• by Aaron Baar , September 8, 2008

Faced with competition from two of the country's largest banks, Harris Bank looks to attract customers in its local market of Chicago with a new advertising campaign playing off the company's "We're here to help" message, and its first television advertising in two years.

The campaign, from Element 79 in Chicago, extends the bank's year-old effort into television, marking the first time Harris has created such advertising in two years.

One television spot shows several situations in which Harris Bank helps people, and not just financially. As a woman searches through her purse for a ringing cell phone, a Harris Bank outdoor ad tells her: "Purse, side pocket." As a couple is haggling with a car dealer over the price of a new car, a Harris taxi-top ad says: "Dealer paid $1,000 less." As a woman is about to board Chicago's El train, a Harris outdoor board tells her: "Mr. Wonderful is one car down."

"We had to feel confident the message was going to carry over," Justine Fedak, senior vice president of marketing at Harris, tells Marketing Daily, about the extension into television. "It has all the power and energy of the print work. [Element 79] actually incorporated the print campaign as part of the television commercials."

The television campaign began airing in Chicago Sunday night during coverage of the Chicago Bears/Indianapolis Colts season-opening football game. The campaign will also air 60 to 90 times a week on CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox and WGN broadcasts, as well as on cable pods of national programming.

The bank expects to reach 95% of its core audience through the campaign, which will also include print, radio, outdoor and online advertising.

Harris Bank is the third-largest bank in the Chicago market, after Bank of America acquired LaSalle Bank last year. According to FDIC data from June 2007 (the most recent period for which information is available), Bank of America (when including LaSalle data) and JP Morgan Chase each have about a 14.5% market share in the Chicago metropolitan area, while Harris has an 11% market share.

Fedak says "market disruption" contributed to the bank's decision to expand into television. "[Consumers] are looking for a bank that's going to help them," she says. "We felt we had a strong positioning that could be expanded at this time."

While unable to comment on the specific campaign, Carol Kaplan, the director of public relations for the American Bankers Association, says the national banking market--with 8,500 banks and 97,000 locations--is "ultra-competitive," and banks look very hard to find a defining characteristic that will appeal to consumers.

"What some banks try to do is carve out a niche," Kaplan says. "The banks often try to segment themselves in order to service a particular category of customer."