The transition period is almost over for Tangerine.
Just 15 months after news broke that Scotiabank would purchase ING Direct – requiring the brand to change its name to differentiate itself from its former Dutch parent company – Tangerine began rolling out across Canada, with a six-month transition period, including an internal rebrand, external communication to its existing customers and a one-month marketing blitz, telling consumers the bank has a new ID.
But at the end of this month, the brand will launch its first-ever campaign solely as Tangerine, with a fully integrated mass-media push, including TV, radio, print, OOH, social, digital and experiential.
The brand, which has traditionally focused on its “forward banking” approach (including past campaigns that entailed blowing up a traditional bank or having unbelievable characters not believing the bank had certain capabilities) will shift its focus to its simplicity.
“We started with the notion that the reasons to bank with Tangerine are simple…almost too simple,” says Andrew Zimakas, chief marketing officer, Tangerine.
Creative, from John St., will revolve around math problems we might have struggled with as children (i.e. a train travels X speed and another approaches at Y speed – which get there first?) with the solution pointing to simple banking opportunities at Tangerine (the answer is neither, and the person who banks with Tangerine actually comes out ahead). The humorous approach continues ING’s cheeky brand voice, Zimakas says, and future creative will maintain certain elements, such as an orange mug and a new spokesman (introduced in the brand’s relatively straightforward renaming spots, currently in market).
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The campaign will run between eight and 12 weeks, depending on the medium, and will be followed by similarly-themed spots that focus on customer experience, products, service, etc. These follow-up spots will be in rotation for the rest of the year and consist of the brand’s biggest media buy to date.
The campaign targets an attitude, rather than a specific age or gender demographic, Zimakas says. It tends to go after people already banking online, who are technology friendly – people he calls “hyper direct.”
The brand was tasked with rethinking its entire identity – while remaining true to certain key values, he says, in less than 15 months. It brought in California-based Lexicon to help with the naming and Toronto-based Concrete Design for the brand’s visual identity (including a new look for the office space).
