• by Paul Gough , August 13, 2002

In two years of national advertising, LendingTree.com has gone from bare to blooming.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based company, which matches lenders to consumers, wound up twice in the most recent top 10 list of new network TV commercials with the highest consumer recall. The Intermedia Advertising Group survey also included ads from Burger King, 7-Eleven and KFC.

IAG ranks the percentage of viewers who, 24 hours later, can recall the brand of ad they were exposed to during normal viewing. For the weeks of July 8-21, IAG's #8-ranked spot featured a couple interviewing bankers in their kitchen; the #9-ranked spot featured a couple in bed while the bankers worked on their proposal in the kitchen.

Both commercials featured messages around LendingTree's central message: Consumers win when banks, brokers and other lenders compete for their business via LendingTree.com's site. It's a message that Bob Harris, LendingTree.com's SVP of marketing, said resonates well with consumers.

"LendingTree puts the consumer in control," Harris said. "We have an advertising campaign that consistently communicates that message."

LendingTree was founded in 1996 and began offering its services nationwide in 1998. It became a publicly-traded company in February 2000, around the same time it kicked off a national branding and advertising campaign. LendingTree's high consumer recall is the product of only two years' work and between $25 million and $30 million a year in advertising.

Harris said initial branding efforts focused on telling consumers why LendingTree.com was different from the competition, and stressing the service's choice and convenience.

LendingTree.com's message, then and now, goes out primarily on broadcast and cable TV plus network and spot radio.

A June 2001 survey by Chadwick Martin Bailey Inc. of Boston found that LendingTree had a 59% total brand awareness among adults nationwide; among frequent Internet users, total brand awareness rose to 70%. LendingTree said data showed awareness levels 2.5 times more than direct online competitors and even passed retail banks included in the study.

Harris said that tests showed TV and radio worked best for the company. "It enables us to reach the broadest audience," he said. Since the beginning of this year, LendingTree has been touting its broad range of loan products, not only mortgages but also automobile, credit card and home equity. Broadcast TV has returned to the strategy.

Harris said to expect new spots in the coming months, created by the Wenham, Mass.-based Mullen agency. LendingTree has used Mullen for its creative since 2000; the agency has handled planning and buying for the account since the beginning of this year. Harris said LendingTree's future spots will continue to stay true to the brand.

"We have a unique business idea and business model, and we're going to communicate that," he said. "It's the fundamentals of marketing."