Friends First is set to introduce its first advertising campaign to concentrate on branding with a television advertisement devised by Euro RSCG. The campaign, which starts on Monday next, will have a media spend of £500,000 (A635,000) for the rest of this year and a significant six-month spend for a financial institution.
The changeover from Friends Provident to Friends First happened two years ago but Mr Paul Hurley, the company's marketing manager, admits there is still consumer confusion about the name.
Aside from the very crowded financial services market, a major part of the problem is that the name was launched at the same time as the similarly named, rebranded First Active.
"Our advertising to date has been tactical in that we've concentrated on rates and individual products at specific times of the year", says Mr Hurley. "Now is the time for a branding advertising to reinforce the name as well as our core values of flexibility, expertise and performance."
The company's research has shown that recognition of its name is "constant but low", and that there is a lot of confusion in terms of name recognition in what is a very cluttered marketplace.
The start of the summer would not seem to be a natural time for a financial services company to launch a major advertising campaign, but this one has been in development since late last year.
From a creative viewpoint Mr Hurley says that it was looking for a more quirky approach.
According to Mr Tommy MacDonnell, a director at Euro RSCG, there is a change in the overall approach to financial services advertising.
"Consumers are more financially literate now than ever before and see financial services as just another service," he says.
The 40-second advertisement, which was filmed in Ardmore Studios, features an Aikido master, a woman who uncoils herself from a small suitcase and a plate spinner.
After the initial month-long television burst, the advertisement will be cut down to three 10-second commercials to be used throughout the year.
Bernice Harrison can be contacted at bharrison@irish-times.ie
