• by Aaron Baar , November 17, 2008

With consumer confidence dropping and distrust of banking and other financial institutions growing, regional banking chain SunTrust is looking to instill confidence in consumers with new positioning and a new tagline.

The new line, "Live Solid. Bank Solid," is intended to reflect Americans' move away from conspicuous consumption to a more thoughtful approach to money and finances. "When we started developing the brand positing, the attributes that SunTrust had had a lot to do with heritage and continuity and solidity," Denise Johnson, senior vice president of marketing communications for SunTrust, tells Marketing Daily. "As the economy started having problems, those attributes were reflected back at us even more."

An introductory television spot in the campaign begins with shots of conspicuous consumers, shopping lavishly for themselves and their pets. (One shot shows many shoes strewn across a bedroom floor.) "Remember the Joneses? And all their stuff? And how people were always trying to keep up? Well, some of us woke up instead," says a voiceover. As the visuals switch to shots of children playing and focused business owners, the voiceover changes. "We no longer want big and flashy. We want real, true and honest," it says. "We want a bank that will help us prosper, whatever our definitions of 'prosper' may be."

The campaign launched on Sunday with television spots airing during regional breaks on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" coverage. The media buy will also include prime-time TV, radio, print and Internet.

According to company research, nearly 80% of consumers would rather be envied for spending wisely than spending freely. A similar number of consumers said that having money will not make you happier, but having control of the money you do have will increase happiness, according to the research.

"What we were seeing in the research was--there's a tremendous move right now for people to get their financial houses in order," Johnson says. "While people had always looked for ease and convenience, the 'new want' is 'are you a place where I can keep my money?'"

The campaign is the first from SunTrust's new agency, Mullen, which won the account after a review in October. SunTrust's previous tagline was "Seeing beyond money." The new attitude toward protecting money necessitated the change, Johnson says. "In this environment, customers started to say, 'I don't want you to see beyond money. I want you to see my money.'"