• NEWS
    • Agencies
    • Brand Marketing
    • Creativity
    • Digital
    • Programmatic
    • TV / Video
    • FEATURED
    • Challenger Brands
    • Inside the Brand
    • Ad of the Day
    • CES
    • Sponsored
  • EVENTS
    • FEATURED
      • Elevate AI 2019
      • March 21, 2019
        New York
    • COMING SOON
    • Adweek Media All-Stars
    • Fastest-Growing Agencies
    • View All Events
  • WEBINARS
    • FEATURED
      • The Front Line of Customer Experience
      • Tue, Feb 19, 2019
        1 PM EST
    • COMING SOON
    • CMO Tenure Data Is the Secret to Agency Business Development
    • The Definitive Approach to Advanced Media Measurement
    • View All Webinars
  • CONNECT
    • Media Kit
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Agency Memberships
    • Group Subscriptions
    • Newsletters
    • Contact Us
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • Brand Awareness
    • Thought Leadership
    • Lead Generation
    • ADWEEK NETWORK
    • AgencySpy
    • MarketerMoves​
    • Social Pro Daily​
    • TVNewser
    • TVSpy
  • ADWEEK JOBS
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • CURRENT OFFER
    • Unlimited Job Postings
My Account Log Out Sign In Subscribe

AdFreak

This Bank Paid Consumers for Their Long Waits on Hold and in Checkout Lines

ING Direct eases the pain

By David Gianatasio
|
October 2, 2018
Ce n'est pas bon.
ING
Share
By David Gianatasio
|
October 2, 2018
Share

As if long telephone wait times weren’t infuriating enough, folks who call some corporate customer service departments in France actually have to pay for each minute they spend on hold. Ultimately, a surtaxé is added to their phone bills, and the funds redistributed to the brands that kept them hanging on the line.

Sacré bleu! Quelle horreur! Womp womp!

With such indignities in mind, ING Direct launched a campaign touting its free telephone hold times in France, which last, on average, less than 50 seconds. The initiative includes an amusing hidden-camera film shot at a gas station near Paris, where the fictitious “wait tax” really strips some gears:

“The director (Cyril Tellenne) is a specialist in this type of exercise and had worked a lot for a hidden camera TV show here,” says Jean-Francois Sacco, co-founder and creative chief at Rosapark, which developed the campaign. “There are absolutely no actors in the film except the guy in the booth. Sometimes people got out of their cars. It was hard for our actor who, without any real training, had to deal with the surge of anxious people at the register like a pro, and act at the same time.”

All day Friday, the bank staged a social media contest, inviting users to complain about sundry long waits using the #PayeTonAttente (“Pay your wait”) hashtag on Twitter.

Fifteen winners received up to 60 cents per minute for the best stories, with the bank rewarding the most unusual and entertaining tweets.

One dude groused about a 12-hour airport wait on Easter Island for a flight back to Rio de Janeiro, an Ikea customer raged against the on-hold music he recently had to endure for 45 minutes, and, a chef complained that her carbonnade (a Flemish beef and beer stew) took an agonizing two hours to simmer.

Then there’s the cheeky user whose first contest tweet — about the time he spent worrying if his broken phone would ever work again — languished, prompting this winning followup: “It’s been exactly 3h since I’ve been waiting for @ingdirectfrance to respond to my tweet.”

Quoi de plus frustrant de savoir si son portable est définitivement HS... 1h39 de stress, à tourner en rond, mais des fois l'attente paye !! ... mais avant faut payer ! #PayeTonAttente pic.twitter.com/gZFdbS6sts

— Yann Sply (@garsonair) September 28, 2018

CREDITS:

ING Direct
Marketing And Commercial Director: Yvon Martin
Brand And Media Manager: Amélie Nguyen Ngoc
Advertising And Content Manager: Marine Léoni
Brand Content And Social Media Manager: Nicolas Hun

Rosapark
Co-Founders: Jean-Patrick Chiquiar, Gilles Fichteberg, Jean-françois Sacco
Managing Director: Sacha Lacroix
Account Director: Soraya Cottin
Account Manager: Caroline Planty
Head Of Social: Thibaut Thureau
Strategic Planner: Alexandre Ribichesu
Creative Directors: Gilles Fichteberg, Jean-François Sacco
Copywriter: Pierre-Antoine Dupin
Art Director: Frédéric Leclerc
Tv Production: Thomas Laurent, Ingrid Le Minh, Vincent Lacroix
Press: Theda Braddock
Production Company: Birth
Producers: Tristan Béraud, Jordan Santoul
Director: Cyril Tellenne
Media Agency: Carat

Share
https://adweek.it/2Nhemsy

David Gianatasio

@DaveGian
David Gianatasio is a longtime contributor to Adweek, where he has been a writer and editor for two decades. Previously serving as Adweek's New England bureau chief and web editor, he remains based in Boston.

Popular Now

  • 1
    The 25 Best Ads of 2018
  • 2
    10 Royalty-Free Music Sites Every Online Video Creator Should Know
  • 3
    This Ad Captures the One Thing Every Millennial’s Dad Does
  • 4
    How The Wonderful Company Created a Wine Brand for Millennial Rosé Lovers in Under a Year
  • 5
    86% of U.S. Adults Aged 18-29 Are Social Media Users (Report)

Featured Jobs

Anchor/Producer/Multi-Media Journalist
WENY TV
Horseheads, New York
New Business Sales Executive
Thomson Reuters
New York, New York
Account Strategist
Warehouse Twenty One, Inc.
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Social Media Specialist
Leatherman
Portland, Oregon
WCCB Charlotte – Full Time Producer
WCCB-TV
Charlotte, North Carolina
See More Jobs
Adweek Adweek Adweek

EDITOR'S PICKS

Leadership & Talent

How the Lee Clow Talent Tree Spreads Far and Wide in Advertising and Creativity

by Doug Zanger

Leadership & Talent

Ogilvy Announces Another Restructuring in the Latest Phase of Its 'Next Chapter'

by Patrick Coffee

AdFreak

Thanks to Ancestry, Six Strangers Learn How They're Connected Via the Underground Railroad

by Shannon Miller

Brand Marketing

Nascar Hopes Marketing a New Generation of Drivers Can Lure Fans Back to the Sport

by Jameson Fleming

Streaming & OTT

NBA Superstars Are Here to Remind You That Hulu Has Live Sports Available for Streaming

by Sara Jerde

Agencies

Volkswagen Names Johannes Leonardo Lead Creative Agency in the U.S.

by Patrick Coffee

AdFreak

BMW Creates a Folk Hero for the Modern Age: the Unstoppable, Mysterious Ol' McLanden

by Amy Corr

AdFreak

This Ad Captures the One Thing Every Millennial's Dad Does

by David Griner
View Latest News >
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Media Kit
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Sponsor Content
    • Jobs
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscription Options
    • Digital App
    • Newsletters
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Customer Service
  • Awards / Honors / Events
    • Awards and Honors
    • Adweek Events
    • Webinars
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Trophies / Awards / Seals
  • Publications
    • Adweek Network
    • RSS
    • Backissues
    • Reprints / E-Prints
  • © 2019 Adweek, LLC. - All Rights Reserved
  • About Adweek
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy