CBA can outspend on ads

Commonwealth Bank is undertaking the "the biggest media buy in the market" to support a new slogan and a refresh of the presentation of its promotional materials.

As implied by the "Can't" teaser campaign last week, the new slogan for the bank says it "Can" do things.

The "Determined to be different" tag line introduced in January 2008 is now redundant. The bank has already dropped Goodby Silverstein, the US advertising agency responsible for the previous slogan and for brand positioning, which it did last year.

The new creative is the work of M&C Saatchi, the agency dumped last year by ANZ (and responsible for the television commercial that parodied the service standards of Commonwealth Bank).

The campaign got off to a creaky start on Sunday morning, with all links from website advertising proving ineffective.

According to briefings for advertising trade media on Friday, the new brand positioning adopts a wider palette that includes more blue and grey, and may soften the dominant yellow used by the bank since adopting the diamond (or toast) logo in the 1990s.

Reports by the trade media emphasise the under-35 age group as the key target market for the present campaign.

The micro-site established to showcase the new campaign emphasises various digital products, such as the smartphone application Kaching, and the bank's property guide.

The public relations effort continues today with a briefing on the bank's technology, so there may be more product innovations unveiled today.