EACH WEEK, I MAKE THE MOST OF MY DAILY COMMUTE AND GIVE MY TAKE ON SOME OF THE ADVERTISING ON LONDON UNDERGROUND. SOME OF IT'S DECENT, SOME OF IT'S CRAP. THIS WEEK... FIRST DIRECT.
The original First Direct tube ad
In a first for MTCG, this week we are looking at a bank. First Direct have been known for their less than typical approach to advertising when compared to other banks — think more talking platypus and less black horse galloping across a windswept beach.
This ad looks at pet guinea pigs from the 1990s. Well, it discusses those passwords that we've all had for years and years and are usually related to something completely obsolete or, in the case of Fluffy, dead and buried. As always with First Direct, the tone is direct and conversational and distinctly not like what you'd expect from a traditional bank.
I actually quite like the ad. It's funny and relatable, but the text doesn't read as smoothly as it could. In the re-working, I've kept the same idea — Fluffy, the dead guinea pig, and the art of remembering passwords — but streamlined the message.
My re-worked First Direct tube ad