’s a well-executed ad, one that delivers its message with flair. The old Johannesburg look is done to a tee, from the road signs to the clothing and the hairstyles. You can even spot a guy with a floral shirt and a fanny-pack (remember those?).
The ad certainly bears up to repeated viewing, with all its charming little touches and creatures. Ably directed by Slim with cinematography by Tim Pike; and I guess I should give a nod to art director Nicola Taylor for the great work on ‘retro’ Jo’burg* (update: Keenan McAdam was the art director on the set). The executive CDs were Adam Livesy and Matthew Brink, and the CD was Mike Groenewald.
A truly fantastical little story that connects the magic of childhood with the magic of modern technology. Kudos.
Ad of the Week, published on MarkLives every Wednesday, is penned by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki), the CEO of Ornico, a Brand Intelligence® firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand research.
If you are involved in making advertising that is smart, funny and/or engaging,
please let Oresti know about it at info@ornicogroup.co.za.
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