Fun-ancial Services?

Sam

Trident chewing gum has got an interesting approach to its branding. The whole of its communications seem to be based on the theme of having a good time – check out its crazy website if you don’t believe me. I even saw a competition on FHM.com, run by Trident, to win a day’s Zorbing. Sounds like fun.

And that, I suppose, is the general idea for your subconscious. Trident = fun.

It reminds me of how Red Bull started out. The phrase ‘Red Bull gives you wings’ didn’t appear to be enough, and the company now has two Formula One teams, an international Air Race, a British Superbikes team and also has its energy-fuelled little fingers involved in just about every sporty pie there is. Again, the website is filled with examples about how far Red Bull has gone to push its brand.

It got me thinking about the financial services industry – there aren’t many examples of the ‘fun factor’ alive and well in our world. There’s a lot of sports sponsorship, but not many companies depicting out-and-out enjoyment in all that they communicate with potential customers.

Sheilas’ Wheels (disclosure one of our clients) is one name that springs to mind, and we all know how successful Peter Wood’s girls have been with the British public. Sure, silliness and sassiness might not be the way forward for every financial services brand, but it would be nice to see from a select few.

After all the negativity that has surrounded the industry in the past two weeks, it would be nice to see a few finance firms putting some smiles on people’s faces.