Bank Of America To Drop That Whole "Bank Of Opportunity" Thing

For several years, Bank of America — via the gravelly voice of Kiefer Sutherland — has referred to itself in ads as the “Bank of Opportunity.” Now, realizing that this slogan may not quite fit the public’s image of BofA (and it would just be too easy for the bank to say “Pick on the other guys for a change”), the nation’s second-largest financial institution is shifting its branding gears.

BofA announced today that it had ditched mega ad agency BBDO, the ones behind the bank’s last marketing shift from “Higher Standards” to “Bank of Opportunity.” AdAge reports that the bank’s new slogan will be a sort of “north star” for the troubled banking industry.

In a statement that we imagine was spoken a few words at a time by people shopping, filling up their cars or just being generally photogenic, the outgoing agency lamented, “Our Bank of America team has worked tirelessly and passionately on the business, not just over the last four months, but for the last seven years, often under extraordinary pressure … our work helped drive sales.”

This news comes the same week that MillerCoors finally ditched the ad agency responsible for Miller Lite’s Worst Ad In America-nominated “Man Up” campaign it already dropped earlier this year.

We’d love to imagine that these changes signal some sort of move toward more honest ads that are not grating, patronizing or repetitive. But we’re not that stupid.

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