• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, August 20, 2007

Alabama residents are having relationship problems... with their banks. Mergers are routinely occurring, leaving residents unhappy with their current situation and unclear about the changes to their bank offerings.

The Alabama Credit Union exploits this tumultuous relationship in a statewide ad campaign encouraging residents to wave bye-bye to their current bank.

"Dump Your Bank" uses TV, print, outdoor, online and guerilla components to put residents at ease, while touting the anxiety-free banking offered by the Credit Union. Sullivan-St.Clair created the campaign and executed the media buy.

Outdoor teaser ads play off the so-called relationship between the errant banks and their customers, featuring humorous copy such as, "Lose my account number" and "You can keep the toaster." Sans company logo, the ads drive traffic to DumpYourBank.com, bringing visitors to the Gruber Institute of Financial Wellness.

The institution is led by Dr. H. Gruber, a financial relationship therapist specializing in helping consumers cope with breaking up with their bank.

Not only is the Web site hilarious, print ads featuring the good doctor are equally entertaining.

One ad shows a laid-back Gruber, suit jacket in hand, sandy beach and tropical palm trees in the background -- along with the copy, "How Gruber Got His Groove Back," spoofing the film "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

My favorite movie spoof, however, comes in the form of the "Grubinator": "From the future comes a man hellbent on financial wellness," says the ad depicting the doctor as half man, half cyborg.

The Web site offers 11 steps to financial wellness (reasons why credit unions are better than banks); an email intervention piece to send to friends that are currently in an unhealthy relationship; a game where users catch falling bankers in a dumpster (nicely named aggression therapy); and a list of relaxation therapy techniques such as "Take a deep breath, like you are smelling a juicy bratwurst."