The New England Patriots did not make it to the Super Bowl this year, but Boston's Eastern Bank did.
The $6.6 billion-asset Eastern will kick off its multimillion-dollar branding campaign with a 60-second television spot that will air four times on the local CBS station during Sunday's game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears.
Super Bowl ad time is the most expensive on television, and few companies the size of Eastern's parent, Eastern Bank Corp., ever get in the game. At least one other banking company will kick off a branding campaign during Sunday's matchup, but it is significantly larger than Eastern - the $102 billion-asset PNC Financial Services Group Inc.
Like Eastern, PNC bought regional airtime for the two TV spots it will run. PNC is keeping most of the details quiet but said the spots would be seen in all its retail markets.
Neither Eastern nor PNC would say how much they spent.
The cost of regional advertising is hefty, but it is significantly less than the national rate, which is estimated at $2.6 million for 30 seconds. Costs vary widely according to market and other factors, making estimates difficult.
Joe Bartolotta, Eastern's senior vice president for marketing and public relations, said his company paid well below an estimate that appeared in a Boston newspaper, which pegged local airtime at $150,000 for a 30-second slot.
Eastern's ad is expected to be seen by 2 million viewers in southern New Hampshire and eastern and central Massachusetts. Mr. Bartolotta said the bank would have to run it at least 10 times on other programs to get the same impact. (Click
"You're reaching a lot of people at once, and you're reaching a lot of people who are watching television for the commercials," he said. "Is it a lot of money? Yeah, but we're a bank, and we've done the math. We know it's a cost-effective way of reaching our audience."
The 60-second spot - which introduces "True Blue" as a new tagline for the company - will air at the end of the second quarter and three other times before and after the game. The theme, a play on Eastern's corporate color, is meant to position the company as honest, loyal, and genuine.
The spot features a montage of local scenes: a girl skipping down a cobblestone street, a cranberry farmer getting ready to transport his harvest, rowers on the Charles River, and fireworks over the Boston skyline.
A male voiceover associates the images with the color blue, concluding with the Eastern connection. "It's the color of a bank that since 1818 has dedicated itself to making a difference in its customers' lives and their businesses," he says.
Simon Williams, the president and chief executive officer of Sterling Brands in New York, said Eastern is using a "high-risk strategy" with its Super Bowl launch.
"I think it's an interesting play," Mr. Williams said. "I applaud their efforts in many ways and their gamble, but I think it is a gamble."
Super Bowl viewers are largely in a party mood and want to be entertained, he said. "I think the big question is: Is it the target? And more importantly, is the target interested? Is it in financial services mode?"
The creativity of the ad is likely to be the determining factor in whether the strategy works, Mr. Williams said. "If it's a standard message like 'Let's introduce Eastern Bank to you,' I think it will just get lost in the pizza."
In Eastern's favor is a lack of other bank advertisers during the game, he said, "so you will stand out."
According to Mr. Bartolotta, the Super Bowl appealed to Eastern partly because the event attracts a broad audience - both sexes and all ages. Eastern's campaign has a wide demographic target that includes people from about age 27 through retirement age.
Three local newspapers ran articles about Eastern's campaign and its Super Bowl launch, so the tactic helped to generate publicity. It also created excitement among employees and customers, Mr. Bartolotta said.
The campaign includes newspaper, radio, and online ads, which will begin after the Super Bowl launch.
The TV component, which includes a 30-second version of the longer spot, will run for six weeks, mostly during prime-time shows such as "Lost," "24," "The Amazing Race," and "Heroes."
Conover Tuttle Pace in Boston created the campaign. Grant Pace, the ad agency's executive creative director, said the "True Blue" concept emerged after his team put a lot of ads from competing banks on the walls during a brainstorming session.
"We realized there were a lot of reds and oranges and greens on the walls, but there were no blues." Mr. Pace said. "We thought, 'Well, that's kind of interesting. We're the only blue bank in the market. You can't build a campaign on a color, but what if the color actually stood for something?' "
Mr. Pace said he has worked on Super Bowl commercials before; he wrote Budweiser's first "Bud Bowl" ad series in 1988 while at a St. Louis agency.
