NEW YORK -- Citi, the leading global financial services company, announced the launch of its new national advertising campaign for Citi Cards, the world's largest provider of credit cards. The first television commercial of the new US Cards campaign aired on Sunday, October 28, 2007.
The national campaign is an extension of Citi's global brand campaign "Let's Get it Done" that launched in May 2007. The US Cards advertisements make strong use of Citi's symbolic red arc, a visual metaphor for connecting human aspirations to realities. Both TV and print ads illustrate how Citi Cards enable people to create the stories of their lives by providing the financial power to fund life experiences. The first spot features a father and son who celebrate the father's 60th birthday by using a Citi Card to travel together to the land of their ancestors.
"This new campaign adds further dimension to Citi's global brand campaign. It's designed to provide a strong communications platform to support our best in class credit card products," said Lisa Caputo, Chief Marketing Officer for Citi.
Publicis New York developed the campaign idea that centers around the question "What's your story?" and created new television commercials and print advertising that aim to connect consumers and Citi Cards on an emotional level.
"We want consumers to associate the benefits of their life experiences, of creating their own life stories, of realizing their dreams with the use of their Citi Card," said Vik Atal, Chief Executive Officer, Citi Cards. "We are also providing our customers with enhanced tools and communications to make their financial life easier to manage, from our color statements to automatic alerts, and clearer credit card disclosures."
"If you think about it, your credit card statement tells a story about the experiences in your life. So, the campaign asks the question "What's your story?" and aims to communicate that a Citi Card is integral to the answer," said Rob Feakins, President, Publicis New York and Chief Creative Officer, Publicis and Publicis Dialog NY.
TV advertising will run nationally on network and cable programs such as NFL, ABC College Football, ESPN, Grey's Anatomy, CSI, Heroes and Dancing with the Stars. Print advertising will run nationally in publications like ESPN the Magazine, Sports Illustrated, People, Time, US News, Vogue and In Style.
About Citi
Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Citi Smith Barney and Banamex. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.
About Publicis
Publicis USA is, a unit of Publicis Worldwide, the original advertising network of Paris-based Publicis Groupe S.A., one of the world's leading communications companies. Publicis USA clients include Amana, BMW, Citi, The Coca-Cola Company, Denny's, Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline, H-P, Jenn-Air, KitchenAid, Lancome, Maytag, Nestle, Pernod-Ricard (MKI), Procter & Gamble, Ross, sanofi-aventis, Terminix, T-Mobile, VAULT and Whirlpool. For more information, please go to www.publicis-usa.com.