• by Tanya Gazdik , July 7, 2009

The effort, from Minneapolis-based Olson, includes www.53.com/ students, in-bank and college campus signage, t-shirts, cinema advertising, online ads and a scholarship sweepstakes. In August, to coincide with the new school year, the campaign will further expand to include TV, print, online and guerrilla marketing. The campaign runs through mid-September.

The campaign targets parents as well as kids and promises to make talking about money a lot easier. The bank gave over 50 educational presentations at high schools in the spring, and now is targeting college orientation programs, says Joe Chapline, VP, marketing manager, retail, Fifth Third Bank.

"Both students and parents have responded extremely well to the campaign," Chapline tells Marketing Daily. "Students seem to enjoy the humor and creativity associated with the advertising. I think parents value the lessons we are trying to demonstrate."

Parents and students need financial education resources to foster responsible money management, he says. Targeting high school kids and their families is important because it gives parents a chance to have a financial conversation before their kids leave the nest. And that talk is often happening too late, after kids have already made huge financial mistakes, Chapline adds.

The campaign will run in all Fifth Third Bancorp markets, including Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina.

This is the bank's first campaign to specifically target students and parents of high school and college students. "As more and more students apply to colleges, this seemed like a logical niche to target," Chapline says.

Creative takes an irreverent and humorous approach. The campaign hinges on a series of videos featuring "that guy." One print execution features "that guy" showing you his empty wallet and hitting you up to pay for his half of the pizza -- that he ordered, of course.

"College students get enough lectures," according to Olson's Web site plugging the campaign. "They certainly don't want a bank telling them what to do with their money. It's why this holistic campaign teaches by example -- a bad example. It uses entertainment to engage students with the bank and teaches them how to be smart with their money."

The agency developed educational content for the presentations, ranging from banking basics to budgeting. "Each presentation begins with the videos we created, but sets the stage for a presentation that is ultimately delivered locally by Fifth Third bankers," says Tom Fugleberg, Olson executive creative director. "It's quite a 'movement in the making' -- what began in the classroom is quickly becoming viral in any number of channels from in-cinema advertising to social media."

The Web site invites high school and college students ages 16 and up to open a free checking account that offers a special package of benefits aimed at students, including free e-mail alerts for parents and students to help keep track of balances. The Web site plugs the sponsorship sweepstakes, which is offering a $10,000 scholarship and 10 $1,000 scholarships. Students who open a checking account between now and Sept. 30 are automatically entered.