SunTrust Banks is going to air its first Super Bowl ad ever on Feb. 7.
The Atlanta-based company said the theme will reflect its three-year-old strategy called “Lighting the Way to Financial Well Being” to help Americans talk more openly about money and take steps toward what it terms “financial confidence.”
The Super Bowl is the biggest audience any advertiser can reach in a given year, with well over 100 million viewers at any given moment. That doesn’t include the free media coverage surrounding the ads.
As a result, CBS is asking a lot from advertisers. Super Bowl ads, which usually last 30 seconds, are going for up to $5 million this year, up 11 percent from last year, according to Fortune magazine.
For a traditional, low-key banking institution such as SunTrust, seeking the Super Bowl spotlight is a bold move. It’s not only SunTrust’s first Super Bowl, but also its first national TV buy.
SunTrust is known as a regional consumer retail bank, focused in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. But some divisions such as mortgages, financial planning and private wealth management are national.
“This is not typical brand advertising,” said Sue Mallino, chief communications officer, in an interview. “We’re not promoting products per se. This is about addressing a national concern.”
SunTrust is not revealing ad details, but Mallino said the spot will be “optimistic in nature. The Super Bowl is a very good platform to get our message across.”
The ad will air in the fourth quarter at the two-minute mark. So SunTrust execs will be hoping for a close game.
“We’re investing in this ad because the Super Bowl is a unique and proven forum to launch a national conversation,” CEO William H. Rogers said in a press release.
“We’ve conducted research,” said Corinne Cuthbertson, a brand, advertising and digital marketing executive for SunTrust, in an interview. “There is really a correlation between financial confidence and life satisfaction across all income levels. The economy is recovering. Millennials have a renewed confidence.”
