The Bank of Nova Scotia is expanding its strategy of building relationships with customers with a new infomercial launching Sept. 23.

The 30-minute still-motion infomercial will have a two-week test on the Value Plus Network in the Toronto area, running a minimum of four times a day.

If successful, it will roll out nationally.

ScotiaBank’s last tv campaign was in the late 1980s, and was created by Bates Canada, then known as then Backer Spielvogel Bates.

Since then, the bank has concentrated its efforts on customer information, with direct mail campaigns and some print and radio.

Barbara Mason, vice-president, retail marketing for the bank, said last month when she took over the position that she supported the bank’s customer-based communications strategy and was assessing whether the bank should venture back into tv.

The infomercial, Invest For Tomorrow, urges viewers to use the bank’s ‘personal investment managers’ and investment products to ensure financial security.

Carol Wantola-Flynn, senior manager of direct marketing for ScotiaBank, says Invest For Tomorrow is about investing for everyday Canadians, ‘to show that even at a young age they can get started with not a lot of money and build a nestegg for retirement.’

The infomercial was created by Blitz Direct, a division of ScotiaBank’s agency, Cossette Communication-Marketing, working with Palmer & Associates Transactional Television, a California-based direct response tv consulting firm.

Wantola-Flynn says Scotia Bank is not the first financial services company to go the infomercial route.

This past July, Royal Bank tested the infomercial waters with a four-week run of two still-motion infomercials in b.c. and Quebec, each discussing different products.

A 15-minute infomercial for mortgages ran on Rogers Communications’ Value Plus Channel in Vancouver.

In Quebec, a 19-minute vehicle discussed car loans on Videotron’s cable network.