Bank of America: Used Car Dealer?
They say money can’t buy love. Apparently it can’t buy perfect advertising either.
Earlier this year Bank of America bought U.S. Trust for a tidy $3.3 billion. The deal has created the world’s largest wealth-management entity, according to Bank of America, with some $261 billion in assets under its wing.
So here’s what I believe may be its first ad for the combined forces. Not exactly an earth-shaking announcement, is it?
Applying my golden rule of paraphrase, this is what the ad seems to be saying at first glance: Wealthy baby boomers who once were flower children of the 1960s still have fond memories of their Volkswagen bus.
So what? Is Bank of America going into the used car business?
Forgive the sarcasm, Mr. Bank. But this is a choice example of an ad maker (or ad committee) getting carried away by a cute idea without thinking it through.
We can assume that the committee decided to aim its first ad at a particularly promising segment of the wealth-management market
