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Super Bowl ads, the game within the big game, are primed for another big year during Super Bowl 50.
Celebrities set to pitch everything from Skittles to Mini Coopers to Bud Light include Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler, soccer star Abby Wambach and actors Christopher Walken and Seth Rogen.
Then there's SunTrust. The Atlanta-based bank, with a heavy presence in commercial lending and retail banking on the Gulf Coast, also has an ad for Super Bowl Sunday. The bank, according to a statement, plans to run a 30-second spot during the second half two-minute warning commercial break. (A 30-second spot sells for around $5 million, according to a 2015 earnings call statement from CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves.)
SunTrust officials say the bank, rather than sell a product with the commercial, will plug its new Onward and Upward program. The campaign, also called onUp, is designed to “inspire people to make a personal commitment to improve their financial health,” according to a statement. The onUp movement includes onUp.com, where people can find financial tools and take a mental wealth quiz.
The ad, Hold Your Breath, is a serious but optimistic second-by-second reminder that worrying about money can cause someone to miss life's important moments, say bank officials. Allen Brinkman, CEO of SunTrust's West Florida division, which spreads from north of Tampa to Naples, is confident people will respond positively to the commercial. “We hope this will be a wake-up call,” Brinkman tells Coffee Talk. “We hope there will be a reactionary component to this.”
In addition to being jazzed about onUp, Brinkman says the bank promoting the program in such a big way is a sizable morale boost for all SunTrust employees. “I'm blown away that we stepped up to do a Super Bowl ad,” says Brinkman, who despite his lofty status with SunTrust had not seen the ad prior to the game. “It makes me as proud of our company as I ever have been.”
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