Bank of America Corp. is expected to announce its new advertising campaign today though the company may have tipped its hand to the its theme in a filing last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The $1.46 trillion-asset Charlotte company filed an application Feb. 13 to copyright the phrase "Your Bank of Opportunity." Such a slogan could cause confusion with that of BB&T Corp., a $121 billion-asset company in Winston-Salem, which unveiled the tagline "There's Opportunity Here" last March.
B of A reportedly is ready to move away from the marketing tagline "Higher Standards" with an ad expected to run Sunday night during the Academy Awards.
A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment specifically on the new tagline but reiterated that the company is working on a new branding strategy. BB&T spokesman Bob Denham said the company does not talk about its competitors and will not "engage in discussions regarding intellectual property."
BB&T switched to the Raleigh, N.C., ad agency Rockett, Burkhead & Winslow in June 2005, and B of A moved to Omnicom Group two months later.
James Ashworth, the creative director at Woodbine Agency in Winston-Salem, said it is "very likely" that the phrase could emerge as part of the B of A campaign, though there is no guarantee. In an interview he described the possible tagline as "unoriginal" for Bank of America and "unfortunate" for BB&T. The latter could seek a cease-and-desist order, he said, but would have to wait until the campaign begins. B of A "would probably withstand" a legal challenge, he added.
