Many large financial services companies opted not to buy expensive advertising airtime during Sunday's Super Bowl, but one small Connecticut company has decided the opportunity was too good to pass up.
Webster Financial Corp., a $10 billion-asset thrift in Waterbury, Conn., bought four 60-second slots on ABC's New Haven affiliate station for a new advertisement featuring local hero Jim Calhoun, head coach of the University of Connecticut's national champion men's basketball team.
The company spent "less than $200,000" for the package, which includes two ads that will run during the game, one that will air during the pre-game show, and one during the local news afterward. The cost of time on local television is far less than the average of $2.2 million that ABC reportedly is charging for each 30-second ad.
This spring the Webster ads are to run during the NCAA basketball tournament. Margaret Steeves, senior vice president of marketing services, said the campaign aims to solidify Webster's brand presence in the state as much larger out-of-state companies such as FleetBoston Financial Corp. and Sovereign Bancorp intensify their efforts to gain market share.
"The ads reinforce our Connecticut heritage," Ms. Steeves said. "This is not so much a sports strategy as it is a Connecticut-roots strategy."
The Super Bowl has long been a favorite for advertisers wanting to launch branding campaigns. Last year Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union Corp. spent $6.4 million - enough to tie for second place with PepsiCo Inc. - to highlight its multimillion-dollar "Come to the Mountain" branding campaign.
But First Union, like other financial services companies, will stay away from advertising during this year's game, partly because of the high cost of airtime and partly because these companies think they can get more impact through other media. Though First Union has TV ads under development, "we are heavily focused on print [advertising] this year," a spokeswoman said.
Webster is counting on the buzz created by clever game-time network ads to attract eyes to its own spots, Ms. Steeves said.
Mr. Calhoun signed a three-year agreement last year to be Webster's celebrity spokesman and began appearing in his first ads for the company just weeks before he led UConn to the NCAA championship.
In the latest ad, part of a series of three spots that will continue to run through the college basketball season, Mr. Calhoun arrives at the doorstep of a suburban family and is invited in to meet with a high school student and his parents. The viewer is led to believe Mr. Calhoun is recruiting a player.
"We're not going to cut corners," Mr. Calhoun says in the ad. "We care about the goals of each person." Then he slides a Webster Bank brochure across the coffee table.
The campaign was developed by Avon, Conn.-based Mintz & Hoke Inc., which has created advertisements for a variety of companies in the Northeast, including Ingersoll-Rand, an industrial equipment maker, and Mohegan Sun, a casino resort.
