The Co-op Bank is launching a marketing campaign to mark the 25th anniversary of its customer-led ethical policy.
The campaign, with real customers talking about why they chose the Bank, begins next Monday, 18 September, with a TV ad backed by activity social media.
There will also be online ads – pay-per-click, programmatic and native – and the campaign will also use video on demand, Sky adsmart and Sky advance technology, providing sequential messages to a targeted and engaged audience.
Three ads are being created for use on digital channels only, and there will be direct communications to customers in branches.
The campaign, which was developed by Manchester’s My Clever Agency as creative agency and Sheffield’s Rocket as media agency, will use images, quotes, audio and video of Bank customers, telling why they chose its services, and how much they value its ethical policy.
Marketing director Alastair Pegg said: “This campaign is really poignant and shows how invested our customers are in the values and ethics of the Bank and how much it means to them that we continue with the good work that’s taken place over the years.
“Our ethical difference remains unique among UK high street banks, and our campaign is designed to remind people of the importance of this difference, and thank customers for their contribution.”
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With the Bank accepting a debt-for-equity rescue deal which has reduced the Co-op Group’s stake to 1%, its continued use of the Co-operative name has come under the spotlight.
This has highlighted the importance of the ethical policy, with campaign group Save Our Bank – which wants to return to to co-operative control – stating its intention to “make sure the bank sticks to its customer-led ethical policy”.
And asked by the Co-op News last August if he supported the Bank keeping its name, Ecology Building Society CEO Paul Ellis said: “It’s now up to the Bank to publicly demonstrate that it has earned the right to continue using the co-op name by ensuring that there are safeguards in place to ensure that the Bank retains a genuine commitment to ethical values.”
