Bank of Boston sets ambitious goals for private bank awareness advertising.

The terms "splashy" and "private banking" are rarely found together. But that hasn't stopped the $32.5 billion Bank of Boston from embarking on a splashy private banking ad campaign in upscale publications like Fortune, Business Week, Town & Country and New York Times Magazine, among others.

Bank of Boston is counting on the new ads, launched in September, to help private bankers achieve several challenging goals which were set under the private bank's president, Susan Haney, who joined the bank in 1990. Specifically, Bank of Boston has set a goal of 5,000 new clients in the Northeast and Florida within the next three years with an estimated $10,000 a year potential per client in fee-based and net-interest income.

The campaign consists of five print ads, featuring one- and two-page spreads. Creative concept, developed by Lawner Reingold Britton & Partners, Boston, profiles Bank of Boston private bankers and investment counselors in what the agency calls "realistic settings to appeal to the diverse audience in the target market." Photography attempts to capture a "relaxed, professional approach to meeting an individual's financial needs." Copy is generated from interviews with Bank of Boston private bankers, fiduciaries and investment counselors.

"We know we needed to distinguish ourselves--the best way to do this was to have our own private bankers talk about it," says Lorraine Hall, Bank of Boston manager-advertising/marketing.

Since Haney's arrival, the private bank has undergone both physical and philosophical changes. Rather than being scattered throughout the bank, there are now 11 separate, consolidated private banking offices in the Northeast and Florida. The private bank also reorganized internally to "the client's best advantage," Hall says.

"What we're saying is that we have a peer relationship with you, the client, and our job is to understand you so well that we may anticipate your needs before you do," Hall explains.

This concept is manifested in the ads. Says Private Banker Judy Staubo in one spread, "It's my job to know what my clients need before they do. I anticipate changes in my clients' lives and finances so they can make the most of those changes. I make suggestions before they're needed--whether it's refinancing a jumbo mortgage, re-evaluating investment objectives or creating an estate plan."

Hall notes that the concept of private banking has changed, and the ads are intended to reflect that change.

"Our approach to private banking has been, historically, to practice private banking more like an upscale, retail activity," notes Hall. "But rather than private banking being an upscale, retail operation, we now view private banking as a 'firm' of professional counselors--a private banker leads the account supported by a team of product specialists."

Hall says market research shows that qualified opportunities for private banking business abound. Given point-of-entry criteria of $250,000 annual income and $500,000 investable assets or $1 million investable assets excluding real estate, 1.5 million households nationally fit the profile, Hall says. Research also reveals that there are 200,000 qualified prospects in Bank of Boston markets in New England and Florida. Already, the private bank serves about 15,000 households with $11 billion in personal assets under management, Hall says. In 1990, private banking earned $110 million in revenues. Bank of Boston hopes to increase those revenues by $10 million this year, Hall notes.

In addition to the upscale magazines, the ads also appear in local arts books, such as symphony programs, in Florida and Massachusetts, Hall says. The ads ran in magazines through the end of the year and are continuing into 1992, although a specific media schedule has not yet been finalized.

Although Hall declined to reveal budget or results to date, she points out that Bank of Boston did not intend to have measurable results at this point.

"This is image advertising and awareness advertising. We went into this without expectations that the phone would start ringing or that the campaign would pay for itself in 12 months," Hall maintains. "We were very clear up front that it's a long-term sell."

However, Hall says she was pleasantly surprised when the phones did start ringing. "Externally, we've already received a large number of qualified leads," she says. "Internally, after a year of reorganization and training and preparation, our strategy was becoming reality."