Mangesh Someshwar and Sunil Drego joined forces as an art-copy team quite by default when, after spending over 3 years in Leo Burnett, an internal restructuring landed them in the same group. They have worked together ever since. The duo moved to Grey a year and a half ago where they work on Deutsche Bank, Parle and Kinetic. Some of their recent work includes campaigns for Deutsche Bank, Melody Chocolates and the recently released television spots for Ambuja Cement. Read their perspective on financial advertising, which according to them can be an altogether different ball game

Imagine walking into a bar with your best friend. There’s just one person inside – a gorgeous young blonde, sitting on a barstool in a short red dress. Your friend gets an urgent call. He needs to disappear for an hour. Talk to her in the meantime, he says. Your mind works like lightning. You’re going to turn on the charm. You’ll crack a joke. Start a casual conversation. Compliment her on her eyes. You’ll talk about your childhood, your hobbies, the cute pup you never had. You’ll talk about your job. Even the weather will be fun to discuss.

Now imagine the barstool held a stern 200-pound woman from Bulgaria.

Welcome to the world of financial advertising. A world where the consumer is quite a different animal. He has a different mindset. He speaks a language you’re not too familiar with. Suddenly, Levis-like antics are out of the question. Nike-like passion seems a little improbable. And try greeting a financial analyst after a hard day’s work with a throaty WASSSSSSUP and God help you. The task of conversing with the woman from Bulgaria – like the lady herself – assumes Herculean proportions.

But then, that’s exactly where the challenge lies. If you cannot do roll-over-with- laughter kind of humour, it simply means you need to come up with a good enough insight to be remembered. Because chances of

doing a ‘wassssssup’ are not too promising, one must resort to other ways of occupying the consumer’s mind space. It could be a smart use of colours or a novel treatment. It could be a mnemonic. The three-dimensional logo in the Deutsche Bank campaign is just one of several possibilities. Having a product differentiator, naturally, works to your advantage. But the need for creativity, ironically, is even more applicable when it comes to financial advertising.

Over the years Nike, Levis and Budweiser have created path breaking advertising that most of us are in love with. But MasterCard, with one mother of an insight and countless endearing executions is no less memorable. While advertising has done a commendable job in making white and orange synonymous with a global telecom brand, the advertising for HSBC can lay claim to an achievement that’s certainly no less significant.

There’s no denying it – financial advertising will always be a different ball game. The guidelines will stay. The list of dos and don’ts will only get longer. And focus groups, bigger. But at the end of the day, the ground rules of advertising will still apply. As long as you are relevant and interesting, advertising should hit home. No matter whether you are selling a powerful cruiser or launching the newest retail bank in town.