Where's the beef? Viral is a word relatively old in the marketing business and that one spot certainly helps define the term. Professional marketers know you only get a base clearing grand slam a relatively small percentage of the time and often the ad writers will through out all the stops in order to get what they want: revenue based on impressions.
During the reign of Countrywide they long used a byline which read, "No one can do what Countrywide can do." Now, years after they have sold to Bank of America we see what the impact of what Countrywide could do that no one else could do.
For many years there was a gutteral advertisement in Atlanta from a mortgage broker, who incidentally had his license revoked, who loved to use the phrase "no brainer" when talking about refinancing with his company "for free" over and over again. The impact of that misleading terminology also had long-reaching effects which still have not washed out.
According to a report in Media Guide (charted by Marketing Charts) shows Wells Fargo to currently be dominating the radio market. Bank of America, in fact, has fallen far below their once dominating numbers as they sort through the losses still being caused by their purchase of Counrtrywide several months ago.
Lenders have a responsibility to present facts but "nobody polices what any advertiser says until well after the damage is done", says Claire Neese, a radio advertising executive who sold many spots to nearly unscrupulous advertisers. "Basically whatever they say we air because it is up to them to meet the regulations for their own industry."
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