KDNINE - New Halifax TV
Halifax Actor Colm Meaney is the star of a new €1 million television advertising campaign for Halifax, which debuted in early June. It’s the first time Meaney has taken the advertising shilling, and the bank believes he can project a softer focus for the brand. Under the guidance of new marketing director Mark Mohan, Halifax has abandoned the in-your-face advertising that featured break-dancing and fisticuffs in branches. “Our research showed that the public wants warmth and empathy and that’s true across all sectors, not just financial services,” said Mohan.
Filmed over three days in Ardmore Studios and around St Stephen’s Green last week, the hardest part was coming up with the script. Ad agencies KDNINE and Language devised 18 different scripts before Mohan was satisfied.
The final execution consists of two 40-second commercials.
The first is an ad about an ad, and shows Meaney on set rehearsing his ad script with a Halifax staffer, played by Valerie O’Connor. She asks Meaney whether he is also in the ad for the Halifax current account, and proceeds to guide Colm on the most important bits to focus on and thus the conversation continues, with plugs for the interest payable on the bank’s current account.
In the second spot, Meaney is seen out and about in Dublin city centre telling people what he likes about Halifax. Despite all the script rewrites, apparently some of Meaney’s improvisation made it into the final cut.
Meaney is best known for his appearances in the Star Trek TV spinoffs, and the hype surrounding the new Star Trek movie – in which Meaney does not appear – is a happy coincidence for Halifax. The bank decided on Meaney after engaging Lansdowne Market Research to test market the appeal of scores of celebrities. Meaney may be chuffed to know that he rated better with the public than Eric Cantona.
According to Mohan: “We are an international brand but we wanted this to be an ad about the Irish brand proposition. We felt that a quality, well-liked personality like Colm Meaney would really help us endorse that message.”