New Campaigns

Client: KeyCorp, Cleveland Agency: The Lord Group, New York Executive Creative Director: Marvin Waldman Copywriter: John Bollinger Art Director: Mike Withers Director: Meiert Avis Producer: Ben Dossett The Lord Group's first work for Cleveland-based KeyCorp repositions the client as the foe of pretentious megabanks, offering a helping hand for the ordinary consumer who needs help planning a retirement. A slick, special effects-laden TV spot begins deceptively as a huge hand plants a giant skyscraper in the middle of a metropolis. A booming voiceover tells viewers, "In today's financial landscape, you need a behemoth, a giant to forge a complex retirement plan " Client spokesman and ER star Anthony Edwards then appears and literally slams the door on the pompous epic. "No you don't, you just need a pencil and Key's Retirement Reality Check." Edwards explains how simple the form is to complete, but is interrupted again by the pompous voiceover and a clichƒd shaft of light. "See the light of financial wisdom!" the voice declares. "Oh please " retorts Edwards before he walks off. The spot ends with the new tagline: "Help at every turn." Todd Thompson, KeyCorp's senior vice president of corporate marketing, said, "We want to tell people, 'We're the folks down the street from you You know us, you trust us. Our purpose is to be a financial services provider that meets your needs." The spot, which broke this past Friday during broadcasts of the Winter Olympics, will be supplemented by print, radio and below-the-line promotional activity. The Lord Group picked up the estimated $40 million account from Young & Rubicam, New York, in August 1997. Y&R's ads had focused on KeyCorp's ability to react to change and carried the tagline, "For a new America." As a provider of a range of services, KeyCorp finds itself competing against banks, such as Bank of New York and Citicorp, as well as Charles Schwab and Merrill Lynch. In terms of deposits, KeyCorp is one of the top 20 banks in the country, according to American Banker. --Rob Lenihan Client: Domecq Importers, Old Greenwich, Conn. Agency: Weiss, Whitten, Stagliano, New York Creative Director: Marty Weiss Copywriter: Rick Condos Art Director: Jens Orillo Photography: Guzman, New York Weiss, Whitten, Stagliano's new print campaign for Courvoisier cognac features young couples in natural yet dreamlike surroundings. One ad shows two couples climbing a hill that leads to a mammoth stone. The stone has a doorway that leads to a staircase. And that's not just any tree in the distance of another ad--this one has a double-door from which emanates a mysterious glow. The five ads carry the tag, "Welcome to the state of Courvoisier." The campaign, Weiss, Whitten's first for the client, broke in 11 magazines this month, including Essence and GQ. The shop won the estimated $5-6 million account last year. Courvoisier is second to Hennessy in cognac sales, according to Adams Handbook Advance. --Andrew McMains

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