Bank of America has been in the marketing news more for the way they bundle their advertising and marketing agencies than for the branding itself. Not too many years ago, BofA made news by hiring a holding company — Interpublic Group of Companies – to do its bidding. Not long after Bruce Nelson, an IPG officer, moved to Omnicom and the BofA account followed. Yesterday, it was reported the CMO of Bank of America has decided that the bundled approach is a mistake, not allowing for best-of-breed marketing solutions.
Okay, so what’s the idea?
If you must know, the branding idea for BofA is “Bank of Opportunity.” You’ve seen the TV ads where people are daydreaming about their future and it comes to them through some sort of almost rainbow-like logo’ed window? Say what? Bank of huh?
Bank advertising today is so bad and so lacking in ideas that the only thing left to talk about is the arrangement of the agencies. This category has to change.