A midsize Ohio bank is using humor to attract high-net-worth investors to its revamped investment unit.
An advertising campaign by Provident Bank, Cincinnati, focuses on the customer service and personalized attention that the $9.5 billion-asset bank says it can offer. The effort is taking shape a year and a half after the bank brought all its nontraditional banking services under the umbrella of Provident Capital Management.
To promote its investment services, the bank is running three ads in Cincinnati's two daily newspapers, a handful of national magazines, and on the radio. Two of the ads promote the capital management unit; the third focuses on an equity portfolio in Provident's $400 million-asset Riverfront Funds family.
One ad features a worried-looking dog at a computer terminal telling his canine sidekick, "Get serious, Fido." What's the problem? "We've got a conference call with a client who wants to switch to Provident Capital Management because their advisers meet with them face-to-face," the dog explains.
The ad goes on to say, "If you're not enjoying the personal attention you deserve, you should call on the investment professionals at Provident Capital Management."
"We think it's just now time to tell our story a little better to the community," said Gary W. Queen, senior managing director of the unit, which includes the bank's broker-dealer subsidiary, its investment advisory firm, and the six Riverfront Funds.
Provident Capital Management has about $9.3 billion of assets under administration. "Obviously we're looking for growth," Mr. Queen said.
Humor can be an effective advertising technique, some observers said. It advances the idea of a cordial relationship, said Gary S. MacDonald, vice president of the business development unit at Funds Distributor Inc., a Boston company that offers a range of services to mutual fund companies. "The financial services industry can be a little intimidating for a lot of people," he said.
Still, using humor can be tricky.
The questions really are, "How well you do it and when do you pull the plug?" said William O. Adcock, chairman of Synergistics Research Corp., a market research firm in Atlanta. "I think it can be effective, but it's got to be really well done, and there's got to be a heavy rotation to keep it from going stale."
Provident Bank's campaign, developed by Sierra Communications Group LLC, an advertising agency in Wilton, Conn., is an extension of a theme crafted by the bank in September 1997, "the simple truth about banking." This was designed to deepen traditional banking relationships, a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Provident Securities and Investment Co., the bank's broker- dealer subsidiary, is beefing up operations, Mr. Queen said. This year it began licensing about 50 bankers to sell mutual funds and 100 to sell annuities.
The brokerage also employs 20 full-service brokers and six discount traders.
