By Ray Birch
PHOENIX—Where can you find fighting Orcs, wizards, elves, a magical staff and barbarians all on a smoke-filled battlefield? In a credit union TV commercial, of course.
In an effort to promote its “Happy Banking” brand, Desert Financial has created a commercial that takes an unconventional approach for a credit union TV spot—or any financial institution, for that matter. The $8.2-billion CU says its brand “pops” in the 60-second spot, which made its debut locally during this year’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles earlier this year.
The commercial opens with heavy fighting between combatants that appear to be right out of a Lord of the Rings movie—albeit with a desert background. Then, in the middle of the fray, appears a woman, wearing a Desert Financial logo shirt and holding a magical staff that she wields to drive away the attacking Orcs.
At the time she makes her appearance in the combat scene, she asks, “Did someone say Happy Banking?”
“Who is that?” asks a combatant who has an enemy in a headlock.
“It’s the wizard’s banker, of House Desert Financial,” responds a woman before shooting an arrow. “Legend is she helped him open up a checking account so good, now he takes a spa day once a month.”
At the end of the commercial the wizard is shown relaxing by a pool at the spa. “Welcome to Happy Banking,” the wizard says.
Looking to Stand Out
“We wanted to make our brand stand out,” said Ken Schneider, AVP of channel marketing. “I think a lot of FI’s do what most people might call vanilla commercials.”
Schneider said Desert financial, which paid about $200,000 to produce the commercial that required a large number of people—75 total for the cast and crew––to pull off, felt it needed the one-minute spot to stand out, since it ran first locally during the Super Bowl.
“We wanted to be bold and different with this advertising,” Schneider explained. “We wanted to do something no other financial institution would do. And fantasy movies, which is what the commercial mimics, are very popular now. The Lord of the Rings, House of Dragons…”
Ken Schneider playing a barbarian in TV spot.
Alice Cooper Appeared in Earlier Ad
This is not the first time Desert Financial has produced an offbeat commercial for the Super Bowl. When the CU rebranded from Desert Schools to Desert Financial in 2018, it ran a spot featuring Alice Cooper.
The credit union partnered with the Team Squad advertising agency to pull off the ambitious commercial.
“They helped us develop the script and they helped with the production,” Schneider said. “The head of our credit union’s video team has worked in Hollywood. He’s done all kinds of commercials. He was the director and producer on the set and he shot everything.
A Two-Day Shoot
The commercial took two days to shoot, requiring two nearby locations. The wizard’s spa day was shot at a retreat in North Scottsdale, Ariz. The fight scene was produced at Ursery Mountain Park, a nature preserve just outside of a Phoenix.
“That was a great backdrop for the fighting scenes, and we wanted the backdrop to reflect Arizona,” Schneider explained.
On top of the $200,000 for production, the commercial’s advertising placements ran about $450,000, Schneider said, which included a single appearance during the game broadcast and then pre- and postgame spots. The media buy would have been more costly but it limited the airing to local networks, , Schneider added.
The ROI
Schneider said Desert Financial is happy with the results from the investment.
“In terms of driving memberships and member loyalty…time will tell on those. But the reaction from members and the community so far has all been positive,” he said, adding a couple members asked how much the CU spent on the spot. “But everyone has thought this is cool, and most tell us they love it. Early reactions are all positive. The Happy Banking campaign is really resonating with people because at the end of the day our members do love banking with Desert Financial. We see it time and time again on surveys and through comments on social media.”
Schneider added the credit unions annual survey of its more than 425,000 members find it ranks highly for great service and friendly staff. With finacial products tending to be commoditized, he said Desert Financial prefers to emphasize its image over products.
So, What’s Next?
According to Schneider, the current commercial will continue on through this year, with no end date set. But when the spot’s shelf life comes to an end, he is confident the credit union will develop another interesting ad.
“I'm always moving on to what's next. How do we make this next one bigger and better?” he asked.
The spot can be viewed here.