Banks do battle through celebrity endorsement

By comparison, banks spent a total of 190 million zloty on celebrity endorsement in 2010 as a whole.

Many household names in Poland have been drafted by banks to promote their products, whether it be for bank accounts or mortgage loans. Many celebrities have also become the ‘face’ of a bank due to long-term endorsement contracts.

One such example of long-term endorsement is ING Bank Slaski, which has paid out the most for celebrity endorsement by hiring TV and film star Marek Kondrat for 67.7 million zloty (17.1 million euro).

Millennium Bank comes second by forking out 43.9 million zloty for actor and TV presenter Hubert Urbanski, while GetIn bank comes a close third by paying legendary actor Piotr Fronczewski, also known by his musical alter-ego Franek Kimono, 43.3 million zloty.

A whole host of other banks have also put celebrity endorsement to good use, as PKO Bank Polski can prove – after it hired popular TV chat-show host Szymon Majewski to promote its internet banking, brand recognition rose by 7 percentage points.

Apart from home-grown celebrities, BZ WBK bank is known for hiring global stars to promote its products. Starting in 2008 with John Cleese, who stated that likes pierogi dumplings and has an aunt in the southern town of Pcim, the bank then went on to hire Danny DeVito and Antonio Banderas, who currently heads the bank’s campaign.

A number of other banks are hiring well-known personalities, although one has decided to buck the trend. Internet-based mBank today starts an advertising campaign stating “rather than satisfied celebrities we prefer satisfied clients.” (jb)

Source: Puls Biznesu