(Extracted from How Asia Advertises by Jim Aitchison)
New Reasons To Use Credit
The Problem:
Revolving credit line products had been on the Singapore banking scene for years. Owing to product parity, bank clients perceived no differences among the key players.
The banks themselves exacerbated the situation. Rather than building brands, the category focused on short-term promotional activities to attract clients.
Citibank , already established as a high player ground player, believed its Citibank Ready Credit product had an opportunity to become the dominant brand.
The Strategy:
A fresh consumer insight shaped the campaign strategy. Absolute necessity was no longer the motivation to use Citibank Ready Credit . A new trend saw Citibank clients more inclined towards self-actualization.
Clearly the campaign needed to break away from category parameters. Rather than a proposition based on the “nuts-and-bolts” of product deliverables, Citibank Ready Credit addressed the emotions associated with consumer empowerment and indulgence.
Creatively, Citibank Ready Credit was portrayed as solving less prosaic problems. The tonality demonstrated wit and charm, further bending the rules of the category.
The Result:
Citibank Ready Credit became the preferred brand among existing and non-users of resolving credit lines.
 We open on a wide shot of old Singapore Peranakan terrance houses. A young man jogs through frame.
Suddenly he returns. Something has caught his eyes. He stands transfixed outside a gate. Behind it we see a Volkswagen Beetle.
He makes an offer to it, but the owner isn't interested and shuts his front door.
The young man doggedly waits, refusing to take ‘no' for an answer. Even a rainstorm doesn't deter him. Impressed and puzzled by the young man's persistence, the owner relents and sells him the old car.
The elated young man has it towed away to a workshop where we assume he will have it faithfully restored.
But not quite…when next we see the Beetle, it has been sliced in half, sprayed yellow and converted into a huge armchair for his surreal apartment.
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Male Vo:
With the power of ready cash, you'll always be ready to make the right moves. Citibank Ready Credit.
 A young man and his wife are standing outside a derelict house. A sign on the fence announces its impending demolition. Their attention is focused on a big old tree standing in the overgrown garden.
As the film dissolves back into the past, we soon understand why. We see the old house in all its former glory when the young couple played there as children… Then, as teenagers, they fell in love and carved their initials on the tree.
Returning to the present, the woman reluctantly leaves her memories. But when they reach their modern home, we catch a glimpse of her husband on the phone. He seems to be organizing something.
The next morning when the woman awakes, she looks down from her balcony to discover the old tree has been transplanted into her courtyard.
Male Vo:
With the power of ready cash, you'll always be ready to make the right moves. Citibank Ready Credit.
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