WAMU Says Other Bankers Are Like Gerbils


To watch the commercials, go to:
http://www.trappedbanker.com/wamu.htm

We all know the Washington Mutual’s commercials, it is their largest to date; they are funny, creative, memorable, one of a kind, and cohesive. The premise of ‘stodgy‘bankers who are kept in a pen and fed champagne through an oversized gerbil bottle to shut them up; stereotypical, old, fat, men with English accents, named Charles try to be a WAMU banker, but can’t take that WAMU is giving away free checking, and over withdrawal fees, rips off his WAMU uniform and returns to his banker buddies. WAMU’s message is that their agenda isn't purley for their monetary benefit, they want to make things easier on their customer, make them pay less, and they want to be seen differently than the typical money-hungry and greedy bankers.
From Payment News:
"The overall campaign launch is designed to break through the clutter and reach out to consumers," said Chris Matthews, Washington Mutual senior vice president of advertising and brand. "At the end of the day, consumers are the ones who benefit from the convenience and value never before seen in a free checking account."

I think that they all the commercials are right on. It successfully brings a different, positive light to the stuffy banker façade. All of the commercials make the campaign cohesive and powerful. Boasting ‘free’ everything’s, it seems like WAMU is the first to advertise its consumer-friendly-benefits-side. The creative advertising team said that they came up with the idea, but WAMU wanted them to push it further, so they went bigger. I think it works so well because it’s a new way to look at these bankers and because it’s in this light that we want to see our own bankers.

Interested to know more? Read and learn more about the campaign here:
http://www.paymentsnews.com/2006/03/wamu_launches_a.html

To hear what others have to say:
http://viewtank.blogspot.com/2006/03/washington-mutual-commercials-funny-or.htmlhttp://scrutinator.blogspot.com/2006/06/wamu-ads-leftist-caricature.html
http://www.adjab.com/2006/08/21/wamu-serves-champagne-in-a-rabbit-bottle/